TO TUnX GKASS LAND INTO ARABLE. ?01 



are ignorant of tlie pnrpose fov wliicli tlie information was 

 required ; and, l)esides, I myself watclied the proceeding's of 

 man}- with more tlian common interest. 



Case 1. 



A very good and well-known farmer brote iip a large field of pasture in 

 ]844, and, without previously paring and burning, ploughed and sowed 

 with wheat. The land is situated on a level, and not injured by wet. The 

 soil is a moderately light loam of 7 inches in depth on gravel, which rests 

 on a subsoil of clay several feet from the surface. The wheat failed. There 

 were thin patches here and there, with a very fine ear, and on the rest of 

 the land nothing but weeds. 



Case 2. 



This experiment was made in 1845. The land was covered with a very 

 thick grassy turf, which would have been very difficult to reduce without 

 burning. This piece was intended to be planted with trees. It was 

 pared and burned early in the spring, which produced a large quantity 

 of ashes. They were spread regularly all over the land, and then oats 

 were sown and jjloughed in with a thin furrow. The oats were an excellent 

 crop, at least 7 quarters to the acre. This was on poor land, worth 

 about 12«. per acre — not more,— and not drained. The great abundance 

 of ashes oifered a good opportunity for assistance being rendered to other 

 lands ; but in this case it was impracticable, for want of other lands to 

 take them to. 



Case 3. 



This farmer, in 1844, broke up a piece of land, a sandy loam of toler- 

 able depth, with a stratum of gravel under, on a subsoil of Oxford clay. 

 This land, in pasture, produced a very scanty herbage, and was grazed 

 with young stock, and scarcely worth 204'. per acre. He pared, and 

 burned, and ploughed, and sowed turnips, and bush-harrowed them in, 

 the turf being of a looser texture than is often met with ; but this opera- 

 tion did little more than cover the seed. He had a very fine crop, which 

 was eaten off with sheep, and in autumn the land was sown with wheat, 

 of which he had an excellent crop. His next crop will be Swedes, barley, 

 seeds, and then wheat again. The method of puttmg in the turnips 

 is not to be recommended as safe. Certainly not on all soils. About 

 twenty years ago, I practised it myself on tender sward with success ; but 

 on very tough turf, full of the fibrous roots of vegetable substances, &c. &c., 

 it failed. 



Case 4. 



This farmer, in 1S!3, broke up a piece of ))asture-land, the half of 

 which he pared and burned in autumn ; and after spreading the ashes, 

 sowed wheat, and ploughed it in with a thin furrow, and obtained a very 

 food crop. The other half he ploughed up without paring and burning. 

 The land was harrowed and dragged, and the wheat sown and dragged in. 

 He had but a very bad crop, scarcely worth reaping, with abundance of 



