the workman lifts
the peats by horizontal thrusts of his spade, made at a depth of three
inches. The sods as lifted, are placed on a light barrow or upon a board
or rack, and are carried off to a drying ground, near at hand, where
they are laid down flatwise to drain and dry. In Ireland, it is the
custom, after the peats have lain thus for a fortnight or so, to "foot"
them, i. e. to place them on end close together; after further drying
the "footing" is succeeded by "clamping," which is building the sods up
into stacks of about twelve to fifteen feet long, four feet wide at
bottom, narrowing to one foot at top, with a height of four to five
feet. The outer turfs are inclined so as to shed the rain. The peat
often remains in these clamps on the bog until wanted for use, though in
rainy seasons the loss by crumbling is considerable.

[Illustration: Fig. 2.--GERMAN PEAT-KNIFE.]

Other modes of lifting peat, require tools of particular construction....
In Germany it is common to excavate by _vertical_ thrusts of the tool,
the cutting part of which is represented above, fig. 2. This tool is
pressed down into the peat to a depth corresponding to the thickness of
the required block: its three edges cut as many sides of the block, and
the bottom is then broken or torn out by a prying motion.

In other cases, this or a similar tool is forced down by help of the
foot as deeply into the peat as possible by a workman standing above,
while a second man in the ditch cuts out the blocks of proper thickness
by means of a sharp spade thrust horizontally. When the peats are taken
out to the depth of the first vertical cutting, the knife is used again
from above, and the process is thus continued as before, until the
bottom of the peat or the desired depth is reached.

In Ireland, is employed the "slane," a common form of which is shown in
fig. 3, it being a long, narrow and sharp spade, 20 inches by six, with
a wing at right angles to the blade.

[Illustration: Fig. 3.--IRISH SLANE.]

The peats are cut by one thrust of this instrument which is worked by
the arms alone. After a vertical cut is made by a spade, in a line at
right angles to a bank of peat, the slane cuts the bottom and other side
of the block; while at the end the latter is simply lifted or broken
away.

Peat is most easily cut in a vertical direction, but when, as often
happens, it is made up of layers, the sods are likely to break apart
where these join. Horizont