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periment farther being at an end, the plants were cut, and weigh-ed with a delicate balance ; and those which had grown on thecharcoal wanted but a little of double the weight of the other.
Such is the result of a laborious investigation respecting thequalities of that anomalous substance by which a large portionof the surface of the country is overwhelmed, and locked up fromthe use of society. A few other experiments were projected ;but circumstances occurred which prevented them from beingexecuted. Those which are recorded may perhaps be thoughttedious, and not very interesting ; but it was thought proper togive a minute account of every thing, that nothing might bewanting which could possibly throw any light on the subject.To bring the substance of what is above stated more immediate-ly under view, the following corollaries are submitted, as a foun-dation to what may be farther advanced.
Cor. 1st. Notwithstanding the refractory nature of those ve-getables of which peat-moss is formed, they are capable of being,partly at least, dissolved, and of nourishing cultivated plants, bythe application of putrescent substances, as may be seen by theresult of the experiment on flower-pot No. 1. where moss of themost refractory kind, by being steeped in cow’s urine, nourishedas luxuriant plants of wheat as were to be found on any soil.But it does not appear to be good economy to deprive the ara-ble lands of a farm, or district, of putrescent manure, so indispen-sably necessary for the preservation of its fertility, to pour it onthe neighbouring peat mosses, with the view of exciting fertilityin them. The expense of cultivating the former, which is alwaysaccessible, will be less, and the returns more certain and perma-nent, than can be expected from the latter. Neither can it besupposed, that such a great change can be operated on a peat-moss in its natural situation, as on a small portion of the samesubstance in a flower-pot. The latter was dried before beingimmersed in the liquid ; it was sheltered from the rain for threemonths in winter afterwards, mellowing in stagnant air ; and waskept close compressed in the flotver pot.
Cor. 2d. But though putrescent substances are the most pow-erful solvents of peat-moss, there are others which have some-what of a similar effect, as appears by the product of the flower-pot No. 3, which, though not equal to No. 1, was very respect-able. The moss was mixed with dead sand, taken from a pitmore than 6 feet under the surface, and put into the flower-potalong with the moss by alternate layers. Had the earth hadmore clay in it, and been more intimately mixed with the moss,so as to embrace its filaments, the effect would probably havebeen more considerable.
Cor. 3 d. By mixing moss with the earths, in order to adaptit to the nourishment of useful plants, not only is decompositionpromoted, but the consistence is also improved. That peat-moss,