Cultivation of Moorland. 



389 



Comparative Value. 



£. s. d. 



When taken in hand, of no- 

 minal value, and a pest to 

 the neighbourhood.* 



By balance due from the out- 

 lay account £4 IS 10 



£. s. d. 



At the expiration of 4 years 

 will readily let for a term 

 of years at 15i-. per acre, 

 which, at 30 years' pur- 

 chase, stands thus .. .. £22 10 



The above figures convoy a tolerably good notion of the 

 expenses and probable returns of this class of improvements, 

 but they are founded on an extreme case ; for if they had 

 been performed in a good neighbourhood, the rental, when so 

 improved, would stand at 30.?. But in either case ample 

 encouragement is shown for the outlay of capital, and a good 

 margin left as profit for the undertaking. In the preceding 

 statement it is shown that no corn-crop has been taken, first 

 from the circumstance of the redeemed land being too open and 

 fibrous for " corn growing ;" and secondly, that it should be 

 placed in a good and efficient condition, for reaching a fair 

 marketable value, for an after term of years. 



Tfie figures above alluded to clearly show that the bringing of 

 a morass or bog into good cultivation carries with it more the 

 character of a landlord's than a tenant's investment. 



So sanguine am I in favour of seeding down (out) these 

 newly-redeemed lands without a corn-crop, that I even adopt it in 

 the usual routine of crops after the turnip-crop upon old land, 

 and reserve the sowing of corn until the end of the course ; and 

 then, if it be absolutely required, I should even prefer taking 

 two white straw crops after breaking up the grass, and just pre- 

 viously to the subsequent fallow, to sowing the rich turnip-land 

 with corn in a moist climate. The two after-crops (if they must be 

 taken) would in amount of acres be the same. 



Thus the number of corn-croj)s in a course would be the same 

 in tliis arrangement as in the other mode of cropping, only with 

 a longer interval, during which the field would be in grass ; the 

 great characteristic of my plan would be that the grass would be 

 laid down when the land was perfectly clean and in the highest 

 condition for aftcr-pasturage. 



There is yet to be mentioned a class of moorlands, which, 

 from tlieir tolerable dryness and production of strong heather, 

 furze, and other coarse, hard-rooted plants, are found too powerful 

 for the paring-plough or manual paring-spade ; but in themselves, 

 when broken u]), are of a fust-class order for after-culture under 



* Such was the extent and character of a bog near to my house that, on making 

 trial-pits for its drainage, a snipe's nest was found, and Iia])|)ily in the presence of 

 the landlord. 



