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Chap. XI. App. No. 3.
On the Draining of Flow-moss.
By Mr William Aiton of Strathaven.
Draining is certainly the first operation towards the improve-ment of moss. Until the surface is relieved of stagnant water,it would be worse than being idle, to apply manure, and vain toexpect the growth of grain, or any valuable herbage.
The generality of those who have written on the improvementof that species of soil, have inculcated the necessity of draining,under-draining, trenching, &c. to render the moss dry. Somewho have become practical cultivators of that soil, have expend-ed vast sums in opening main-drains, master-drains, cross drains,under-drains, &c. intersecting each other at right angles, in someinstances within a few yards, and in others within a few feet ofeach other, in order to render the moss dry and solid. Somehave used stones, some wood, and others sod, in forming thedrains. And Doctor Anderson has recommended, to dig up themoss, the depth of two spadings; laying that taken from thesurface, with the heather, &c. undermost, so as to give ventto rain water that falls on the moss, and lead it into the main-drains.
If draining of moss, in order to render it productive of grain,were necessary to the extent that those intelligent writers andindustrious improvers seem to think, the plans of executing thedrains, which they recommend, are certainly the best that canbe invented. But there has been some diversity of opinion, a-mong the cultivators and those who have written on the sub-ject, as to the extent of draining that is necessary, on that speciesof soil.
Mr Aiton , who has seen almost daily, for near thirty yearspast, the mode of labouring and cropping the moss at Strath-aven, and who has often surveyed, for many years past, thegreatest improvements in the principal shires of Scotland , is de-cidedly of opinion himself, and avers that the most experiencedcultivators concur with him, that the only draining that is ne-cessary, on that species of soil, is, to open courses for the readyescape of all the springs that rise under the moss, or on its verges,and for that of rain water that falls on the surface; but that allfarther draining, so far from being necessary, would, if it hadany effects, prove injurious to the cultivated moss.
After admitting that flow-moss is too soft, and too wet inwinter, he argues that it is often too dry in summer, for thegrowth of grain, or even of rich grasses: and adds, that he