552 PROSPECTS OF INDUSTRY 



the British dominions contains extensive and valuable tracts of waste 

 lands, which are not naturally barren which in their present state 

 are comparatively unproductive, because they are not tilled, which 

 require nothing but tillage to render them productive, and which 

 would make an adequate return for any outlay which a judicious and 

 industrious occupier might think it necessary to expend in reclaiming 

 and cultivating them." Mr. Jacobs, in his very excellent work on 

 ' the Cultivation of Poor Soils,' remarks : " Every man who has 

 been far from home, must have observed, on every barren heath, some 

 spots surrounding cottages, which exhibit marks of productiveness 

 forming a striking contrast with the sterility that surrounds them. If 

 inquiry has been made, it has been found that at one period all was 

 alike barren ; that the difference has been created solely by the 

 application of human labour;" and further, " the practicability of 

 achieving the object of bringing our waste lands to a degree of highly 

 productive cultivation, and with an enduring profit after a course of 

 years of perseverance, may be inferred from what has been per- 

 formed in other countries at no great distance from our own. In 

 the Netherlands, the district called Maesland, between Ghent and 

 Antwerp, is a mere agricultural country. It is better peopled, better 

 cultivated, and more productive, than any other spot in Europe of 

 similar extent. It was, in the time of the civil wars in Flanders, a 

 mere sandy heath, without inhabitants, without cultivation, and with- 

 out live-stock. The change has been effected by persevering labour 

 through many generations : and the results of that labour are most 

 strikingly exhibited in the fruitful fields, the beautiful cattle, the 

 healthful and cleanly population, the comfortable residences, and all 

 the other visible marks of rural prosperity." 



It can admit of no dispute, but that there are numerous tracts of 

 waste ground capable of beina; sufficiently fertilised for useful and 

 profitable purposes. It is, however, somewhat fallacious to assume 

 that all waste land is capable of profitable cultivation, or that at 

 some period the whole country was barren, and presented an aspect 

 similar to that now seen on our heaths and commons. The mere 

 existence of a piece of waste ground, in the midst of a highly cul- 

 tivated district where land is valuable, is a proof, de facto, of the 

 inferiority, generally speaking, of such ground ; not that it is abso- 

 lutely barren, for there is no soil, however sterile, but tillage and 



