Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

122 PEAT.
such is its origin, is also proved, geologically, by the exact
resemblance of its disposition among the strata, to that
of peat among bedsof sand and marl, and by the cer-
tainty that it has been formed under fresh water and
in marshes; as it contains only fresh-water shells and
terrestrial vegetables. It is proved chemically, because
by mere change of form, jet becomes coal. Coal beds
are therefore the peat mosses of an ancient world. I leave
you to hatch this egg into a quarto volume.
To this quintessence of the natural history of peat,
I may add a sketch as simple respecting its agriculture
an object of such importance, that it is perhaps no won-
der if it has been detailed in as many volumes as it might
have been contained in words. After the innumerable
experiments that have been made, and the endless trea-
tises that have been written, the whole question resolves
itself into this. It can bear no crops if it is wet, it will
give no passage to the roots of plants if it is compact.
The remedies are simple : draining and loosening. If
wet, draining is the first requisite ; not only for the most
obvious reason, but to admit the tread of animals and the
passage of the plough. Wet or dry, it must be pulverized,
and, further, preserved in that state, or its fertility ceases.
These are the bases of the system : how they are to be
effected and at what expense, depend on the climate and
situation. As to the effects of manure, lime, clay, and
sand, they are easily understood. Where they do not
merely operate in opening the soil, their utility may be
reasoned of on general agricultural principles: in the fens
of Ely, no manure, except occasional burning, is ever
required.
Though you should care little about such matters, it
is a mere act of gratitude to bestow a few lines on that
which has so often befriended us all, in these cold and
;