114 THE FERTILITY OF THE SOIL [CH. 



more profitable to purchase nitrogenous manure 

 instead of making it through the agency of legu- 

 minous crops. Dr C. S. Edwards adopted this course 

 in his recent successful reclamation of a considerable 

 area of derelict sand at Tangham, Capel St Andrew, 

 Suffolk, The heather and bracken having been 

 eradicated, 20 to 25 loads per acre of " crag " (finely 

 divided shells, silts, etc., rich in calcium carbonate 

 and occurring in deposits just below the surface) 

 were put on at a cost of about £1 to £2 according 

 to the distance from the pit, and then the land was 

 broken up. It was usually necessary to do this with 

 the steam cultivator because the large number of 

 rabbit holes made the ground dangerous for horses. 

 After about four to eight cultivations the land was 

 sufficiently level, the rabbit holes filled and the weeds 

 killed : this cost up to £2 per acre. A second cragging 

 is now advantageous. The crops grown are wheat, 

 oats, potatoes, blue peas (sold dried for human con- 

 sumption) and carrots; for the working horses and 

 the pigs a patch of lucerne is grown. As everything 

 is sold off and no stock is kept (except pigs to 

 consume waste potatoes, etc.), it is unnecessary to 

 adhere to any rigid rotation, and the farmer can 

 grow whatever promises to yield most profit. The 

 artificial manures used are : for carrots and potatoes, 

 1 cwt. of muriate of potash and Ij cwt. of bone meal 

 applied in April, IJ cwt. each of nitrate of soda or 



