Cultivation of Moorland. 351 



how far it may be trusted to produce roots and artificial g;rasses 

 with advantage, in return for the expenditure of capital. 



It is a practical truth, and worthy of attention, that a very 

 large proportion of the best arable lands now under modern or 

 first-class culture were originally (and in many instances not 

 long since) covered by indigenous plants ; but while so much 

 has been reclaimed from time to time in the more favoured alti- 

 tudes, the fj7'eat work of reclaiming the " real moors " yet re- 

 mains to be done. The Lincoln heath and fens were brought 



o 



into their present condition as arable land by the hope of a 

 return from corn crops ; large quantities of oil-cake are annually 

 consumed on soils naturally poor solely Avith a view to corn. 

 The moors which will foim the chief subject of the present paper 

 are situated at too great an elevation for the growth of grain 

 crops with profit, and have thus as yet not commanded sufficient 

 attention. But concurrentl}' with an annually increasing impor- 

 tation from abroad of the various breadstuffs, it is evident that 

 the increasing consumption of food by a population becoming 

 every year moi'e dense, upon a fixed area, must ultimately bring 

 many high lands, hitherto neglected, into notice for the production 

 of stock. 



Farms already in cultivation, on which the growth of corn and 

 the feeding of stock may be combined, having '• the call " for 

 occupation, the moorlands have usually either been left to men 

 of small ca])ital, or have been treated as adjuncts to other occu- 

 pations, and even on this plan have done wonders. 



In connexion with the moors of inferior order, we have in 

 Great Britain far too large a proportion of peaty lands, mosses, 

 bogs, and even morasses ; but if we turn to the sister isle, Ire- 

 land, we find it stated that at least 1,500,000 acres are covered 

 with " flat red bog," in addition to peat soils covering mountains, 

 capable of being improved for pasture or plantations, to the ex- 

 tent of 1,250,000 acres, making togethernearly 3,000,000 of acres. 

 To (leal with this class of lands long and even sedulous attention 

 must have been paid by the improver before he risks too lavish 

 a hand in the reclaiming of these usually deep and hazardous 

 lands. 



In speaking of "peaty soils " there are those of moderate 

 thickness or depth in the English counties that have been occa- 

 si(m!'d by stagnant waters previous to their subsequent drainage, 

 such as-f he peats of ^ Orkshire, Lincoln, Cambridge, Huntingdon, 

 Lancashire, &c. ; and if evidence of improvement was necessary, 

 we have onlv to point to these lands, which noio yield abundant 

 crops of every description of grain and vegetables, so that they 

 may be ranked in the first class of corn-growing districts. 

 On tlie other hand, the marshlands of England, producing the 



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