768 
Peat and its Products. 
properly, and for this purpose ditches are dug at a distance of 
about 1 1 yards from each other, all running into a larger ditch 
communicating with a leading waterway. The direction of 
these ditches, and the cost of making them, depend upon the 
situation, and consequently they differ for each moor. 
Together with the attention required in the drainage pro- 
cess, due care has to be bestowed upon the digging of the canal, 
through which subsequently the produce will have to be con- 
veyed. In addition to selecting for this canal the shortest route 
to the neighbouring chief waterway, it is necessary also that 
the direction be such as to allow of the removal of the largest 
quantity of turf and the smallest of sand, as the latter does not 
repay the cost of labour, whilst the former represents a saleable 
article. This canal is the leading one, and intersects the whole 
moor, whilst, in proportion to the extent of the excavations, 
branch ditches are dug parallel to each other at distances of 
about 219 yards, so that no portion of the moor is at a greater 
distance from the canal than about 109 yards. 
(1) Cultivation of Buckwheat . — Upon completion of these 
preliminaries the cultivation of buckwheat is commenced, and 
for this purpose the upper crust of ground is first broken, and 
when in the spring it has somewhat dried up the whole surface 
is burnt by the following process : — 
A few bits of dry turf are placed in an iron basket at the end of a long 
pole, and then lighted. This basket is held on high, and, through the action 
of the wind, the small bits of smouldering turf are blown over the ground 
and thus set fire to it. As soon as the basket is nearly empty it is refilled, 
and the same process repeated. With a fairly good breeze, the whole field 
is soon a smouldering mass, occasioning the irritating smoke which covers 
most of the country in the spring, and is known as “ turf fire.” The smoulder- 
ing mass extinguishes itself, as the ground is covered with only a thin crust, 
beneath which the soil is very wet; but a small layer of ashes is left behind, 
which serves as manure for the buckwheat about to be sown. 
The sowing of the buckwheat and harvesting of the crop do 
not differ from the processes adopted upon sandy soils, excepting 
that, in the carrying, due attention must be given to the softness 
of the ground, and, with this view, the carts are provided with 
broad-tired wheels, and the horses have broad bits of wood 
attached to their feet. This process of cultivation can be carried 
on for six consecutive years, the ground being annually burned; 
but after this period, the humus being exhausted, it would not 
pay to raise any further crop. It is then that preparations are 
made for the digging up of what is called the “ grey turf,” the 
leading feature of the peat-moss industry. 
(2) Production of Peat Moss . — The high-level moors in 
