380 



Cultivation of Moorland . 



Unreclaimed Waste (dry land). £. s. d. 



By pariua: and l)urnin;T 100 



By one plou'ibing, 8s. ; dragging, &c., Ss, G(^ 11 6 



By 2 i tons of lime, at 20s. '^ 2 10 



By vent and rates 7 G 



By sowing turnip-seed 010 



£4: 10 



• 



The weight of the root-crop would in all probability be in 

 favour of the new land. The ashes resulting from tlie burning of 

 this thick coating of indigenous j)lants are found to be powerful 

 agents for the production of roots, but little good is really effected 

 without the aid of lime to mix with the fibrous earth beyond the 

 growth of a turnip of inferior size. By way of testing these matters 

 I determined to try certain experiments with varying quantities of 

 lime, which was the more important to me as I had decided that 

 the amount of money to be expended in the purchase of artificials 

 should be laid out in lime, the r/reat esaeiitial for newly broken- 

 up land. The soil should be as far as possible pulverized to 

 mix readily with the lime. 



Different Experiments, each upon One Acre of Land.* 



Time 



of 



Sowing. 



On Natural 



Soil, without 



Ashes or 



Lime. 



June iJ 



Came up 



■weakly 



and died 



away again 



■With 

 Native 

 Ashes 

 alone. 



Native 



Ashes and 



1 Ton of 



Lime. 



Produced Produced 



Native Native 

 Ashes and I Ashes and 

 2 Tons of j 21- Tons of 



Lime. Lime. 



Native 



Ashes and 



3 and 3i 



Tons of 



Lime. 



Produced Produced Produced 



6j tons 



of 

 turnips. 



12i tons 



of 

 turnips. 



18 tons 



of 

 turnips. 



20A tons 



of 

 turnips. 



22i&23 

 tons of 

 turnips. 



Quantity of ' 

 Lime applied 



since the 

 Experiments. 



As a stand- 

 ing rule, 

 2^ tons 

 per acre. 



The turnips have usually been drilled fourteen inches apart 

 on the flat, with a few loads of ashes per acre (collected in the 

 same field), and the crops have fully realised my expectations. 

 These have been partly consumed upon the land, and partly 

 carted away on to neighbouring dry lands — taking especial care 

 to have a good quantity in " pits " for rough hill-country weather. 



In the earliest stages of cultivation and progress some portion 

 of the turnip land has to be sown with oats for the use of the 

 yard : this should be done (at as early a period as possible) in 



* A sack which will hold 4 bushels of wheat usually contains 2 cwt. of lime, 

 such as we use in this neighbourhood. 2^ tons Mill therefore be the same as 25 

 sacks. The price of the lime at the kiln's mouth at Combe Martin is about Is. 

 per sack. I estimate the cost of carriage at about the same amount as the pric? of 

 the lime. 



