792 



WAS 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



WAS 



good abundant crops, and render the lands soon fit for 

 other purposes without much expense. The sowing of the 

 seeds of leguminous plants among those of the grass kind 

 has been found to ameliorate the soil, and increase the 

 herbage. -The second sort of waste land to be considered is, 

 the swampy, boggy, and marshy kind, such as are infested 

 with various descriptions of coarse vegetable productions. 

 This comprises all the sorts and varieties of soft watery land 

 formed by the deposition of different rich earthy, or other 

 such matters, and often is a collection of the rich mud and 

 sediment which is washed down from the higher grounds, so 

 mixed with the recrements of different decayed vegetables of 

 its own growth, and so overcharged with stagnant water, that 

 it hardly affords support for any animal. This sort of waste 

 is generally less susceptible of improvement than heathy 

 moor, or any of the kinds above described, though it gene- 

 rally repays the expense of a successful experiment better 

 than any other, because it is that sort of land, which, when 

 freed from its superabundant moisture, is the richest and 

 most productive ; nor is the clearing and cultivation of it in 

 most cases so difficult as is generally supposed. Sometimes 

 the water which overflows it comes from higher grounds, so 

 that it may be easily intercepted, and afterwards made to 

 serve it in the way of manure, by being thrown over the sur- 

 face. In other cases, the water arises from internal springs, 

 which are easily discovered whenever the land has got an 

 outlet on the lower side of it, to which the water thus pro- 

 duced can be conducted by open cuts, as the muddy and 

 earthy material subsides. It may then be drawn off in the 

 usual way, and the land converted to valuable pasture or corn- 

 crops, as may be most suitable and proper. In this manner, 

 and by the application of proper substances of different kinds 

 on the surface when necessary, many considerable tracts of 

 such sorts of waste land in different parts of the kingdom 

 have been brought into an excellent state of cultivation for 

 the production of corn as well.as grass. And besides such 

 advantages, the removal of the stagnant wetness in the lands, 

 in many instances, is of much benefit in promoting the healthi- 

 ness of the neighbourhood, by removing the cold and putrid 

 vapours which they exhale. Wastes that have much coarse 

 rushy herbage on the surface, and are considerably dry, 

 should be treated as follows : In April and May pare and 

 burn the surface; and after the matters thus produced are 

 spread equally over it, turn the ground up with a very ebb 

 furrow, and sow it at the proper season with Turnips in the 

 broad-cast manner. From the almost entire absence of root- 

 weeds, in consequence of the burning, the crop will require 

 little care in dressing by the hoe. The Turnips are to be 

 consumed upon the ground, by folding sheep upon it by 

 means of flakes or hurdles. As soon as the land is cleared 

 of the Turnips, it is to be ploughed with a good furrow, 

 and to remain in that state until the season for sowing the 

 same crop again arrives. If well worked, and laid into ridges 

 or stitches of the usual breadth of two feet and a half, the 

 dung produced by the sheep that consumed the first Turnip 

 crop, will render the land capable of giving a superior crop 

 of the same kind in the second season. This second crop, 

 like the first, is to be consumed by folding sheep on the land 

 in the same manner ; which being finished, the land is to be 

 ploughed and laid into ridges for a corn-crop, which is to be 

 either Barley or Oats, according to its nature and situation. 

 If rich and well-sheltered, they should be cropped with 

 Barley, otherwise with Oats ; in either case to be sown off 

 with grass-seeds for pasture. It is conceived, that under this 

 process of management, the smallest possible expense will be 

 incurred, and that the lands, at the end of three seasons only, 



are thrown into pasture in high condition, while in the course 

 of the process one valuable Corn crop, and one good crop of 

 Turnips, have been afforded, together with a less valuable 

 one of the same sort; which last, however, may be sufficient 

 to defray all the expense of tillage attending it, over and 

 above that of reducing the coarse surface. The expense of 

 preparing for the second Turnip crop, and for the Corn crop, 

 will amount to no more than the price of ordinary light til- 

 lage ; and the lands, from being brought into the state of grass 

 in high condition, will not only afford abundant profitable 

 pasture, but at the same time be ready, when broken up at a 

 future pei-iod, to yield full crops of Corn. In low wet bot- 

 toms, it has been found also most beneficial to pare and burn 

 for the same crop to be eaten off by sheep ; then to sow Oats, 

 and afterwards to lay on rive chaldrons of lime per acre, as a 

 preparative for another crop of Turnips, to be eaten by sheep 

 as before ; after which, to sow Oats, with seeds in the quan- 

 tity of sixteen pounds of White Clover, five pounds of Rib- 

 grass, and a quarter of good hay-seeds, to the acre. Land 

 so managed, it is said, will carry considerably more stock 

 than it did in its original state. If the water has been com- 

 pletely removed, these seeds may be broken up at the end 

 of two years, or as soon as they appear to decline, for Wheat, 

 and be put' into the four-shift husbandry, namely, Turnips 

 after Wheat, to be succeeded by Barley^ Clover, Turnips, and 

 Wheat again. Until the land becomes tired of Red Clover, 

 there cannot, it is supposed, be a more judicious method 

 adopted for this kind of waste land. When it becomes tired 

 with the Red Clover, which is generally after two successive 

 rounds, either Beans, Peas, or seeds, may be substituted. 

 The two former are ameliorating crops, and will be found 

 beneficial, where such wastes are of a strong quality of soil ; 

 the former particularly, where the land is strong enough for 

 Beans. The best substitute for Red Clover in such cases 

 is, small seeds for two years, which removes it from the four 

 into the five shift system. The third class of waste land is, 

 the peaty, mossy, and turfy, of which there are many dif- 

 ferent kinds, from those of the smallest depths to those of 

 the greatest, however different they may be in their qualities, 

 textures, and other circumstances. As they vary greatly in 

 all these respects, and in the quantities of moisture or wet- 

 ness, it is obvious there must be a great diversity in the me- 

 thods of cultivating and bringing them into a state of im- 

 provement. As there is almost always a degree of wetness 

 in them, which is unfriendly to the culture and growth of all 

 or most sorts of plants which are objects of the farmer's atten- 

 tion, it is mostly necessary, but especially in those of the 

 deeper kinds, to free them as much as possible from the ex- 

 cess of moistness, as a first step toward their improvement. 

 After this, the surface is ,to be levelled, consolidated, and 

 rendered more compact, by the application of different sorts 

 of weighty substances of the earthy and other kinds. This 

 is particularly necessary where such wastes are of a fungous 

 open quality, and may be effected by any sort of materials 

 of the above kinds, which are in quantity and at hand. In 

 different cases, sand, clay, marl, and other such matters, may 

 be met with under such waste lands, and answer the pur- 

 pose effectually at a trifling expense. It has been observed, 

 that the great point in reducing wastes of this kind to corn- 

 lands is, in the first place, to lay them so dry as to favour 

 vegetation, but not to deprive the crops of their necessary 

 moisture. This medium, therefore, must be carefully observed, 

 as the value of such lands is not unfrequently diminished by 

 the last, as well as the first of these opposite causes. This 

 sort of waste land is indeed of so porous a quality, that if 

 entirely deprived of its natural moisture, it is liable to admit 



