[ '43 ] 



demand for this kind of wood increases as fast as its uses, bccomi 

 more and more known. A great encouragement surely to cover 

 the residue of the land of this description with plantations; espe- 

 cially when it is considered that this kind of application of the 

 land, not only contributes so wonderfully to the improvement of 

 the estate on which it is made, and to the employment of the poor 

 of the neighbourhood, but that it also adds so much to the beauty, 

 the comfort, and the convenience of the country for many miles 

 round. 



The coldness and .sourness of the soil of this part of the country, 

 and particularly of those parts that were once in woodland, tend 

 much to depreciate its value in cultivation, either as arable, or 

 pasture land. 



In an arable state it produces few sorts of grain kindly. It will 

 not at all do for barley ; it is in general too poor and stubborn for 

 beans, and only a very favorable season can insure a good crop of 

 oats ; wheat is its favorite crop, and this is sometimes late in ripen- 

 ing, and is frequently purchased at the loss of two, or three years 

 rest, and of more dung than the pasture part of the country can 

 afford to lose. And the peculiar inaptitude of this soil to return to 

 grass, after it has been once ploughed, (and more especially, as is 

 too often the case where it has been burnbeaked) is an insuperable 

 objection to its being used in any kind of convertible husbandry. 

 In a state of grass land, the lateness of the spring, and consequent 

 length of the winter, reduce its value very much, even in the only 

 mode of application to which it is at all adapted, viz, " the 

 Dairy." 



The great improvement of which the cold part of this country 

 is capable, may be expressed in a few words, " Shorten the Win- 

 ter." This is to be done principally by draining off the superfluous 

 water, as the springs of so many principal rivers, viz.. the Frome t 

 the Cale, and the Brew rise in this neighbourhood, the land must 

 every where be full of it ; and secondly, by treading the wet land 

 as little as possible in the winter ; but, on the contrary, winter 

 haining, wherever it is practicable, aod of course mowing early in 

 the summer, and endeavouring as much as pcsiible to mow and 

 feed every piece of land alternately. 



T 2 Nothing 



