436 The Improvement of Waste Lands 



necessitate some deviation from ordinary and independent farm- 

 practice ; but bad effects thence arising should be counteracted 

 from other sources. If the straw is in great part taken off the 

 farm, a corresponding outlay should be made in purchasing 

 manures, and facilities for this frequently present themselves ; 

 for instance, the waggons which carry the minerals to the 

 nearest town or seaport can be loaded with manure on their 

 return journey. Even on farms where all the straw and green 

 crops are consumed at home an extra outlay has to be made to 

 maintain the fertility of the land, and there is always a much 

 greater need for this where no sheep and cattle are kept. A large 

 quantity of the droppings of the underground horses is lost in 

 the workings of the mine ; only about one-half of the excrements 

 of the animals comes to bank, and with this there is always a 

 slight admixture of small coal, which makes it somewhat 

 cankerous ; from the absence of litter, it requires either to be 

 ploughed into the land at once, or mixed with other long manure 

 on the farm. 



On the mining farms with which I am connected it is found 

 that the keeping of a moderate stock of sheep and cattle does not 

 diminish but considerably increases the supply of food for the 

 horses used in the mines. By depasturing and cutting our old 

 grass land every alternate year, and by growing turnips on the 

 arable land, the crops of both natural and artificial grasses are 

 doubled, the quality being at the same time greatly improved. 

 Such an increase of produce as I have spoken of will not be 

 obtained on the first year of trial, but by degrees it will. It 

 will be seen that this system, too, meets in some degree the 

 wants of the men as well as the animals connected with the 

 mines, for larger grain crops and good beef and mutton are pro- 

 duced, in addition to horse-food and other articles of produce 

 required by the mines. 



It will also be found more profitable to keep a full complement 

 of horses for the proper working of the land, in addition to those 

 required above bank by the mines. In cases of emergency they 

 Avill be taken off the land ; but if the work is in a forward state 

 the loss will be the less felt, and rather than have the farm 

 neglected it will be found profitable to hire the assistance of a 

 few horses for a limited period. On the Lambton colliery farms 

 the steam-plough has been used for the last four years, and has, 

 besides reducing the number of horses kept for farm purposes, 

 enabled the occasional drafting of them off to the pits to be almost 

 unfelt ; so that besides the ordinary and general advantages of 

 steam-ploughing, there are in its use in the cultivation of land 

 connected with mines special advantages which cannot he over- 

 estimated. 



