98 PLANT PRODUCTS 



as well as other lands in other parts, can be immensely 

 improved by dressings of basic slag, at the average rate of 

 one or two hundredweight of slag per acre per annum. 

 Such treatment encourages the growth of clover, and in 

 the course of a few years completely alters the physical 

 and chemical properties of the soil. Many uplands, where 

 there is much heather and moor, can also, by a dressing 

 of slag, and possibly lime, effect a steady improvement on 

 the value of the land by enclosure and stocking with cattle. 

 Even some soils on chalk have been reclaimed in a wonderful 

 way by these means. Poverty Bottom, the property of 

 Professor Somerville, is a case where neglected land on chalk 

 has been immensely improved by the use of basic slag. Some 

 of the lighter soils which are growing very indifferent 

 pasture may be made to do much better by the application 

 of potash, but, as a rule, the lighter land should not be down 

 to grass, but should be ploughed, unless there is some specific 

 difficulty, coming under the heading of the wet lands alluded 

 to above. The reclamation of this type of land ultimately 

 involves considerable amount of capital. The amount of 

 money necessary to spend in a substantial dressing of basic 

 slag, probably assisted by lime, is one which the farmer is 

 often afraid of, but by spreading it out over several years 

 the amount of money expended is not so severely felt. 

 The difference between a barren field and a fertile field is 

 very often more a matter of history than geology. Persistent 

 efforts to cultivate a piece of land and make it fertile are 

 rarely altogether unfruitful. Whether the result justifies 

 the expenditure of labour is, of course, a different matter, 

 since it is impossible to equate these two by the same method 

 in different epochs. The labour that would otherwise have 

 been wasted is not capable of being put down by any system 

 of accountancy. The gradual improvement of the land by 

 this type of utilization of spare moments is one of the most 

 important results of giving ownership of land to the actual 

 occupier. The man who hopes to get results many years 

 hence from his spare moments is only the man who thinks 

 he is likely to be on the spot for a long time. To attempt 



