94 
Exmoor Reclamation. 
and backwards, the machine was stopped, and one of the hooks 
let down ; and this, in nine cases out of ten, reached, penetrated, 
and broke up the before-described pan, and, with one effort, 
thoroughly dried, and for ever, the peat which had already been 
destroyed by being torn from its roots. 
The result was equally wonderful and capital. When the 
subsoiler was set in motion the water stood in pools several 
inches deep. The moment the iron had penetrated the pan"" the 
water passed away as through a cullender, and it remained 
perfectly dry after rain for some part of every day for a week. 
The work was done at the rate of nearly three acres a day, for 
it is one of the peculiarities of Exmoor that " rain does not stop 
ploughing." 
Exmoor. 
In the opinion of one of the most experienced land-agents in 
North Devon, the one operation just described doubles the 
value of the land. 
The next steps would be to cross it with a plough or culti- 
vator, then to break it up roughly with a strong harrow, to lime 
it at the rate of 2^ to 3 tons an acre of lime drawn by Mr. Knight 
from the kilns at Combmartin or Lynmouth, with his own 
horses,* and finally to sow a crop of rape to be fed-off with sheep. 
After two or three crops of rape, paid for in fat lambs, the land 
will be ready to lay down for permanent pasture, requiring 
no furthcB expense for drainage and no manure beyond lime, 
which is essential, because the natural soil, being almost devoid 
of the calcareous element, will not grow the most nutritious 
grasses until limed. 
As to the proportionate extent of deep peat on the last re- 
* Four of these in 1876 were gmy French mares, drafts from tlie General 
Omnibus Company's stock ; bought by the author, lame from London stones, 
and worked sound on Exmoor. 
