CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



what expense, in relation to the probable profit, 

 the process may be performed. A barren rocky 

 desert may be rendered productive by covering it 

 with soil and manures brought from a distance of 

 miles aided by years of skilful tillage ; but will 

 the returns in produce be an equivalent for the 

 excessive outlay ? 



We will now proceed to describe the nature of 

 the various waste lands, the best means to be 

 adopted in reclaiming them, and the results which 

 may be expected to reward the enterprising 

 improver. 



MOORLANDS, HEATHS, DOWNS, AND HILLY 

 WASTES. 



Our principal English moors, as distinguished 

 from the fells and actual mountains, are in the 

 counties of Northumberland, Durham, Cumber- 

 land, Lancaster, York, Stafford, Chester, Derby, 

 Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, &c. 



The Yorkshire moors are the most extensive 

 and important in England. The eastern portion, 

 principally in the North Riding, rise about 1000 

 feet above the sea. The surface of some of the 

 hills is entirely covered with large freestones ; and 

 in other places mosses, sometimes very large ; the 

 prevailing soil being peat-earth, which is generally 

 covered with heath. On that -portion called 

 Hambleton Hills, the soil is much better, being 

 good loam on a limestone rock. The climate is 

 dry, but cold and backward ; however, portions of 

 these lofty and exposed regions have been brought 

 into tillage ; and sheep are being fed on what 

 used to be the haunt of the wild mouse and the 

 mole, and luxuriant oats wave before the wind 

 that used to whistle through the whins and the 

 heather. 



The western moorlands, almost equally divided 

 between the North and West Ridings, are of very 

 great extent, but not generally so sterile as the 

 eastern. Many of the hills are covered with fine 

 sweet grass ; while in other places there are large 

 tracts of heather mingled with grass, bent, or 

 rushes. On these waste lands of the millstone- 

 grit formation, the productiveness of many in- 

 closures shews what a large extent yet unreclaimed 

 is capable of. There are many instances of this 

 high ground growing nothing but heather, and not 

 realising more than about is. 6d. per acre, shoot- 

 ing included ; whilst immediately adjoining, on 

 the same level, are cultivated plots letting for 

 aos. 255. and up to 303. per acre, and producing 

 excellent crops. 



The Derbyshire Peak is very wild and barren, 

 not so much from its altitude as from the steep, 

 rugged, and nearly soilless sides and crags of the 

 limestone and the millstone grit, and from its bogs 

 and moorlands covered with heath and boulder- 

 stones of every size ; while the streams carry down 

 the waste of crumbling grits and shales in their 

 peaty, brackish waters, to enrich the meadows and 

 vales below. The soils on the grit are chiefly of 

 a sandy kind ; the great difficulty in cultivating 

 being the first clearance or removal of the rocks 

 and blocks everywhere scattered over the surface. 

 Vast tracts have been cleared and taken in. 



Cornwall contains about 200,000 acres of waste, 

 the greater part being held in common by sur- 

 rounding farmers. To shew what skill, enterprise, 

 and capital will do on some of the most exposed 



538 



parts of the granite wastes, Mr Karkeek says, in 

 the Royal Agricultural Society's Journal: 'Let 

 the reader imagine a piece of waste strewed over 

 with granite blocks, some of immense size, with 

 heath and furze shooting up in the interstices, at 

 an elevation of 600 feet above the sea-level ; and 

 notwithstanding these natural obstacles, I wit- 

 nessed a short time since, on an estate of only 1 50 

 acres not many years since reclaimed from the 

 Sancreed wastes 130 head of cattle, Devons and 

 shorthorns, 100 pigs, and 35 horses and colts. 

 The average produce is from 45 to 60 bushels of 

 oats, from 18 to 21 of wheat not much grown 

 300 bushels of potatoes, and from 18 to 25 tons of 

 turnips. It frequently happens that the first crop 

 of potatoes raised on this reclaimed land will more 

 than repay the expenses.' 



In North Wales there exist extensive tracts of 

 waste upon the mountain-sides capable of cultiva- 

 tion. On the Hiraethog range, the luxuriant 

 growth of the heath, fern, and foxglove in many 

 places, is a clear indication of the riches that are 

 in store for the first adventurer who may attempt 

 to break up the almost desert waste ; and many 

 patches of deep hazel loam are seen, which have 

 been lately reclaimed from the wild state, now 

 covered with oats and grass of the best descrip- 

 tion. There are wide-spread tracts of land in 

 Merioneth and Montgomery shires, which, by 

 paring and burning, draining and liming, would 

 produce excellent crops of turnips and rape 

 enabling the farmer to maintain as large a flock 

 of sheep in winter as in summer, instead of being 

 compelled to draft them off to lowland graziers, as 

 at present. 



Devonshire comprises about 455,000 acres of 

 waste land, much of which may be rendered 

 productive. Dartmoor no less than 250,000 

 acres uncultivated has principally a peaty soil, 

 which during the summer months is dry and firm; 

 in other parts, as in Dartmoor Forest (80,000 

 acres), there exists a perfect swamp even in 

 summer. The mean elevation of the district is 

 nearly 1800 feet above the level of the sea; the 

 climate cold throughout the greater part of the 

 year, and materially impeding vegetation. Un- 

 doubtedly, the main cause of this unfavourable 

 climate is the want of drainage ; and it is nearly 

 useless for private individuals to attempt isolated 

 inclosures until all the district has been drained 

 by a simultaneous and united undertaking. 



The inclosure of Exmoor Forest, in Somerset- 

 shire 20,000 acres, at an altitude of 1000 to 1200 

 feet is one of the most striking examples of the 

 improvement of waste land. The surface is in the 

 form of an undulating table-land, furrowed by deep 

 stream-valleys, and covered over almost its whole 

 extent with a moist pasture. There is con- 

 siderable depth of soil on the boggy portions, 

 which, when drained and limed, makes good land. 

 Rain and mists, and Atlantic gales, are the 

 principal opponents of the cultivator ; but planta- 

 tions and good hedges are rising to afford the 

 requisite shelter. The best fence for this purpose 

 consists of a bank of earth, supported on both 

 sides by stone-walling, five or six feet high, and 

 six feet thick at bottom ; and on the top of this, 

 beech-trees are planted, and found to grow well. 

 Mr Knight, the proprietor, has erected a large 

 number of farmhouses and cottages, and con- 

 structed nearly 30 miles of road, and 1 50 miles of 



