Farming of Lancashire. 



S 1 



yards to the statute acre ; the average distance which the marl 

 had to be removed being about two-thirds of a mile. Whilst 

 these operations were in progress, I went over the moss with Mr. 

 Reed, and remember that both men and horses were obliged to 

 work with pattens, or flat pieces of wood, attached to the feet. 



By means of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, then in 

 full operation, Mr. Reed was enabled to bring from the latter 

 town any quantity of manure ; and he found that a mixture of 

 night-soil and ashes was preferable to anything else. By growing 

 a crop of potatoes in the first instance, the different particles of 

 moss-earth and manure became so thoroughly blended together 

 that the soil formed would produce anything, and wheat, clover, 

 and oats followed each other in successful rotation. Since Mr. 

 Reed left, some years ago, the management has been intrusted to 

 Mr. Evans, now of the Haigh Foundry, Wigan, and it has been 

 discovered by experience that it is not advisable to grow wheat or 

 clover on such land : turnips, oats, and potatoes are considered 

 the best crops ; and instead of marl, which is both bulky and 

 heavy to move, it is now ascertained that salt mixed with lime is 

 the most effective instrument in destroying the mossy nature of 

 the surface, and preparing it for a first crop of potatoes ; these 

 grow exceedingly well on moss-lands unmarled, but if marled, 

 their failure is as general as on other soils. In Professor John- 

 ston's recent work 4 On the Use of Lime in Agriculture/ it is 

 stated, chap, xi., section v., that " The use of lime and salt has 

 been frequently recommended by Mr. Cuthbert Johnson and 

 others ; and its virtues, in the proportion of one of salt to two or 

 three of lime, have more lately been experimentally tested and 

 recommended by Mr. Huxtable. It seems to be particularly 

 adapted to deep soils, as they are called ; to such as are covered 

 with moss, and to reclaimed and drained peat-bogs." 



There is still much of this moss in its natural state ; but it is 

 to be hoped that, lying as it does in the heart of a populous 

 district, and traversed by a railway connecting together the two 

 most important towns in the kingdom, it will not long continue 

 so ; and that, with the example of what may be done, Chat-moss 

 w 7 ill in a few years become a cultivated plain, administering to 

 the wants of an ever increasing population. 



To the north-east of Chat-moss, and on the high land over- 

 looking the whole of the lower part of Lancashire and Cheshire, 

 is Worsley, the property of the Earl of Ellesmere ; within the 

 last two years his Lordship has established a tilery, and drained 

 a large portion of the Old Hall Farm with 2-inch pipes and 

 collars, at 4 feet deep, and 10 yards apart. They seem to run 

 well, but the land is stiff and heavy to work ; it produces good 

 crops of wheat, oats, and beans; last year the turnips did not 



