212 
Reclamation of Bog and Moorland in Galway. 
in the yard at Addergoole, and oats were sown over the 20 acres 
and seeded. The crop was good after the potatoes, but not 
worth cutting after the turnips. The next year the grass was 
cut for hay ; since then it has been grazed by 300 sheep and 
10 head of cattle, which have also the run of the townland, com- 
prising 653 acres of moor, with a large proportion of barren 
rock. The grass is now poor and mossy, and rushes mark the 
places where the drains have failed to act. Before turning to 
the next piece that has been broken up, it will be convenient to 
give a general account of the system now adopted at Kylemore 
in reclaiming the bog. 
Draining. — The first step in the reclamation of peat-land is 
the removal of the excess of water by draining. The facility 
with which this can be done will depend upon the depth of the 
peat, the nature of the subsoil, the contour of the land as affect- 
ing the outfall and pitch of the drains, and, though last, not least, 
the average rainfall of the district. As regards the first point, it 
has already been stated that there is comparatively little deep 
bog at Kylemore. The peat is frequently of such a depth that 
drains can be cut through it, over a large area of land ; it will 
obviously be useless to do this where the peat rests, as it does 
over a large area, upon the solid rock, which is here some- 
times primitive, but more usually of a metamorphic character. 
On some of the hill-sides, however, and notably at Tooreena, 
beneath the peat is found a thick deposit of drift, consisting of 
gravel mixed with micaceous sand, and a little clay, affording 
an excellent receptacle for the drains. The mountainous nature 
of the district makes the pitch of the land amply sharp enough 
to insure a sufficient draught for drainage ; but it also attracts 
the clouds from the broad Atlantic, and draws down from them 
an amount of moisture almost unprecedented in the British 
Islands. A rain-gauge is kept by Mr. Maxwell near the eastern 
end of the Lough, at a spot 105 feet above the sea. The fall 
recorded by him, and reported in the tables drawn up by 
Mr. G. J. Symons, was 56*02 inches in 1875, and 95*33 inches 
in 1876. Nearly 2 inches fell on the day of my arrival in 
May; and in calling subsequently on Mr. Maxwell,'! found 
that he had no reason to expect the rainfall of 1877 would be 
less than that of the two previous years. The following table 
(p. 213) is an extract kindly furnished by him from his monthly 
record. 
A rainfall like this explains the good-natured remark of a 
native, as he looked out of the window, that the rain was 
" Nothing to speak of, but quite enough to wet an Englishman 
to the skin." Rules that apply to the drainage of other districts 
will not be sufficient for exceptional circumstances like these. 
