Peat and its Products. 
771 
the carriage of manure, as the latter can easily and at only a 
small cost be conveyed from the towns in the same barges that 
carry the turf thither. 
In the “ Peel ” district, which embraces the turf moors 
bordering North Brabant and Limburg, it has been proved that 
these sandy soils, having been well manured, are capable of 
producing all kinds of crops. Oats, rye, tobacco, and flax are 
grown there, and kitchen-gardening has also been successfully 
prosecuted, as is proved by the asparagus, gherkins, grapes, 
melons, &c., which can compete with the best of these products 
grown in other districts. At the same time, it is scarcely 
possible for cultivation to keep pace with the digging of the 
turf, more especially in the case of kitchen-gardening. 
Whilst it cannot be denied that cultivation demands a lot of 
capital, yet, if not carried out, the certain result is the creation 
of a big wilderness, with a large population having neither work 
nor means of subsistence. This is being experienced in 
Friesland, where (October, 1892) the workpeople are reduced 
to the greatest poverty, and on whose behalf public charity is 
invoked. 
As an instance of the cultivation of turf moors in olden times 
the province of Groningen may be mentioned. For centuries 
the moors there have been opened up, and all manure and sewage 
from the city of Groningen were carried thither by the existing 
canals. 
Other details 1 * 3 bearing upon the peat industry of Holland 
will be found in the Journal, 2nd Series, Yol. XVII., 1881, 
pp. 440-456. 
Sweden. — The peat bogs of Sweden cover an immense area, 
amounting to many millions of acres. They are not confined to 
any one part of the kingdom, though the largest of them are 
either in the extreme northern provinces, or in the provinces of 
Dalecarlia, Vermland, Smftland, Halland, and North Scania. 
In Upper Noorland and in Lapland there are peat bogs 
hundreds of square miles in size, and consisting of turf of excel- 
lent quality. The depth of the turf varies from 3 to 37 feet, and 
even more. 
It is an old custom in the southern provinces to burn turf 
as fuel in private dwellings ; especially is this the case in the 
provinces along the coast, where there is no wood to spare for 
burning. To a certain moderate extent bogs were also formerly 
1 On the Reclamation of Peat-hind in tlte Netherlands. By H. M. Jenkins, 
F.G.S. 
3 e 2 
