Cultivating and Improving Wastes. 153 



the application of fire, or the influence of putrefaction, as 

 may prepare it for their nourishment. In either of these 

 ways, peat may be changed into a soil fit for the production 

 of grass, of herbs, or of roots. The application of a proper 

 quantity of lime, chalk, or marl, prepares it equally well for 

 the production of corn. But in cases where peat is too wet 

 for the production of fine grass or good corn, the first ope- 

 ration is, to drain it completely ( 7 ); and then to supply it 

 with calcareous and putrescent manures. 



4. Marshes, or water-fed lands, are of two descriptions, 

 one formed by fresh, and the other by salt water. 



Fresh water marshes are often found interspersed with 

 arable land, where springs rise, and redundant water has 

 not been carried off; and may be improved by a course of 

 ditching, draining and ploughing. Where large inland 

 marshes are almost constantly covered with water, or the soil 

 is extremely wet, they maybe drained, as large districts in the 

 fens of Lincolnshire have been, and made highly valuable. 

 The object in that case, is, by embankments, draining, and 

 other means of improvement, to convert these marshes into 

 pasture, or meadow, or even arable lands. Where such im- 

 provements cannot be accomplished, the most useful aquatic 

 plants, as willows, osiers, &c. may be propagated, either by 

 their seeds or roots, with much advantage to the cultiva- 

 tor ( 8 ). Some have strongly recommended, on such wet 

 and low lands, the fiorin grass ; others the " poa aquatica" 

 which would answer well where the soil is clay, and where 

 it lies under water all the winter. 



In regard to salt water marshes, embankments are the 

 only means by which they can be improved ; and they might 

 be rendered of thrice their present value, if spring tides could 

 be prevented from overflowing them. They are in general 

 deficient in quantity of pasture; and the herbage they pro- 

 duce, though nutritive, has a laxative effect, operating as a 

 medicine to diseased cattle, horses, or sheep, and hence are 

 peculiarly useful, when any of these animals abound with 

 gross humours ( 9 ). 



5. Sandy downs on the sea shore, are often more valuable, 

 in their natural state, than after cultivation. In a state of 

 nature, they frequently afford good pasture for sheep and 

 rabbits, and at other times, produce grasses that may be used 

 as food for cattle, or as litter. But the great object should 

 be, to raise plants which contribute to fix these soils, and 

 to prevent them from being drifted by the winds, which of- 

 ten occasion incalculable mischief ( I0 ). 



