CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF CHAMBERS'S NUMBER 72. NEW AND IMPROVED SERIES. IMPROVEMENT OF WASTE LANDS SPADE HUSBANDRY. PRICE 1d. IMPROVEMENT OF MOSS LANDS. The greater proportion of what are usually called waste lands, are stretches of peat-bog or moss, covered by a thin benty grass and tufts of heath. This remarkable species of land is found to a very great extent in Ireland and Scotland, often in the midst of beautiful and productive tracts of country, but generally in highlying districts, which are somewhat defective in point of climate. ACCORDING to the best authorities on the subject, it appears that the British islands contain upwards of thirty millions of acres of waste lands. Much of this large division of our territory is situated at an altitude which places it beyond the possibility of improvement; but at least one-half is believed to be improveable, and capable Peat-mosses are supposed to be occasioned by the of being rendered suitable, if destruction of ancient forests, either by the hatchet or not for tillage and grain crops, at least for the feeding of from natural decay. The trees found at the outskirts cattle. The question as to the propriety of improving the of these mosses appear to have been cut down, while really improveable waste lands of the country, is, in any those in the interior appear to have decayed by the individual case, to be satisfactorily answered by ascer- gradual process of time. It is believed that the trees taining at what expense, in relation to the probable pro- thus left upon the ground would soon become covered fit, the process may be performed. A barren rocky with moss, lichens, &c.; and the free drainage of the desert may be rendered productive by covering it with land being obstructed, aquatic plants, such as reeds, soil and manures brought from a distance of miles, aided rushes, horsetail, and marsh trefoil, springing up and by years of skilful tillage; but will the cost of these decaying, would leave a strata of soft vegetable matter, operations be fairly returned by the profits of the pro- which every succeeding year would increase. These duce? Gold itself may be purchased too highly, and plants grow in greater or less abundance, according to so may agricultural improvements. We do not throw the quantity of moisture on the ground; and this may out this idea for the purpose of discouraging, but of account for mosses being deeper in some parts than cautioning proprietors and farmers of lands. In all in others. The hollows would naturally retain moisprojected improvements, they will require to ascertain, ture in larger quantities than the level ground, and in the first place, what will be the probable return, here the aquatic plants would be most prolific, and the within a moderate length of time, for their outlay-hollow gradually become filled up. The peat, which has always keeping in view the prospective prices of rural produce during the period. Such, at least, is the principle of calculation which ought naturally to guide all proprietors of extensive tracts of waste ground, the outlay on which is to be strictly pecuniary. With reference to those who propose to improve wastes chiefly by an expenditure of time and personal labour, the calculation will take a similar turn; and the question will be, whether that time and labour could not have been employed more profitably in another line of pursuit. Leaving this, however, for further discussion in the sequel, we proceed to point out, first, to those whose situation in life and inclinations lead them that way, the means to be adopted, according to the best principles of science and lights of experience, for reclaiming large or small portions of waste lands, and the results which may be expected to reward their enterprise; and, second, the best plans which may be followed for improving patches of ground by spade-husbandry, and establishing thereupon small cottage farms, suitable for the support of a comparatively humble class of families. In the treatment of these certainly not unimportant subjects, we shall of course refer chiefly to the condition of waste lands in the United Kingdom; but the improvement of wastes in the colonies or in foreign countries will also be understood to be included, and in each case we will endeavour to adhere closely to practical details. been in this manner formed, is therefore a compound vegetable substance, which, although it has undergone a change, has not been entirely decomposed; probably the cellular tissue or transparent vegetable matter has decayed, while the woody fibre still remains. Water is indispensable in the formation of moss; and according as the ground is very wet, or only so to a certain extent, different plants will be produced. On ground completely saturated with water, various species of moss grow, to the almost total exclusion of other plants; but if the land should in any way become drier, reeds, rushes, marsh trefoil, horsetail, and other plants, spring up in place of the moss. The quality of the moss may be judged of from the plants which grow upon it; all the moss-tribe, the horsetail and the marsh trefoil, are fibrous, and difficult to decompose, while reeds, rushes, and sedge, are comparatively easy of decomposition. Peat-moss possesses an astringent quality, which has the power of preserving bodies immersed in it, and even keeps itself from entirely decaying. This power is supposed to arise from the carbonic and gallic acids which issue from decayed wood; and vegetable gums and resins will also have the same effect. The tannin principle exists, as is well known, in the oak; and the pine contains much both of resinous and astringent matter. Many mosses are formed upon decayed trees, and the wood most commonly found is either pine, birch, hazel, or oak; and in these cases the presence of the tannin principle is easily accounted for. It is also highly probable that the plants themselves, by the action of natural agents, may have acquired an antiseptic or antiputrefying quality. It is certain that acids of considerable strength exist in some mosses; and it is mentioned by Lord Meadowbank, that in preparing peat-moss for manure, he used lime to destroy a vitriolic salt of iron, which he says abounds in peatmosses. In some cases, lakes and pools of water have been filled up by the accumulation of moss; and it has been observed that fermentation occurs where this has taken place. Gaseous matter is evolved, and the neighbourhood of such a moss is generally unhealthy; but true peat soils are always salubrious. The reasonable question has sometimes occurred to inquiring minds whence the substance of peat-mosses? for stagnant water alone could not have produced many feet deep of solid matter. This question is answered by chemistry. The vegetation which springs up in the form of aquatic plants, absorbs carbonic acid gas from the atmosphere, and a carbonaceous deposit is made in the form of vegetable fibre, or dead vegetables in the form of mould. Mr Johnston, in his Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry, makes the following observations on this subject: "When lands are impoverished, you lay them down to grass, and the longer they lie undisturbed, the richer in vegetable matter does the soil become. When broken up, you find a black fertile mould where little trace of organic matter had previously existed. The same observation applies to lands long under wood. The vegetable matter increases, the soil improves, and when cleared and ploughed, it yields abundant crops of corn. Do grasses and trees derive their carbon from the soil? Then how, by their growth, do they increase the quantity of carbonaceous matter which the soil contains? It is obvious that, taken as a whole, they must draw from the air not only as much as is contained in their own substance, but an excess also, which they impart to the soil. so as to form a soil. The first of these methods was Where the subsoil is gravel or sand, a very different operation must be performed; and this perhaps is the But on this point the rapid growth of peat may be most common species of moss ground. Of whatever considered absolutely conclusive. A tree falls across nature moss ground be, it is evident that, so long as a little running stream, dams up the water, and pro- the stagnant water remains, no useful crop can be culduces a marshy spot. Rushes and reeds spring up, tivated; and to remove the superabundant moisture, mosses take root and grow. Year after year new shoots by means of draining, must be the first operation of are sent forth, and the old plants die. Vegetable mat- the improver. In some cases, where the moss is not ter accumulates; a bog, and finally a thick bed of peat, too wet, a road may be run through the land, which is formed. Nor does this peat form and accumulate will greatly facilitate the after-operations. Should at the expense of one species or genus of plants only, such a road be cut, and a deep ditch on each side of it Latitude and local situation are the circumstances which formed, the next operation is to open drains leading chiefly affect this accumulation of vegetable matter on to some main channel, by which the water can be the soil. In our own country, the lowest layers of peat carried away. The moss land should be sounded are formed of aquatic plants, the next of mosses, and in different places, to ascertain where the greatest the highest of heath. In Terra del Fuego (says Dar-depth lies, and when this is found, the main drait win), nearly every patch of level ground is covered by two species of plants, which, by their joint decay, compose a thick bed of elastic peat. In the Falkland Islands, almost every kind of plant, even the coarse grass which covers the whole surface of the islands, becomes converted into this substance.' Whence have all these plants derived their carbon? The quantity originally contained in the soil is, after a lapse of years, increased ten thousand fold. Has the dead matter the power of reproducing itself? You will answer at once, that all these plants must have grown at the expense of the air-must have lived on the carbon it was capable of affording them, and as they died must have left this carbon in a state unfit to nourish the succeeding races." In other words, the substance of peat-mosses is a deposit from the atmosphere, which is evidently a universal source of subsistence to vegetable life. Though thus composed of a deposit of dead vegetable matter, which is a basis of fertility to new vegetation, peat-mosses are not in a condition to be actively useful till freed of superabundant moisture, and compounded with siliceous (sandy) materials. Where the subsoil, however, is composed of gravel or sand, it is necessary that the peat and these bodies should be mixed together, should be drawn as nearly in that tract as possible, Where there are beds of great depth, it does not ap pear expedient that the drain should be cut to the bottom at first; and, indeed, a difference of opinion exists as to whether moss land should be thoroughly drained at first, so as to render it perfectly dry. Mr Boroughs, the author of a treatise on waste land, is of opinion that the surface water only should be drained off at first; while Mr Blackadder of Stirling asserts that there is no danger of over-drying moss by draining. This may depend upon whether or not the moss be in a decomposed state. When moss is rendered too dry, it becomes a fibrous inert matter; and, as is the case with all other lands, it will be easier to work afterwards when moderately moist. With regard ta the size and form of drains, it was formerly the prac tice to make these wide and deep, and at about fifty yards apart. The lateral pressure of the water upon the sides of these drains, however, pressed them so much together, that in the course of years they were scarcely traceable. The depth of the main drain will depend in some measure upon the depth of the moss; and if the average depth of this be twelve feet, the drain may be seven or eight feet deep, and about the same width at the top. The sides should be made applications, some years previously put on, is singu- | the furrow is only a slight indentation, to mark off the larly valuable. They not only make the moss burn divisions for the reapers in harvest. more freely, and at a more uniform degree of depth, but the ashes are rendered highly valuable as a manure to the succeeding crops, by being mixed with the lime. Thus, by frequent applications of any earth or lime, but particularly clay, and occasional burning, the worthless moss soil becomes progressively reduced in depth, and fertilised." The expense of draining and preparing moss land depends on many local circumstances. The usual cost is from £12 to £15 per acre; but much has been done at £7 or £8 per acre. The expense, in either case, is for the most part repaid in a very few years; and then good land, which may be let for £2 or £3 an acre per annum, may be said to have been absolutely conquered from the wilderness, and added to the productive soil of the country. DRAINING. In some countries the ground is naturally so dry, and the climate possesses so little moisture, that instead of drainage, the land may require to be irrigated profusely with water at certain seasons of the year. The lands, generally speaking, of England, Scotland, and Ireland, are of a very different character. There are few parts of the country where drainage, from superabundant moisture, is not requisite; and, therefore, the operation of draining should be thoroughly comprehended by every practical agriculturist. The necessity for draining arises either from the water rising to the surface from springs beneath, or from the subsoil being of a retentive quality, by which water lying upon the surface, or absorbed in the upper stratum, cannot escape. According as either of these causes predominate, or are associated with each other, so must the process of drainage be regulated and conducted. All soils, those of a very sandy or gravelly nature, in some situations, excepted, are more or less Jiable to over-wetness, either from their own nature or the nature of the subsoil on which they rest. Clay, whether on the surface or beneath, is, from its adhesive nature, very retentive of moisture. A mixture of clay, sand, and sometimes iron, is also found very impervious; and even loams, although they absorb water freely, generally retain too much. Rich black loams usually lie on a clay subsoil, of different colours and textures, according to which the land will be in various degrees wet. The wetness in these loams is not so apparent as on other soils, but it is in every case as injurious, and as great a necessity exists for its removal. Land subject to springs is usually very varied in its surface, and may require a number of drains before water is effectually removed. Draining is the operation of drawing off the water from the over-moist land, and of reducing the soil to that proper degree of dryness which renders it available for productive tillage. Many moist lands, though undrained, will produce crops of grain, and the crops will be the heavier the drier and finer the season; but, taking these lands on a common average of scasons, it will be found that they often greatly fail in yielding even moderate crops, and that, at the very best, their crops are inferior in bulk and weight to those of grounds which have been subjected to a thorough process of drainage, and the kind of tillage consequent upon such an improvement. The outward mark of all undrained arable land is, that little or no grain grows in the furrows. The crop is seen to run along the centre of the ridges, dwarfing gradually off to the sides, where it disappears, thus leaving a large portion of every field with no crop at all. Wherever land is observed in this condition-and apparently the greater part of that in England is so-there is a want of drainage. The practice of making narrow heaped-up ridges, and deep furrows at their sides, is a proof of the land being badly drained. With a right method of drainage beath, no portion of the surface is lost for cropping; Prop is at liberty to grow all over the field, and Drains are of several kinds, according to the nature and situation of the land. Some drains are conduits built with stone, others are conduits filled entirely with loose stones, between which the water percolates and escapes, and others are constructed with tiles of a particular form. Of whatever description, main and tributary drains are required. We shall describe a main and an inferior drain, in the language of one of the most experienced writers on the subject, Mr Smith of Deanston : "The main drain should be directed along the bottom of the chief hollow or valley of the grounds, where the whole or greater portion of the drains can be led into it. If any lesser hollows occur in the field, they must also have their proportional mains or leaders. The bottom of the main drain should be at least 3 feet, ani, if possible, 3 or 4 feet under the surface where passes along; and it should have throughout as uniform a fall as the nature of the ground will admit. It should be flagged in the bottom, or, where flagstones are expensive, built as an inverted arch, to prevent the possibility of washing away under the side building. The dimensions necessary will depend on the fall or declivity, and the area of land from which a has to receive water. With a fall in no place less than one foot in 100 yards, a drain 10 inches wide and 16 inches deep will void the rain water from 100 acres. It is of great importance to make the open area of such drains narrow and high, as smaller bottoms and covers will suit, and be less liable to give way; and the carrent of water being more confined, mud and sand w be less apt to settle in the bottom. Let the sides be smoothly and securely built with flat stones, either with or without mortar; and let strong flat covers be places over, or, where such are not to be found, rough simple arches may be built with thin stones and mortar, for the bottom and cover, packing the haunches of the arc well up to the sides of the cut. Where lesser hollows occur crossing the fields, it is necessary to cut submains along their bottoms, about 3 or 34 feet deep, ani having openings of suitable dimensions formed by inverted stone couples, or with drain tiles, or, where a very large flow of water has to be provided for, with an inverted tile, and a covering tile placed above the bottom one, or with larger tiles made on purpose. There should be a cross submain at the bottom of every field or stretch of drains, to receive the water from all the parallel drains; and such drain shoul! always be cut six inches deeper than the drains running into it, that the water may have a free drop, whiel will prevent the lodgment of mud or sand at their june tions or mouths. Open cuts or ditches, either as mair or submains, should never, except from necessity, be adopted, being apt to get filled with mud and grass, by which water is thrown back into the drains, whier often chokes them; besides, the loss of land, annoyane in ploughing, constant expense of cleaning, and the unsightly appearance of the thing, are serious obje tions. Having thus provided a main drain, with submair.s flowing into it, matters are prepared for setting off an executing the parallel frequent drains in the body the field. The drains can be executed at any season, when the weather will permit; but the spring an summer are most suitable for the work. It is best t execute the drains when the field is in grass, as a can then be done in all weathers in a more cleanly manner. In laying off the drains, the first object for conside ration is the nature of the subsoil. If it consist of stiff strong till, or a dead sandy clay, then the distane from drain to drain should not exceed from 10 to 1 feet; if a lighter and more porous subsoil, a distance of from 18 to 24 feet will be close enough; and in vers open subsoils, 40 feet distance may be sufficient. Whe the ridges of the field have been formerly much raised. it suits very well to run a drain up every furrow, whica » |