(Dr Robert), dean of Ely, was eldest son of Mr Robert Moss, a gentleman in good circumstances; and was born at Gillingham in Norfolk in 1666. He was bred at Benet-college, Cambridge; and acquired great reputation both as a disputant and a preacher. He became preacher to the society of Gray's-inn, London, in 1668; and assistant preacher to Dr Wake at St James's, Westminster, 1699. He was sworn chaplain in three succeeding reigns, to King William, Queen Anne, and George I. and being one of the chaplains in waiting when Queen Anne visited the university of Cambridge, April 5, 1705, he was then created D.D. In 1708 he was invited by the parishioners of St Lawrence Jewry, on the resignation of dean Stanhope, to accept of their Tuesday lecture, which he held till 1727, and then resigned it on account count of his growing infirmities. In 1712, on the death of Dr Roderick, he was nominated by the queen to the deanery of Ely, which was the highest, but not the last, promotion he obtained in the church; for in 1714 he was collated, by Robinson bishop of London, to Clifton, a small rectory on the eastern side of Hertfordshire. The gout deprived him of the use of his limbs for some of the last years of his life; and he died March 26, 1729, in his 63rd year; and was buried in the presbytery of his own cathedral, under a plain stone with a simple inscription. His character may be seen in the preface to the eight volumes of his Sermons, which has usually been attributed to Dr Snape, the editor of the sermons; but the credit of it has lately been transferred to Dr Zachary Grey. Dean Mos is also supposed to have been the author of a pamphlet printed in 1717, intitled, "The report vindicated from misreport: being a defence of my lords the bishops, as well as the clergy of the lower house of convocation; in a letter from a member of that house to the prolocutor concerning their late consultations about the bishop of Bangor's writings." He wrote also some poems, both Latin and English.
or Mosses, in botany. See Musci.
Moss on Trees, in gardening. The growth of large quantities of moss on any kind of tree is a disfigurement of very bad consequence to its increase, and much damages the fruit of the trees of our orchards.
The present remedy is the scraping it off from the body and large branches by means of a kind of wooden knife that will not hurt the bark, or with a piece of rough hair cloth, which does very well after a soaking rain. But the most effectual cure is the taking away the cause. This is to be done by draining off all the superfluous moisture from about the roots of the trees, and may greatly be guarded against in the first planting of the trees, by not setting them too deep.
If trees stand too thick in a cold ground, they will always be covered with moss; and the best way to remedy the fault is to thin them. When the young branches of trees are covered with a long and shaggy moss, it will utterly ruin them; and there is no way to prevent it but to cut off the branches near the trunk, and even to take off the head of the tree if necessary; for it will sprout again; and if the cause be in the mean time removed by thinning the plantation, or draining the land and stirring the ground well, the young shoots will continue clear after this.
If the trees are covered with moss in consequence of the ground's being too dry, as this will happen from either extreme in the soil, then the proper remedy is the laying mud from the bottom of a pond or river pretty thick about the root, opening the ground to some distance and depth to let it in; this will not only cool it, and prevent its giving growth to any great quantity of moss, but it will also prevent the other great mischief which fruit-trees are liable to in dry grounds, which is the falling off of the fruit too early.
The mosses which cover the trunks of trees, as they always are freshest and most vigorous on the side which points to the north, if only produced on that, serve to preserve the trunk of the tree from the severity of the north-winds, and direct the traveller in his way, by always plainly pointing out that part of the compass.
MOSS is also a name given by some to the boggy ground in many parts of England, otherwise called a fen and bog.
In many of these grounds, as well in England and Ireland as in other parts of the world, there are found vast numbers of trees standing with their stumps erect, and their roots piercing the ground in a natural posture as when growing. Many of those trees are broken or cut off near the roots, and lie along, and this usually in a north-east direction. People who have been willing to account for this, have usually resolved it into the effect of the deluge in the days of Noah; but this is a very wild conjecture, and is proved false by many unanswerable arguments. The waters of this deluge might indeed have washed together a great number of trees, and buried them under loads of earth; but then they would have lain irregularly and at random; whereas they all lie lengthwise from south-west to north-east, and the roots all stand in their natural perpendicular posture, as close as the roots of trees in a forest.
Besides, these trees are not all in their natural state, but many of them have the evident marks of human workmanship upon them, some being cut down with an ax, some split, and the wedges still remaining in them; some burnt in different parts, and some bored through with holes. These things are also proved to be of a later date than the deluge, by other matters found among them, such as utensils of ancient people, and coins of the Roman emperors.
It appears from the whole, that all the trees which we find in this fossil state, originally grew in the very places where we now find them, and have only been thrown down and buried there, not brought from elsewhere. It may appear indeed an objection to this opinion, that most of these fossil trees are of the fir-kind; and that Cæsar says expressly, that no firs grew in Britain in his time: but this is easily answered by observing, that these trees, though of the fir-kind, yet are not the species usually called the fir, but pitch-tree; and Cæsar has nowhere said that pitch-trees did not grow in England. Norway and Sweden yet abound with these trees; and there are at this time whole forests of them in many parts of Scotland, and a large number of them wild upon a hill at Waretton in Staffordshire to this day.
In Hatfield marsh, where such vast numbers of the fossil trees are now found, there has evidently once been a whole forest of them growing. The last of these was found alive, and growing in that place within 70 years past, and cut down for some common use.
It is also objected by some to the system of the firs growing where they are found fossil, that these countries are all bogs and moors, whereas these sorts of trees grow only in mountainous places. But this is founded on an error; for though in Norway and Sweden, and some other cold countries, the fir kinds all grow upon barren and dry rocky mountains, yet in warmer places they are found to thrive as well on wet plains. Such are found plentifully in Pomerania, Livonia, and Courland, &c. and in the west parts of New England. England there are vast numbers of fine stately trees of them in low grounds. The whole truth seems to be, that these trees love a sandy soil; and such as is found at the bottoms of all the mosses where these trees are found fossile. The roots of the fir-kind are always found fixed in these; and those of oaks, where they are found fossile in this manner, are usually found fixed in clay: so that each kind of tree is always found rooted in the places where they stand in their proper soil; and there is no doubt to be made but that they originally grew there. When we have thus found that all the fossile trees we meet with once grew in the places where they are now buried, it is plain that in these places there were once noble forests, which have been destroyed at some time; and the question only remains how and by whom they were destroyed. This we have reason to believe, by the Roman coins found among them, was done by the people of that empire, and that at the time when they were established or establishing themselves here.
Their own historian tells us, that when their armies pursued the wild Britons, these people always sheltered themselves in the miry woods and low watery forests. Caesar expressly says this; and observes, that Cassibelan and his Britons, after their defeat, passed the Thames, and fled into such low marshes and woods, that there was no pursuing them: and we find that the Silures secured themselves in the same manner when attacked by Ostorius and Agricola. The same thing is recorded of Venutius king of the Brigantes, who fled to secure himself into the boggy forests of the midland part of this kingdom: and Herodian expressly says, that in the time of the Romans pushing their conquests in these islands, it was the custom of the Britons to secure themselves in the thick forests which grew in their boggy and wet places, and when opportunity offered, to issue out thence and fall upon the Romans. The consequence of all this was the destroying all these forests; the Romans finding themselves so plagued with parties of the natives issuing out upon them at times from these forests, that they gave orders for the cutting down and destroying all the forests in Britain which grew on boggy and wet grounds. These orders were punctually executed; and to this it is owing that at this day we can hardly be brought to believe that such forests ever grew with us as are now found buried.
The Roman histories all join in telling us, that when Suetonius Paulinus conquered Anglesea, he ordered all the woods to be cut down there, in the manner of the Roman generals in England: and Galen tells us, that the Romans, after their conquest in Britain, kept their soldiers constantly employed in cutting down forests, draining of marshes, and paving of bogs. Not only the Roman soldiers were employed in this manner, but all the native Britons made captives in the wars were obliged to assist in it: and Dion Cassius tells us, that the emperor Severus lost no less than 50,000 men in a few years time in cutting down the woods and draining the bogs of this island. It is not to be wondered at, that such numbers executed the immense destruction which we find in these buried forests. One of the greatest subterranean treasures of wood is that near Hatfield; and it is easy to prove, that these people, to whom this havoc is thus attributed, were upon the spot where these trees now lie buried. The common road of the Romans out of the south into the north, was formerly from Lindum (Lincoln), to Segelochium (Little Burrow upon Trent), and from thence to Danum (Doncaster), where they kept a standing garrison of Crispianian horse. A little off on the east, and north-east of their road, between the two last named towns, lay the borders of the greatest forest, which swarmed with wild Britons, who were continually making their sallies out, and their retreats into it again, intercepting their provisions, taking and destroying their carriages, killing their allies and passengers, and disturbing their garrisons. This at length so exasperated the Romans, that they were determined to destroy it; and to do this safely and effectually, they marched against it with a great army, and encamped on a great moor not far from Finnelling: this is evident from their fortifications yet remaining.
There is a small town in the neighbourhood called Osterfield; and as the termination field seems to have been given only in remembrance of battles fought near the towns whose names ended with it, it is not improbable that a battle was fought here between all the Britons who inhabited this forest and the Roman troops under Ostorius. The Romans slew many of the Britons, and drove the rest back into this forest, which at that time overspread all this low country. On this the conquerors taking advantage of a strong south-west wind, set fire to the pitch-trees, of which this forest was principally composed; and when the greater part of the trees were thus destroyed, the Roman soldiers and captive Britons cut down the remainder, except a few large ones which they left standing as remembrances of the destruction of the rest. These single trees, however, could not stand long against the winds, and these falling into the rivers which ran through the country, interrupted their currents; and the water then overspreading the level country, made one great lake, and gave origin to the mosses or moory bogs, which were afterwards formed there, by the workings of the waters, the precipitation of earthy matter from them, and the precipitation of rotten boughs and branches of trees, and the vast increase of water-moss and other such plants which grow in prodigious abundance in all these sorts of places. Thus were these burnt and felled trees buried under a new-formed spongy and watery earth, and afterwards found on the draining and digging through this earth again.
Hence it is not strange that Roman weapons and Roman coins are found among these buried trees; and hence it is that among the buried trees some are found burnt, some chopped and hewn; and hence it is that the bodies of the trees all lie by their proper roots, and with their tops lying north-east, that is, in that direction in which a south-west wind would have blown them down: hence also it is, that some of the trees are found with their roots lying flat, these being not cut or burned down, but blown up by the roots afterwards when left single; and it is not wonderful, that such trees as these should have continued to grow even after their fall, and shoot up branches from their sides which might easily grow into high trees. Phil. Trans. No. 275.
By this system it is also easily explained why the moor moor soil in the country is in some places two or three yards thicker than in others, or higher than it was formerly, since the growing up of peat-earth or bog-ground is well known, and the soil added by overflowing of waters is not a little.
As the Romans were the destroyers of this great and noble forest, so they were probably also of the several other ancient forests; the ruins of which furnishes us with the bog-wood of Staffordshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and other counties. But as the Romans were not much in Wales, in the Isle of Man, or in Ireland, it is not to be supposed that forests cut down by these people gave origin to the foible wood found there; but though they did not cut down these forests, others did; and the origin of the bog-wood is the same with them and with us. Holinghead informs us, that Edward I. being not able to get at the Welch because of their hiding themselves in boggy woods, gave orders at length that they should all be destroyed by fire and by the axe; and doubtless the roots and bodies of trees found in Pembrokeshire under ground, are the remains of the execution of this order. The foible wood in the bogs of the island of Man is doubtless of the same origin, though we have not any accounts extant of the time or occasion of the forests there being destroyed; but as to the foible trees of the bogs of Ireland, we are expressly told, that Henry II. when he conquered that country, ordered all the woods to be cut down that grew in the low parts of it, to secure his conquests, by cutting away the places of resort of rebels.
Moving-Moss. We have an account in the Philosophical Transactions of a moving moss near Churchtown in Lancashire, which greatly alarmed the neighbourhood as miraculous. The moss was observed to rise to a surprising height, and soon after sunk as much below the level, and moved slowly towards the south.
A very surprising instance of a moving moss is that of Solway in Scotland, which happened in the year 1771, after severe rains which had produced terrible inundations of the rivers in many places. For the better understanding of this event, we shall give the following description of the spot of ground where it happened. Along the side of the river Esk there is a vale, about a mile broad, less or more in different places. It is bounded on the south-east by the river Esk, and on the north-west by a steep bank 30 feet in height above the level of the vale. From the top of the bank the ground rises in an easy ascent for about a quarter of a mile, where it is terminated by the moss; which extends about two miles north and south, and about a mile and a half east and west, and is bounded on the north-west by the river Sark. It is probable that the solid ground from the top of the bank above the vale was continued in the same direction under the moss, before its eruption, for a considerable space; for the moss at the place where the eruption happened, was inclined towards the sloping ground. From the edge of the moss there was a gully or hollow, called by the country people the gap, and said to be 30 yards deep where it entered the vale, down which ran a small rill of water, which was often dry in summer, having no supply but what filtered from the moss. The eruption happened at the head of this gap, on Saturday November 16th 1771, about ten or eleven at night, when all the neighbouring rivers and brooks were prodigiously swelled by the rains. A large body of the moss was forced, partly by the great fall of rain, and partly by some springs below it, into a small beck or burn, which runs within a few yards of its border to the south-east. By the united pressure of the water behind it, and of this beck, which was then very high, it was carried down a narrow glen between two banks about 350 feet high, into a wide and spacious plain, over part of which it spread with great rapidity. The moss continued for some time to send off considerable quantities; which, being borne along by the torrent on the back of the first great body, kept it for many hours in perpetual motion, and drove it still farther on. This night at least 400 acres of fine arable land were covered with moss from 3 to 12 or 15 feet deep. Several houses were destroyed, a good deal of corn lost, &c. but all the inhabitants escaped. When the waters subsided, the moss also ceased to flow; but two pretty considerable streams continued to run from the heart of it, and carried off some pieces of mossy matter to the place where it burst. There they joined the beck already mentioned; which, with this addition, resumed its former channel; and, with a little assistance from the people of the neighbourhood, made its way to the Esk, through the midst of that great body of moss which obstructed its course. Thus, in a great measure drained, the new moss fell several feet, when the fair weather came in the end of November, and settled in a firmer and more solid body on the lands it had over-run. By this inundation about 800 acres of arable ground were overflowed before the moss stopped, and the habitations of 27 families destroyed. Tradition has preserved the memory of a similar inundation in Monteith in Scotland. A moss there altered its course in one night, and covered a great extent of ground.
Mosses of Kincardine: A remarkable tract of ground in the shire of Perth in Scotland, which deserves particular notice, not merely as a topographical curiosity, or as a subject of natural history; but for the information, equally uncommon and important, which it affords, respecting agricultural improvement, and the promotion of industry and population.
The moss of Kincardine is situated in the parish of the same name, comprehended between the rivers Forth and Teith, and in that district of Perthshire called Monteith. The moss begins about a mile above the confluence of these rivers; from thence it extends in length about four miles, and from one to two in breadth; and before the commencement of the operations (an account of which is to be given), comprehended near 2000 Scotch acres, of which about 1500 belong to the estate of Blair Drummond, the property of Lord Kames by his marriage with Mrs Drummond of Blair Drummond.
As mosses are extremely various in their nature; before entering upon the improvements made in Kincardine moss, it will be proper to give a short description of that moss, and of the subjacent soil which is the object of those improvements.
The moss lies upon a field of clay, which is a continuation of those rich, extensive flats in the neighbourhood. MOS
bourhood of Falkirk and Stirling, distinguished by the name of carfe. This clay, which is one uniform homogeneous mass sinking to a great depth, is found near the surface, consists of different colours, and is disposed in layers. The uppermost is grey; the next is reddish; and the lowest, which is the most fertile, is blue. Through the whole mass not a pebble is to be found. The only extraneous bodies it contains are sea-shells, which occur in all the varieties peculiar to the eastern coast of Scotland. They are disposed sometimes in beds, sometimes scattered irregularly at different depths. By attending to these circumstances, it cannot be doubted that the sea has been the means of the whole accumulation, and that it was carried on in a gradual manner by the ordinary ebb and flow of the tide. Upon any other supposition, why should there not have been a congeries of all the different materials that compose the surface of the surrounding heights? But to whatever cause the origin of this accumulation may be ascribed, certain it is that no soil whatever is more favourable to vegetation, or carries more abundant crops of every kind.
The surface of the clay, which, upon the retreat of the sea, had been left in an almost level plane, is everywhere thickly covered with trees, chiefly oak and birch, many of them of a great size. These trees seem to have been the first remarkable produce of the carfe; and it is probable they were propagated by dissemination from the surrounding eminences. They are found lying in all directions beside their roots, which still continue firm in the ground in their natural position; and from impositions still visible, it is evident they have been cut with an axe or some similar instrument. For the cutting of wood, the two common purposes are, either to apply it to its proper use, or that the ground it occupies may be cultivated. In the present case, however, neither of these ends had been proposed, since the trees, by being left just as they were cut, were not only entirely lost, but the ground was rendered totally unfit for cultivation. Hence it is evident, that the downfall of this wood must be ascribed to some more extraordinary cause; and to none more probably than to that expedient, which, as we learn from Dion Cassius and other historians, the Romans put so extensively in practice to dislodge from their forests the ancient inhabitants of the British islands.
This hypothesis acquires no small degree of force from a circumstance that occurred in May 1768, when a large round vessel of thin brass and curious workmanship, 25 inches in diameter and 16 inches in height, was discovered upon the surface of the clay buried under the moss. This vessel, found upon the estate of John Ramsay, Esq.; of Ochtertyre, was by that gentleman presented to the Antiquarian Society of Edinburgh; in whose museum it remains deposited for preservation. And in a list of the various donations presented to that society, published by them in 1782, it is there denominated a Roman camp-kettle.
Between the clay and the moss is found a stratum nine inches thick, partly dark brown and partly of a colour approaching to black. This is a vegetable mould, accumulated probably by the plants that covered the ground previous to the growth of the wood, and by leaves from the trees thereafter. The difference of colour must be owing to a difference in the vegetable substances that compose it. The brown mould is highly fertile; the other, especially in a dry season, is very unproductive. The crop that had occupied this mould—when the trees were felled—is found still entire. It consists chiefly of heath; but several other smaller plants are also very distinguishable.
Immediately above this stratum lies the moss, to the height, upon an average, of seven feet. It is composed of different vegetables arranged in three distinct strata. Of these the first is three feet thick. It is black and heavy, and preferable to the others for the purpose of fuel. It consists of bent-grass (Agrostis), which seems to have grown up luxuriantly among the trees after they were felled. The second stratum also is three feet thick. It is composed of various kinds of mosses, but principally of bog-moss (Sphagnum). It is of a yellow or iron colour, and remarkably elastic. It is commonly called white-peat; and for fuel is considered as much inferior to that above mentioned. The third stratum is composed of heath and a little bent-grass, but chiefly of the deciduous parts of the former. It is about a foot thick, and black.
Three strata of different vegetables lying above each other, the limits of each distinctly marked, and each distinguished by a different colour, is certainly a curious natural phenomenon.
An inquiry will here occur, What has occasioned this succession in the vegetables of which the moss is composed?
Every vegetable has a particular soil, more or less moist, peculiarly adapted to its nature. Let a piece of ground be in a moist state, rushes will introduce themselves; drain the ground sufficiently, the rushes will disappear, and finer vegetables will succeed. It seems reasonable to account for the succession of the different plants that compose the moss on similar principles.
Let us imagine an extensive plain covered with trees lying in all directions, full of branches, and possibly loaded with leaves. This it is evident would produce a great stagnation of water, which, as the crops of bent-grass accumulated, would still increase; and the probability is, that at length it had so increased, as to be the cause why the bent-grass and other congenial plants of the first stratum ceased to grow. But it is evident that a plant was to be found that could live in such a situation. Accordingly we see that bog-moss had established itself; a plant that loves even to swim in water.
When the accumulations of bent-grass and the mosses had, in process of time, arisen to the height of six feet above the surrounding carfe ground, the water that fell upon the surface had by that means an opportunity to discharge itself. It has accordingly formed many channels, which are often three feet deep; and the intermediate surface being wholly turned into little hillocks has become dry and firm. By this means it became unfit for mosses, and heath succeeded.
Such seems to have been the process in the formation of what is now called a moss.
By far the greatest part of the moss in question is, upon an average, full seven feet deep, and has in all probability lain undisturbed since its formation: this is called the High Moss. The remainder, called the Low Moss, lies to a considerable breadth around the extremities of the high; and is, upon an average, not above three feet in depth, depth, to which it has been reduced by the digging of peats. These are formed of that stratum of the mofs only that lies four feet below the surface and downwards; the rest is improper for the purpose, and is thrown aside.
Before the introduction of the plan which is now pursued, two methods chiefly were employed to gain land from the mofs. 1st, The surrounding farmers marked off yearly a portion of the Low Mofs next to their arable land, about 15 feet broad. This they removed with carts and spread upon their fields, some acres of which they for that end left unsoiled. Here it lay till May or June; when, being thoroughly dry, it was burnt to ashes to serve as a manure. By this means they added to their farms about half a rood of land yearly. But this plan proved unsuccessful; for by the repeated application of these ashes, the soil was rendered so loofe that the crops generally failed. 2dly, Many farmers were wont to trench down the low mofs, and to cover it furrow deep with clay taken out of the trench. This, though commendable as an attempt to improve, proved likewise an unavailing method; because in a dry season the superficial covering of clay retains so little moisture that the crop commonly fails.
It has been attempted to cover the mofs with clay brought from the adjacent grounds. But what from the necessary impoverishment of the ground from which the clay was carried, and the softness of the mofs, this was soon found to be impracticable.
Draining has also been proposed as another mode of improvement; and it must be acknowledged, that, by means of draining, many mofs have been converted both into arable and meadow grounds, which in the end became interesting improvements. But in a mof, such as that of Kincardine, this method would be ineffectual; as for several feet deep it is of such a nature, that upon being dry and divided into parts, it would blow with the wind like chaff; and when thrown aside in the operation of digging peats, it lies for years without producing a single vegetable, except only a few plants of torrel.
Hence it is evident, that all attempts to improve this mof must ever prove abortive; and that the object to be had in view is the acquisition of the valuable soil lying underneath; to which end nothing less is requisite than the total abolition of the mof.
By the methods above described from 100 to 200 acres of mofs had been removed. When the present plan was introduced, there still remained covered with mofs from 1300 to 1400 acres of carse clay—a treasure for which it must be ever interesting to dig.
In the year 1766 Lord Kames entered into possession of the estate of Blair Drummond. Long before that period he was well acquainted with the mofs, and often lamented that no attempt had ever been made to turn it to advantage. Many different plans were now proposed; at length it was resolved to attempt, by means of water as the most powerful agent, entirely to sweep off the whole body of mofs.
That mofs might be floated in water, was abundantly obvious; but to find water in sufficient quantity was difficult, the only stream at hand being employed to turn a corn-mill. Convinced of the superior consequence of dedicating this stream to the purpose of floating off the mofs, Lord Kames having made an agreement with the tenant who farmed the mill, and the tenants thirled consenting to pay the rent, he immediately threw down the mill, and applied the water to the above purpose.
In order to determine the best manner of conducting the operation, workmen were now employed for a considerable time upon the Low Mofs both by the day and by the piece, to ascertain the expense for which a given quantity of mofs could be removed. It was then agreed to operate at a certain rate per acre; and in this manner several acres were removed.
But this was to be a very expensive process. The ground gained might, indeed, be afterwards let to tenants; but every acre would require an expenditure from £12 to £15 before it could be ready for sowing; so that the acquisition of the whole, computing it at a medium to be £350 acres, would sink a capital of nearly £20,000 sterling.
One other method still remained; namely, to attempt letting portions of the mofs, as it lay, for a term of years sufficient to indemnify tenants for the expenses incurred in removing it. For some time both these plans were adopted; but several reasons made the latter preferable. 1. The quantity of water to be had was small; and being also uncertain, it was very inconvenient for an undertaker; neither were there any houses near the spot, which occasioned a great loss of time in going and coming: but when a man should live upon the spot, then he could be ready to seize every opportunity. 2. The mofs was an useless waste. To let it to tenants would increase the population of the estate, and afford to a number of industrious people the means of making to themselves a comfortable livelihood.
In the mean time it was determined, till as many tenants should be got as could occupy the whole water, to carry on the work by means of undertakers.
But before proceeding farther, it will be necessary to describe the manner of applying water to the purpose of floating the mofs.
A stream of water sufficient to turn a common corn-mill will carry off as much mof as 20 men can throw into it, provided they be stationed at the distance of 100 yards from each other. The first step is to make in the clay, along-side of the mofs, a drain to convey the water; and for this operation the carse-clay below the mofs is peculiarly favourable, being perfectly free from stones and all other extraneous substances, and at the same time, when moist, slippery as soap; so that not only is it easily dug, but its lubricity greatly facilitates the progress of the water when loaded with mofs. The dimensions proper for the drain are found to be two feet for the breadth and the same for the depth. If smaller, it could not conveniently receive the spadefuls of mofs; if larger, the water would escape, leaving the mofs behind. The drain has an inclination of one foot in 100 yards; the more regularly this inclination is observed throughout, the less will the mofs be liable to obstructions in its progress with the water. The drain being formed, the operator marks off to a convenient extent along-side of it a section of mofs 10 feet broad; the greatest distance from which he can heave his spadeful into the drain. This he repeatedly does till the entire mass be removed down to the clay. He then digs a new drain at the foot of the moss-bank, turns the water into it, and proceeds as before, leaving the moss to pursue its course into the river Forth, a receptacle equally convenient and capacious; upon the fortunate situation of which, happily forming for several miles the southern boundary of the estate, without the interposition of any neighbouring proprietor, depended the very existence of the whole operations.
When the moss is entirely removed, the clay is found to be encumbered with the roots of different kinds of trees standing in it as they grew, often very large: their trunks also are frequently found lying beside them. All these tenants remove often with great labour. In the course of their operations they purposely leave upon the clay a stratum of moss six inches thick. This, in spring, when the season offers, they reduce to ashes, which in a great measure ensures the first crop. The ground thus cleared is turned over, where the dryness admits, with a plough, and, where too soft, with a spade. A month's exposure to the sun, wind, and frost, reduces the clay to a powder fitting it for the seed in March and April. A crop of oats is the first, which seldom fails of being plentiful, yielding from eight to ten bolls after one.
In the year 1767 an agreement was made with one tenant for a portion of the Low Moss. This, as being the first step towards the intended plan, was then viewed as a considerable acquisition. The same terms agreed upon with this tenant have ever since been observed with all the rest. They are as follow:
The tenant holds eight acres of moss by a tack of 38 years; he is allowed a proper quantity of timber, and two bolls of oatmeal to support him while employed in rearing a house; the first seven years he pays no rent; the eighth year he pays one merk Scots; the ninth year two merks; and so on with the addition of one merk yearly till the end of the first 19 years; during the last five years of which he also pays a hen yearly. Upon the commencement of the second 19 years, he begins to pay a yearly rent of 12s. for each acre of land cleared from moss, and 2s. 6d. for each acre not cleared, also two hens yearly: a low rent indeed for so fine a soil; but no more than a proper reward for his laborious exertions in acquiring it.
In the year 1768 another tenant was settled. These two were tradesmen; to whom the preference was always given, as having this great advantage to recommend them, that even when deprived of water they need never want employment. The motives that induced these people to become settlers were, 1st, The prospect of an independent establishment for a number of years. 2ndly, The moss afforded them great abundance of excellent fuel; to which was added the comfortable consideration, that, while busied in providing that necessary article, they had the double advantage of promoting, at the same time, the principal object of their settlement.
Notwithstanding these inducements, still settlers offered slowly; to which two circumstances chiefly contributed: 1st, The whole farmers surrounding the moss threw every possible obstruction in their way. 2ndly, By people of all denominations the scheme was viewed as a chimerical project, and became a common topic of ridicule. The plan, however, supported itself; and in the year 1769 five more tenants agreed for eight acres each; and thus 56 acres of Low Moss were disposed of. From the progress made by the first settlers, and the addition of these, the obliquity of becoming a moss-tenant gradually became less regarded; so that in the year 1772 two more were added; in 1773, three; and in 1774, one; in all 13; which disposed of 104 acres; all the Low Moss to which water could then be conveyed. As water is the main spring of the operation, every tenant, beside the attention necessary to his share of the principal stream, collected water by every possible means, making ditches round his portion of the moss, and a reservoir therein to retain it till wanted.
The tenants in the Low Moss having now begun to raise good crops, in the year 1774 several persons offered to take possessions in the High Moss, upon condition that access to it should be rendered practicable. The High Moss wanted many advantages that the Low possessed. To the Low Moss, lying contiguous to the surrounding arable lands, the access was tolerably good; but from the arable lands the High Moss was separated by 300 or 400 yards of the Low, which, even to a man, affords but indifferent footing, and to horses is altogether impracticable. The Low Moss is generally only three feet deep; the High Moss is from six to twelve feet in depth.
It will appear at first sight, that without a road of communication the High Moss must for ever have proved unconquerable. Without delay, therefore, a road was opened to the breadth of twelve feet, for several hundred yards in length, by floating off the moss down to the clay.
This being effected, and at the same time an opening given to admit water, in the year 1775 twelve tenants agreed for eight acres of high moss each. In consideration of the greater depth of this part of the moss, it was agreed, that during the first 19 years they should pay no rent; but for the second 19 years the terms of agreement were the same as those made with the tenants in the Low Moss. To the above mentioned tenants every degree of encouragement was given; as upon their success depended, in a great measure, the disposal of the great quantity of moss still remaining. But their success, however problematical, was such, that next year,
1776, 6 more took 8 acres each, 1777, 1 1778, 4 1779, 3 1780, 1 1781, 1 1782, 1
In all, including those upon the Low Moss, 42 tenants, occupying 336 acres.
Though for some time the disposal of the High Moss went but slowly on, it was not for want of tenants; but the number of operators was already sufficient for the quantity of water; to have added more would evidently have been imprudent.
In the year 1783 Mr Drummond entered into possession of the estate of Blair-Dummond, and went fully into the plan adopted by his predecessor for subduing the moss. At this time there still remained undisposed of about 1000 acres of High Moss. As water was the great desideratum, it was determined, Plate CCCXVI.
Sketch of the Wheel for raising Water at Blair Drummond.
Sketch of the Cistern as seen from above.
Here the buckets empty themselves.
Here the arms of the Wheel move.
Here the buckets empty themselves.
Sketch of the manner in which the water is filled from the troughs into the buckets.
Abbott Prin. Wm. Sculptor fecit. that to obtain that necessary article neither pains nor expense should be wanting. Steps were accordingly taken to ascertain in what manner it might be procured to most advantage.
Meanwhile, to prepare for new tenants a second road parallel to the former, at the distance of half a mile, was immediately begun and cut, with what water could be got, down to the clay, 12 feet broad and 2670 yards long, quite across the moors. This opening was previously necessary, that operators might get a drain formed in the clay to direct the water; and it was to remain as a road that was absolutely necessary, and which relieved settlers from an expense they were unable to support. These preparations, the progress of the former tenants, and the prospect of a farther supply of water, induced 10 more to take possessions in the year 1783; in the year 1784, 18 more took possessions; and in 1785 no fewer than 27—in all, 55 tenants in three years, which disposed of 440 acres more of the High Moors.
As the introduction of an additional stream to the moors was to be a work both of nicety and expense, it was necessary to proceed with caution. For this reason several engineers were employed to make surveys and plans of the different modes by which it might be procured. In one point they all agreed, that the proper source for furnishing that supply was the river Teith; a large and copious stream that passes within a mile of the moors; but various modes were proposed for effecting that purpose.
To carry a stream from the river by a cut or canal into the moors was found to be impracticable; and Mr Whitworth (a) gave in a plan of a pumping machine, which he was of opinion would answer the purpose extremely well.
Soon after this Mr George Meikle of Alloa, a very skilful and ingenious millwright, gave in a model of a wheel for raising water entirely of a new construction, of his own and his father's invention jointly. This machine is so exceedingly simple, and acts in a manner so easy, natural, and uniform, that a common observer is apt to undervalue the invention; but persons skilled in mechanics view machinery with a very different eye; for to them simplicity is the first recommendation a machine can possess. Accordingly, upon seeing the model set to work, Mr Whitworth, with that candour and liberality of mind that generally accompany genius and knowledge, not only gave it the greatest praise, but declared that, for the purpose required, it was superior to the machine recommended by himself, and advised it to be adopted without hesitation.
The better to explain this machine, two sketches are annexed, to the first of which the following letters refer. The explanation of the second will be found upon the sketch.
- **Plate CCCXVI.** - **a.** Sluice through which is admitted the water that moves the wheel. - **b.** Two sluices through which is admitted the water raised by the wheel.
Vol. XII. Part I.
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(a) This gentleman is superintendent of the London water-works, and an engineer of great reputation in England. He was several years employed in Scotland in completing the great canal.
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c, c. A part of one of two wooden troughs and an aperture in the wall, through which the above water is conveyed into the buckets. [The other trough is hid by two stone walls that support the wheel.]
d, d, d. Buckets, of which 80 are arranged on each side of the arms of the wheel = 160.
e, e, e. A cistern, into which the water raised by the buckets is discharged.
f, f, f. Wooden barrel-pipes, through which the water descends from the cistern underground, to avoid the high road from Stirling and the private approach to the house.
Sketch second contains a plan of the cistern, and exhibits the manner in which the water is filled into the buckets.
The diameter of the wheel to the extremities of the float-boards is 28 feet; the length of the float-boards, 10 feet. The wheel makes nearly four revolutions per minute; in which time it discharges into the cistern 40 hogsheads of water. But this is not all the wheel is capable of performing; for by several accurate trials by Messrs Whitworth and Meikle, in the result of which, though made separately, they perfectly agreed, it was found that the wheel was able to lift no less than 60 hogsheads per minute; but that the diameter of the pipes through which the water descends from the cistern would not admit a greater quantity than what they already receive.
To a person at all conversant in hydraulics, the resemblance of this to the Persian wheel must be obvious; and indeed it is probable, that from the Persian wheel the first idea of this machine was derived. But admitting this, still the superiority of the present wheel is, in most respects, so conspicuous, as to entitle it to little less praise than the first invention. For, 1st, In the Persian wheel, the buckets being all moveable, must be constantly going out of order; in this wheel they are all immovable, consequently never can be out of order. 2ndly, Instead of lifting the water from the bottom of the fall as in the Persian wheel, this wheel lifts it from the top of the fall, being from four to five feet higher; by which means some additional power is gained. 3rdly, By means of the three sluices (a, and b, b, fig. 1.) in whatever situation the river may be, the quantity of the water to be raised is so nicely adjusted to that of the moving power, as constantly to preserve the wheel in a steady and equable motion. In short, as a regulator is to a watch, so are these sluices to this wheel, whose movements would otherwise be so various, as sometimes to carry the water clear over the cistern, sometimes to drop it entirely behind, but seldom so as fully to discharge the whole contents of the buckets into the cistern.
It is however but candid to remark, that this machine labours under a small defect, which did not escape the observation of Mr Whitworth; namely, that by raising the water about 3½ feet higher than the cistern where it is ultimately delivered, a small degree of power is lost. To this indeed he proposed a remedy; but candidly confessed, that, as it would render the machine... somewhat more complex, and would also increase the friction, he thought it more advisable to keep it in its present state. At the same time he justly observed, that as the stream by which the wheel is moved is at all times copious and powerful, the small loss of power occasioned by the above circumstances was of little or no avail.
This stream is detached from the Teith at the place where that river approaches nearest to the moor. The surface of the latter is about 15 feet higher than that of the former; the cillern is therefore placed 17 feet above the surface of the stream, so as to leave a declivity sufficient to deliver the water upon the surface of the moor.
The pipes through which the water descends from the cillern are composed of wooden barrels hooped with iron 4 feet long and 18 inches in diameter within.
In these pipes, having been conveyed under ground for 354 yards from the cillern, the water at once emerges into an open aqueduct. This aqueduct, which was formed according to a plan by Mr Whitworth, is constructed wholly of earth or clay; and in order to keep the water on a level with the surface of the moor, it is for nearly two-thirds of its course elevated from 8 to 10 feet above the level of the adjacent grounds; the base being 40 feet broad, the summit 18 feet, and the water-course 10 feet broad. It commences at the termination of the pipe, from whence extending above 1400 yards, it discharges the water into a canal formed for its reception on the surface of the moor.
For raising the water to this height there were two reasons. 1st, That not only where it was delivered on the moor, but even after being conveyed to the most distant corners, it might still retain sufficient power to transport the moor to the river Forth. 2ndly, That reservoirs of a sufficient height might be formed in the moor to retain the water delivered during night.
In consequence of Mr Whitworth's advice, a contract was entered into with Mr Meikle in spring 1787; and by the end of October in that year, the wheel, pipes, and aqueduct, were all completely finished; and what, in so complex and extensive an undertaking, is by no means common, the different branches of the work were so completely executed, and so happily adjusted to each other, that upon trial the effect answered the most sanguine expectations. The total expense exceeded £1000 Sterling.
To induce the proprietor to embark in this undertaking, the moor tenants had of their own accord previously come under a formal engagement to pay the interest of any sum that might be expended in procuring a supply of water. But he was determined they should not enjoy by halves the sweets of this long-wished-for acquisition. With a view, therefore, not only to reward their past industry, but to rouse them to future exertions, he at once set them free from their engagement; nor has any interest ever been demanded.
This new supply was a most acceptable boon to the moor tenants.—In order to make an equitable distribution, the water raised through the day was allotted to one division of operators; that raised during the night to another. To retain the latter, a canal was formed, extending almost three miles through the centre of the moor. From place to place along the sides are inserted sluices to admit water to the reservoirs of the possessors; each sluice having an aperture proportioned to the number of operators to be supplied from the reservoir which it fills. For the water raised through the day no reservoirs are necessary; as it is immediately used by the division to which it is allotted.
This additional stream, though highly beneficial, yet is not more than sufficient to keep 40 men at constant work. But such a quantity as would give constant work is not necessary; the operators must be often employed in making and repairing their drains, grubbing up roots of trees, &c.; so that a quantity sufficient to give five or six hours work per day to the whole inhabitants is as much as would be wanted. But as the quantity procured was still insufficient for this purpose, a small stream that descended from the higher grounds was diverted from its course and brought into the moor. From want of level this stream could not be delivered to the greatest advantage; namely, upon the surface of the moor. Yet by making, at a considerable expense, a drain half a mile long, and a reservoir for the night-water, it was rendered of much importance. And during the whole winter months, as well as in summer, after every fall of rain, it keeps 15 persons fully employed.
In the year 1787 two more tenants agreed for eight acres each; in 1788, four; in 1789, eight; in 1790, four tenants, all agreed for the same number of acres.
The whole moor was now disposed of, except that part called Flow-moor, which comprehended about 400 acres. Here it is twice the usual breadth, so fluid that a pole may be thrust with one hand to the bottom; and the interior part, for near a mile broad, is three feet above the level of all the rest of the moor. Hitherto the many and various difficulties that presented themselves had been overcome by perseverance and expense. But here the extraordinary elevation of the moor, joined to its great fluidity, seemed to exclude all possibility of admitting a stream of water; and it was the general opinion that the moor-operations had now arrived at their ne plus ultra, and that this moor was doomed to remain a nuisance for ages to come.
But the proprietor had now advanced so far that he could not submit to retreat; and he considered himself as, in some measure, pledged to the country for the completion of this undertaking. To detail the various methods practised to introduce a stream of water into that moor, would prove tedious. It is sufficient to say, that after a thousand unsuccessful efforts, attended with much trouble and considerable expense, the point at last was gained, and a stream of water was brought in, and carried fairly across the centre of the moor.
The greatest obstacle was now indeed overcome; but still another remained of no small moment, namely, the discouragement given to settlers from the total impossibility of erecting habitations upon the surface of this moor. To find a remedy for this evil was difficult. Happily a resource at last occurred. This was to bargain with a certain number of the old tenants whose habitations were nearest, to take leaves of portions of the moor. But as some additional aid was here necessary, it was agreed that £12 Sterling should be gradually advanced to each tenant till he should accomplish the clearing of an acre, for which he or his successor is bound to pay 12s. of yearly rent. equal to five per cent. upon the sum advanced. When this point shall be gained, they are bound to dispose, as most agreeable to themselves, either of their old or of their new possession; for which, when once an acre is cleared, purchasers will not be wanting.
In consequence of the above arrangement, during the year 1791 no fewer than 35 of the old tenants agreed, upon the foresaid conditions, for eight acres each of the Flow-moors. Thus 1200 acres are now disposed of to 115 tenants. But when these 35 tenants shall each have cleared their acre, then, according to agreement, 35 additional tenants will speedily be acquired; and the moors will then contain in all 150 families.
To the leases already granted to the tenants in the High Moors, it is now determined to add a further period of 19 years (making in all 57 years), during which they are to pay one guinea per acre; a rent not greater than the land is worth even at present, but greatly below its probable value at that distant period. This, it is hoped, will prove to the tenants a sufficient incitement to continue their operations till their possessions are completely cleared from moors.
Having now gone through, in detail, the whole progress of the colony since its first settlement in the year 1767, it still remains to take a general view of the effects produced by that establishment.
For several years, at first, the water was used chiefly to carry off moors, in the forming of new roads, and preparing reservoirs; which considerably retarded the principal object of gaining land. Nevertheless there have been cleared full 300 acres of excellent land, producing wheat, barley, oats, and clover, yielding from six to twelve bolls after one.
From the nature of the undertaking, there is good reason to suppose that the operations will yearly advance with greater rapidity; especially as the greater number of the settlers have only of late begun to operate. Many, besides maintaining their families otherwise by occasional employments, have in the High Moors cleared in a year one rood of land; some have cleared two, some three roods, and in the Low Moors an acre.
It was a remark often made, even by persons of some observation, that by collecting together such a number of people, Kincardine would be overstocked; and the consequence would be their becoming a burden on the parish; for as the bulk of them were labourers not bred to any trade, and possessed of little stock, it was foreseen that, for some time, they could not afford to confine themselves solely to the moors, from which the return must be slow; but behoved, for immediate subsistence, to work for daily hire. Happily these predictions have proved entirely groundless; for such is the growing demand for hands in this country, that not only do the whole of these people find employment whenever they choose to look for it, but their wages have been yearly increasing from the time of their first establishment. In short, they have proved to the corner where they are set down a most useful nursery of labourers; and those very farmers who, at first, so strongly opposed their settlement, now fly to them as a sure resource for every purpose of agriculture. Still they consider the moor-operations as their principal business; none pay them so well; and when they do leave it to earn a little money, they return with cheerfulness to their proper employment. Many of them already raise from 10 to 60 bolls of grain, and have no occasion to go off to other work; which will soon be the case with the whole. Their original stock, indeed, did not often exceed £25, and some had not even £10; but what was wanting in stock is compensated by industry.
Of the whole inhabitants full nine-tenths are Highlanders, from the neighbouring parishes of Callander, Balquhidder, &c.; sober, frugal, and industrious people, who, inured to hardships in their own country, are peculiarly qualified to encounter so arduous an undertaking. From this circumstance, too, arises a very happy consequence; that wearing a different garb and speaking a different language from the people amongst whom they are settled, they consider themselves in a manner as one family transported to a foreign land. And hence upon all occasions of difficulty, they fly with alacrity to each others relief. Neither ought it to be forgotten, that, from their first settlement to the present day, not a single instance has occurred amongst them of theft, bad neighbourhood, or of any other misdeemeanour, that required the interposition of the civil magistrate. Nor, however poor in circumstances, has any one of them ever stooped to solicit assistance from the funds of the parish appropriated to that purpose.
Though few of the tenants entered with a large stock, one only has been obliged to leave the moors from incapacity to proceed. Many indeed have spent their small stocks, and even run a little in debt; but in this case they have been permitted to fell their tasks upon the following conditions: 1st, That the purchaser shall be a good man; 2nd, That the seller shall take another possession. By this manoeuvre a new inhabitant is gained; while the old one, relieved from debt, and aided by past experience, recommences his operations with double spirit upon a new possession. The monied man, again, has at once a house and a piece of ground; the want of which, chiefly, startled new beginners.
Some have even made a kind of trade of selling; in somuch, that from the year 1774 to the present year 1792, no fewer than sixty sales have taken place, producing in all the sum of £849 Sterling. This proved from time to time a most seasonable recruit to the colony, and gave new vigour and spirits to the whole.
The number of the settlers is productive of an excellent effect; that although some are generally absent, enough still remain to occupy the water constantly. In a favourable day there may be seen hundreds, men, women, and children, labouring with the utmost assiduity. The women declare they can make more by working at the moors than at their wheel; and such is the general attachment to that employment, that they have frequently been discovered working by moon-light.
Another happy consequence arising from their numbers is the great quantity of moors they consume for fuel. There are in all 115 families. Each family requires at an average 10 dargues (b) of peats yearly.
(b) A dargue (or darg) of peats, is the quantity that one man can cast and two can wheel in a day to the field where they are spread out to dry. Each darg uncovers a space equal to 10 square yards of clay; so that by casting peats, the moors tenants gain yearly about 6 roods of land.
The advantage, too, of providing their fuel with so little trouble, is very great. They require yearly 1150 dargs of peats; which, as each darg when dried and stacked is valued at five shillings, are worth £87.10s. Sterling; a sum which otherwise must have been expended on the prime cost and carriage of coals. Many of them cast peats for sale; and £100 worth are yearly disposed of in the town of Stirling, the village of Down, &c.
Though moor-work be laborious, it is at the same time amusing. The operator moves the moors five feet only at a medium; and the water, like carts in other cases, carrying it off as fast as it is thrown in, excites him to activity. Still he must submit to be wet from morning to night. But habit reconciles him to this inconvenience; while his house and arable land fill his eye and cheer his mind. Nor is it found that the health of the inhabitants is in the smallest degree injured either by the nature of the work or the vicinity of the moors.
The quantity of moors that one man can move in a day is surprising; when he meets with no interruption, seldom less than 48 cubic yards, each weighing 90 stones. The weight, then, of moors moved per day is no less than 4320 stones. A cubic yard is moved into the water, and of course carried into the river Forth for one farthing. It follows, that the expense of moving 48 cubic yards is one shilling. But the same quantity moved to the same distance by carts would cost 24 shillings. Hence the advantage derived from the possibility of floating moors in water, and the great importance of having water for that purpose.
The moors, when contrasted with the rich lands surrounding, appeared, especially before the improvements, a very dreary spot; one wide unvaried wild, totally unproductive, unfit even to furnish sustenance to any animal, except here and there a few wretched straggling sheep. Besides, it entirely cut off all connection between the farms on either side; amongst which no intercourse was practicable but by a circuit of several miles.
The scene is already greatly changed. The following are the numbers of the inhabitants now residing in the moors; also of their cows and horses, and of the acres gained by them from the moors, together with their produce.
| Men | 115 | |-----|-----| | Women | 113 | | Boys | 199 | | Girls | 193 |
Total 620
Number of cows, at least, 115 Ditto of horses and carts, 34 Ditto of acres cleared from moors, 300
The produce in bolls cannot be exactly ascertained; but, considering the goodness of the soil, may be fairly stated at 8 bolls per acre, inde 2400 bolls.
As oats are the staple commodity, the calculation shall be confined to that grain. According to the fairs of Stirlingshire, crop 1790 (the last crop for which they have been struck), carse oats are valued at 14s. per boll. Inde 2400 bolls at 14s. is L. 1680.
A track of ground so considerable, formerly a nuisance to the country, thus converted into a fertile field, filled with inhabitants, comfortable and happy, cannot surely be surveyed with an eye of indifference by any person whose mind is at all susceptible of feeling or of public spirit.
An excellent gravelled road 20 feet wide and a mile and a half long, is now carried quite across the moors. By this means, in the first place, a short and easy intercourse is established between two considerable parts of the estate, formerly as little connected as if separated by a lake or an arm of the sea. Secondly, the inhabitants of the Moors, to whom, hitherto, all passage with carts or horses was impracticable for at least one half of the year, have now obtained the essential advantage of being able, with ease, to transport all their different commodities at every season of the year. This road was entirely formed by the hands of the moors-tenants, and gravelled by their own carts and horses: a work which, it will not be doubted, they performed with much alacrity; when it is considered that, to the prospect of procuring a lasting and material benefit to themselves, there was joined the additional inducement of receiving an immediate supply of money, the whole being done at the proprietor's expense.
The possessions are laid off in the manner best fitted for the operations; and are divided by lanes running in straight lines parallel to each other. Parallel to these again the drains are carried; and this straight direction greatly facilitates the progress of the water with its load of moors. Upon the bank of moors fronting the lanes, the operation of floating is begun; and twenty or thirty people are sometimes seen heaving moors into the same drain. That the water may be the more conveniently applied, the lanes include between them the breadth of two possessions only. The new houses are erected upon each side of these lanes at the distance of 100 yards from each other.
Before the formation of lanes and roads, and while yet no ground was cleared, the first settlers were obliged to erect their houses upon the surface of the moors. Its softness denied all access to stones; which, at any rate, are at such a distance as would render them too expensive. Settlers, therefore, were obliged to construct their houses of other materials. Upon the Low Moors there is found for this purpose great plenty of bog or turf, which accordingly the tenants use for the walls of their houses. For the rudeness of the fabric nature in some measure compensates, by spreading the outside with a luxuriant coating of heath and other moorish plants, which has a very picturesque appearance.
But upon the High Moors there is no sod to be found. There the tenant must go differently to work. Having chosen a proper situation for his house, he first digs four trenches down to the clay, so as to separate from the rest of the moors a solid mass, containing an oblong, rectangular area, sufficiently large for his intended house. This being done, he then scoops out the middle of the mass, leaving on all sides the thicknesses of three feet for walls; over which he throws a roof, such as that by which other cottages are commonly covered.
Upon the softest parts of the moss, even these walls cannot be obtained. In such places the houses are built with peat dug out of the moss, and closely compressed together while in a humid state (c). It is necessary even to lay upon the surface a platform of boards to prevent the walls from sinking; which they have frequently done when that precaution was neglected. After all, to tamp with the soil will shake the whole fabric as well as the moss for fifty yards around. This, at first, startled the people a good deal; but custom soon rendered it familiar.
The colonists have now made considerable advancement in rearing better habitations for their comfort and convenience. Their huts of turf are but temporary lodgings. As soon as they have cleared a little ground, they build houses of brick; when the proprietor a second time furnishes them with timber gratis. It has also been found necessary to relieve them entirely from the payment of the burdensome tax upon bricks; a tax which surely was never intended to fall on such poor industrious adventurers; and which, without this afflatus, would have proved a most effectual bar to the employment of these materials.
There are now erected in the moss 69 brick-houses, substantially built with lime. The total expense amounted to 1033l. Sterling. And it is a very comfortable circumstance, that the money expended upon these houses is mostly kept in circulation among the inhabitants themselves: for as a number of them have learned not only to manufacture but also to build bricks, and as others who have horses and carts furnish the carriage of lime and coals, they thus interchange services with each other.
With a view to excite the exertion of the colonists, the following premiums have lately been offered:
1. To the person who shall in the space of one year remove the greatest quantity of moss down to the clay, a plough of the best construction. 2. To the person who shall remove the next greatest quantity, a pair of harrows of the best kind. 3. To the next greatest quantity, a spade of the best kind, and a roll of red clover-feed. But as these premiums, if contested for by the whole inhabitants, could reach but a very few of the number, they have therefore been divided into five districts according to their situation, and the above premiums have been offered to each district.
The establishment of this colony has no doubt been attended with a very considerable share of expense and difficulty; for the undertaking was altogether new, and there were many prejudices against it, which it was necessary to overcome. At the same time it was noble and interesting: it was to make a valuable addition to private property; it was to increase the population of the country, and to give bread to a number of people; many of whom having been turned out of their farms and cottaries in the Highlands, might otherwise, by emigration, have been lost to their country; and that too at a time when, owing to the great enlargement of farms, depopulation prevails but too much even in the low countries. And it was to add to the arable lands of the kingdom, making many thousand bolls of grain to grow where none ever grew before.
These considerations have hitherto preponderated with the proprietors against the various obstructions that present themselves to the execution of so extensive an undertaking. Should their example tend in any degree to stimulate others, who both in Scotland and in England possess much ground equally useless to the country, to commence similar improvements, it would be a most grateful consideration superadded to the pleasure already arising from the progress of the infant colony.
Moss-Troopers, a rebellious sort of people in the north of England, that lived by robbery and rapine, not unlike the tories in Ireland, the buccaneers in Jamaica, or banditti of Italy. The counties of Northumberland and Cumberland were charged with an yearly sum, and a command of men, to be appointed by justices of the peace, to apprehend and suppress them.