In the best meadows, where there were as many as 6 to 10 barns, I saw how the whole meadow was often covered in hummocks on which nothing but ‘Polytrichum’ [moss] grew, and even that was dry.4 Some of the barns were not in use and I concluded from this that these hummocks were of recent origin. They were often so close together that no grass could grow between them. What could be the cause and what the cure? It would be very useful for the farmers to know. I noted that wherever there were hummocks the soil was loose and either sludgy or clayey and that when I stepped on the hummocks they gave way. When I dug deep into them there was a sort of space beneath them and, when I stamped with my foot, it sank in a long way. I think that frost is the cause of it and that when the frost leaves the ground it leaves great holes behind and lifts the layer of turf.