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soft and wet, a few open casts, from one to two feet deep, maybe cut at 50 or 100 yards from each other, a year or two beforethe moss is laboured ; and, when the ridges are afterwards form-ed, (he furrows may be made to empty themselves into thesecasts. In all cases, drains or casts must be opened in sufficientnumber and size to relieve the surface from stagnant water.Where the moss is nearly level, these drains must be deeper andmore numerous; but whete the field to be cultivated has suffi-cient declivity to promote the escape of moisture from the sur-face, all the draining that is necessary is to form the ridges fromSO to 50 feet broad, rising eight to ten inches in the middle, withtheir surfaces regular, and the declivities equal, without heightsor hollows, and having the furrows a foot wide, and eight or teninches deep. To that extent draining is indispensably necessary;but all beyond that is labour lost, and would be injurious.
The generality of flow-mofs requires to be delved or dug over bythe fpade, for feveral years after it is firlt broken up. The turf-fods, or fpadefuls, fhould be at leaft ten or twelve inches deep, andfet up regularly like well ploughed land. The deeper the mofs iscut, fo much the better; as it foon melts down to half its originaldepth. The firft digging fhould be executed between the monthsof Oftober and the fubfequer.t March, that the adhefive quality ofthe mofs may be reduced by froft before it can be formed into peatby drought ; as, if once converted into peat, it will not be cafilyreduced to foil; but if at all affected by froft when newly dug up,drought will not afterwards convert it into peat. As it rr.uft be re-duced from peat to foil before it can be produftive of grain, flow-mofs ought to remain expofed to the weather at leaft eighteenmonths or two years after being delved, before it is cropped. Bent-mofs, when limed on the fward, would be covered with grafs inthat time ; but flow-mofs, when dug up, will remain almoft with-out vegetation for feveral years. *
After being expofed for at leaft eighteen months, the mofs oughtto be again dug over, and the turfs or clods well broken, in Ofto-ber or November ; and being expofed to the frofts of a fecond win-ter, it may be fown with oats in the enfuing fpring. If much ofthe mofs-earth remain in adhefive clods or turfs, the hoe fhould beufed along with the harrow', and the roller fhould by all means followboth; which implement ought to be again applied once, or even twice,
* As tlie surface of flow-moss is generally very irregular, and covered withcushions of Bryum hyptroides, Sphagnum palustre, &c. it is recommended bysome improvers as the best means of bringing it into a state capable of support-ing grain, grasses, &c. at a moderate expense, to burn these cushions, alongwith a portion of tlie surface of the moss, especially where it is of great depth.Even if the ashes w ere of no value, yet you thus get rid of what is most diffi-cult to be brought into a state capable of supporting useful plants; and the ob-ject in view is forwarded, by obtaining more compact peat to be converted intoSoil , and levelling the surface at the same time.