444 0« the Reclamation of Peat-Land in the Netlierlands. 
Mr. Nerlng-B(3gel bought the estate in 1864, but he did not 
begin to bring it into cultivation until the year 1870. In the 
meantime he studied the question of recLamation on the spot, 
wherever he could hear of successful operations being carried 
out. The system which he at last adopted was in some respects, 
especially the wide ditch arrangement, borrowed froin Germany. 
It may be described as follows : — 
Reclamation Works. — The peat has a thickness of from 20 inches 
to 5 feet, and rests upon sand. Ditches about 16 feet wide and 
8 feet deep are cut 80 feet apart. The sand underneath the peat, 
and the peat itself that is dug out of the ditches, are spread over 
the peat on the intervening lands, after they have been dug by 
the spade and a quantity of sand has been brought to the surface. 
These operations cost from 6/. \{)s. to 20Z. per acre, according to 
the thickness of the stratum of peat. The ditches do not dis- 
charge direct into the main carriers at the sides of the roads, 
except through pipes which are laid under a continuous headland. 
Although there is a fall of 45 feet in summer from Prince- Peel 
to the river Meuse, and somewhat less in winter, pipe-draining 
is impossible, as the land is so flat that no local fall is obtain- 
able ; and the water-table is so near the level of the soil, that 
the pipes would only keep the subsoil wet instead of making 
it dry. 
Improvement of Soil. — Sand and peat will not mix easily 
together, and it is useless to try to mix them unless large quan- 
tities of farmyard-manure are applied. This greatly facilitates 
the process, but artificial manures have no such effect. Newly 
reclaimed land is first sown with oats if it is ready in the spring, 
and with rye if it is ready in the autumn. The course of 
cropping generally pursued is as follows : — (1) oats and clover ; 
(2) clover ; (3) rye ; (4) swedes, mangolds, potatoes, and some 
oats on the best land. Every crop is manured either with farm- 
yard manure or artificials. Mr. Nering Bogel uses 30 tons 
per annum of home-prepared dissolved bones ; and when farm- 
yard manure is lacking, he uses from 1^ to 3 cwt. of nitrate of 
soda per acre. He finds that the nitrate of soda goes through 
the sand but is retained by the peat. The great object in view 
is to lay the land down to grass as soon as possible, but this 
cannot be done until it has borne at least four crops. He says 
that he has frequently had two tons of hay per acre off well- 
manured land. Two-thirds of the grass is mown annually, and 
this portion is nearly always dressed with a compost of soil and 
manure. Eventually the grass resolves itself into a mixture of 
alsike and white clover, with some red, together with Holcus 
lanatus. The cultivation of root-crops is somewhat singular. 
Both swedes and mangolds are sown in seed-beds in March and 
