70 TRAVELS THROUGH 



faid he, prodigiouily extenfive heaths in this 

 province, the land of which is much fuch 

 as my farm, though fome trads arc far 

 better. All thefe heaths are dry and chalky, 

 and would yield as fine fainfoine as mine : 

 by means of that grafs they might all be 

 improved. Why muft you get graffes, faid 

 J, for the improvement of waftes, will not 

 corn anfwer the purpofe ? His anfwer to 

 this queftion I thought very fenfible. It 

 was to the following purport : 



Getting corn is by no means the firft 

 object : thefe heaths, it is true, will yield, 

 as I have experienced, middling crops of 

 oats, rye, and buck wheat, for a few years. 

 I have known farmers continue thofe corn 

 crops on this land, and the infallible con- 

 fequence has always been ploughing and 

 fowing till the land yields nothing, and 

 then it is left as utterly barren, and the 

 farmers half ruined. Thefe weak lands muft 

 be kept in heart, and treated in a favour- 

 able manner, which can only be done upon 

 two principles ; firft, railing large quanti- 

 ties of manure to refrefli the exhausted foil ; 

 and, fecondly, fowing corn upon the land 

 but feldom, without the intervention of a 



crop 



