] 50 Cultivating and Improving Wastes. 



CHAP. III. 



<*i\ ,*>>; Jnd ;r; 



ON THE VARIOUS MODES OF IMPROVING LAND. 



. 



THE ingenuity of man has in no^respect been more use- 

 fully employed, nor, on the whole, been displayed more 

 conspicuously, than in the various modes it. has discovered, 

 for rendering the surface of the earth more productive. Not 

 only have, extensive tracts of waste land been reclaimed, but 

 by processes about to be described, the culture of the soil 

 has been improved ; the quantity of its produce augment- 

 ed ; and the quality of that produce amended : while, by 

 the art of embanking, thousands of acres have been protect- 

 ed from the ravages of a powerful and destructive element. 

 In this chapter, it is proposed to give a general view, of the 

 nature of these several processes, under the following heads : 

 1. Cultivating and improving wastes ; 2. Inclosing; 3. Drain- 

 ing; 4. Manuring; 5. Paring and burning; 6. Fallowing; 

 7. Weeding; 8. Irrigating; 9. Flooding; 10. Warping; 

 and, 11. Embanking. Any discussion on the means of im- 

 proving the soil by planting r , is reserved for the fourth sec- 

 tion of the subsequent chapter. 



SECT. I. Cultivating and Improving Wastes. 



LAND, when uncultivated, more especially in a climate 

 like ours, yields but slender means of subsistence to man. 

 Some fruits of little real value, articles of the nut species 

 also, the leaves and roots of several plants, may be used as 

 food. The numbers however, that could be maintained, either 

 by these means, or by hunting wild animals fed on natural 

 herbage, or by the flesh and produce of domesticated animals, 

 maintained in the same manner, are but inconsiderable, 

 compared to the millions of human beings, who enjoy the 

 necessaries and comforts of life, when the soil is properly 

 cultivated. The first object, therefore, to be attended to, 

 in procuring food from the soil, is, to bring it into a state of 

 cultivation ; the next, not only to prevent it from being ex- 

 hausted, but, if possible, to increase its fertility ('). 



In discussing this subject, it is proposed to consider ; 

 1. The various descriptions of waste lands ; 2. The natural 

 obstacles to cultivating and preparing them for the produc- 



