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been practised in Scotland, where deep mosses had been drained and cultivated, and where, in summer, vegetation failed from deficiency of moisture.

NINTH WEEK-FRIDAY.

BLAIR-DRUMMOND MOSS.

I SHALL, in this paper, detail another mode of successful cultivation, which has been adopted on a large scale, in one locality, and the principle of which, though not of general application, may doubtless be employed in other situations. I allude to the method of reclaiming a fertile soil, by the removal of a barren surface, which has been practised in the parish of Kincardine, in the neighborhood of Stirling.

The Moss of Kincardine extended to upwards of 2000 acres, 1500 of which belonged to the estate of BlairDrummond. It lay upon a clayey bed, which is a continuation of the rich alluvial soils that form the flat vales, called carses, of Stirling and Falkirk. The plain in question had, at some early period, been covered with trees, which had been felled, probably by the Romans; and this, by a natural process, already alluded to, ended in producing the moss. This moss consists of three different strata, the first, or lowest, black and heavy, appears to have been formed of bent-grass and fallen trees; the second is composed principally of Sphagnum palustre, and is brown, and of an elastic texture. The third is about a foot thick, and consists of heath, and a little bentgrass. In general, these three strata are about the depth of seven feet. Lord Kames obtained possession of this moss, in 1766; and, soon after, conceived the idea of floating off the strata into the Frith of Forth, and thus exposing the alluvial soil for cultivation. After various interesting experiments, which I cannot stop to detail, he adopted the following plan.

His first object was to procure a sufficient quantity of

water to create a stream, of force enough to carry off the moss in its current. This was done by the erection of a wheel, somewhat resembling the Persian wheel, or Noria, already described, but of great dimensions, and on an improved principle. It was twenty-eight feet in breadth, and was driven by water, with float-boards, in the same way as an ordinary mill-wheel. At the extremities of the radii, or arms of the wheel, immediately within the float-boards, was fixed a double row of buckets, opening upwards when at the bottom of the circumference, and downwards when at the top. These received two streams of water, which were poured into them when they were below, and which they discharged when they ascended and were inverted by the revolution of the wheel, into a trough or cistern, so placed as to receive it above. By this means, a level was gained of seventeen feet, which was sufficient to make the water run to the surface of the moss. The water was conveyed from the cistern of the wheel, to the moss, for three hundred and fiftyfour yards below ground, in wooden pipes, hooped with iron, eighteen inches in diameter within; and afterwards rose from the pipes into an open aqueduct, about fourteen hundred yards in length, and elevated from eight to ten feet above the level of the adjacent grounds.

Having thus obtained the necessary power, the work of removal was begun; and for accomplishing this, the first step was to make, in the clay, alongside of the moss, a drain to convey the water, for which operation the carse clay below the moss was peculiarly favorable, being perfectly free from stones, and all other extraneous substances; and, at the same time, when moist, being slippery as soap; so that, not only was it easily dug, but its lubricity greatly facilitated the progress of the water, when loaded with moss. The dimensions proper for the drain were found to be, two feet for the breadth, and the same for the depth. If smaller, it could not conveniently receive the spadefuls of moss; if larger, the water would have escaped, leaving the moss behind. The drain had an inclination of one foot in a hundred yards. The more regularly this inclination was observed throughout, the

less was the moss liable to obstructions in its progress to the river. The drain being formed, the operator marked off, to a convenient extent, alongside of it, a section of moss, ten feet broad, the greatest distance from which he could heave his spadeful into the drain. This he repeatedly did, till the entire moss was removed, almost down to the clay. He then dug a new drain, at the foot of the moss-bank, turned the water into it, and proceeded, as before, leaving the moss to pursue its course into the river Forth, upon the fortunate situation of which, happily forming, for several miles, the southern boundary of the estate, without the interposition of any other property, depended, in some measure, the very existence of the whole operations.

When the moss was nearly removed, the clay was found to be encumbered with roots of different sorts of trees, often very large, remaining in it as they grew. Their trunks, also, were frequently found lying beside them. All these the tenants removed, often with great labor. In the course of their operations, they purposely left a few inches of moss upon this clay. This, in spring, when the season was favorable, they reduced to ashes, which, in a great measure, insured the first crop. The ground thus cleared, was turned over, where the dryness admitted, with the plough; and, when too soft for that operation, was dug with the spade. A month's exposure to the sun, wind, and frost, reduced the clay to such a state as fitted it for the seed in March or April. A crop of oats was the first produce, which seldom failed of being plentiful, yielding from eight to ten bolls after one.

The ingenious and successful operation above described, is only applicable to very peculiar localities, where various circumstances concur, not usually combined. The fine tenacious alluvial soil beneath, and the immediate neighborhood of a river, very happily united to afford

*Farmer's Magazine, vol. xviii. Mr. Home Drummond, the present proprietor, completed, in the summer of 1836, the whole of the operations projected by his ingenious father; but other proprietors in the neighborhood have adopted, and are carrying on, the same mode of improvement.

facilities to this singular undertaking; but, in any light in which it can be viewed, it furnishes a striking instance of what the skill of man can effect, in increasing the natural resources of the soil; and it should serve to quicken ingenuity, and excite enterprise, in an object of so much importance. There is, doubtless, much waste land in various parts of the world, which, under a spirited system of improvement, might be made to yield, if not an equal, at least an adequate return. Peat-bogs and swamps might be drained; downs might be arrested in their progress of devastation, and even sometimes removed; commons might be divided; forest-lands might be cleared; rivers might be embanked; and, in many instances, large tracts of valuable soil might be reclaimed from the sea; while water might be procured from the bowels of the earth, by sinking Artesian wells, or streams might be profitably turned from their course, to cheer and fertilize districts rendered barren from a defect of moisture. These are some of the expedients which Providence has placed within the power of man, to enable him to add to the means of human subsistence, while they call forth and usefully exercise his faculties.

It is true, that, as a mode of counteracting the inconveniences arising from the law of propagation, such operations can only prove a partial and temporary relief, even when conducted on the largest scale; for such is the elasticity of this law, that the population could not fail, in a few years, to be again pressing, with the same force as ever, against the supply of food; but, in the mean time, the numbers of the human race would be permanently augmented; many happy and industrious families would be reared, within the bosom of the country, which would otherwise not exist at all, or would be carried away, by emigration, to increase the wealth and strength of foreign lands; and the general salubrity of the climate would be increased, as well as the effective resources of the state.

NINTH WEEK-SATURDAY.

PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL.-DISSEMINATION OF PLANTS.

FROM the preparation of soils, we naturally pass to the consideration of the various productions which are the objects of culture. But, before entering on this subject, a few introductory remarks may be desirable on the creation and natural diffusion of plants in general.*

The sacred record does not inform us whether the whole of the numerous races of the vegetable kingdom appeared simultaneously in every part of the globe where the soil and climate were suitable for their growth, or emerged from particular localities, fitted for the production of all the species. That such localities exist, we have good reason to believe. The Himmaleh Mountains, for example, afford specimens of almost every climate. Situated within the tropics, and yet stretching their lofty summits till they penetrate the region of perpetual snow, they seem to contain within themselves a microcosm, in which all temperatures and all terrestrial zones are represented, and where the productions of every parallel on the face of the globe may find adequate and congenial nourishment. To such a situation, it is possible that the Creative energy may have been confined; and, on this supposition, it is no very difficult matter to conceive how the various plants, and even animals, may have been gradually diffused over the terrestrial surface. At all events, granting that the various species of organized existences were produced by a universal Creative energy, and that thus the earth became peopled with animals and clothed with vegetation at once, a new diffusion must have become necessary after the ancient surface of the globe had been overwhelmed with the flood. It is true, as I formerly noticed, that the waters of the universal Deluge

*For much of the substance of this paper, I am indebted to Mr. Sharon Turner's Sacred History of the World,' (Letter vii.,) though I do not adopt his theory.

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