IMPROVEMENT OF WASTE lAND. £)£ 



draining was the first necessary step to be taken. Wittt 

 this view I made an open cut or ditch, of five to seven feet 

 deep or more, in the lowest part of the bog, to let out the 

 stagnated water, and ascertain with precision the cause that 

 produced it. Having obtained the lowest possible fall by 

 the open cut or ditch, I caused other cuts to be made to 

 the heads of different springs which fed the land, occasion- 

 ally boring with the auger, that no spring might be passed 

 over ; and I then laid the open cuts or drains with stones 

 from three to twelve feet below the surface, according to cir- 

 cumstances, to carry off the water, observing always to keep 

 the level. 



At the highest ground I found rocks, under which the Principal 

 principal springs lay at the distance of at least fifteen feet, b * 

 and thence an immensity of water gushed out, which was 

 easily passed off through the drains, and I had the satis- 

 faction to find, that in the course of two years the whole 

 waste became perfectly dry, and so continued. 



The extent of land thus drained being great, the cost of Coit. 

 course is very considerable, and amounts to the sum of 

 .£338 2t: lid. 



During this I grubbed the greatest part of the land, Expense of 

 Which from the stems of oak and other timber that had 8 rubbil, g» 

 formerly grown there, as well as the alder, furze, and some 

 timber standing at the time I made the purchase, was no 

 inconsiderable work, and cost for each oak stem ninepence, 

 and for the soil on which the alders and furze grew, 

 sixpence per rod, amounting in the whole to the sum of 

 £95. 



The ground being now cleared, I ascertained, by the Prepared for 

 means of a water level, the position of a little brook which irri g4'tton. 

 ran through the waste land, and found that it was practica- 

 ble to turn water over thirty acres of it. This being an 

 object of the first consequence, I spared neither pains nor 

 expense to accomplish it. I removed the high banks round 

 the fish ponds, which contained some thousand loads of 

 soil ; filled up very deep ditches and stew ponds, and laid 

 several acres on an inclined plane ; burnt the roots and rub- 

 bish, and prepared, by levelling and making water car? 

 riages, thirty acres for irrigation, of which sixteen acres, 



H 2 though 



