154 Cultivating and Improving Wastes. 



On poor sandy soils, in inland districts, rabbits are the 

 usual stock. Many warrens have been cultivated for raising 

 crops of grain, but rabbits would frequently pay better. It 

 would often be more profitable, therefore, to convert them 

 again into warren, or where wood is valuable, to plant them 

 with fir. 



6. Along the banks of lakes and rivers, as well as the sea- 

 shore, there are extensive tracts, in a waste state ; and likely 

 to remain neglected, from deficiency of soil. Where the 

 land, however, is composed of alluvial particles, it may be 

 embanked, and afterwards improved by the usual operations 

 of agriculture. 



2. Natural Obstacles to the Cultivation of Wastes. 



The chief natural impediments to the cultivation of wastes 

 are, 1. Woods; 2. Shrubs, or woody plants; 3. Fern; 

 4. Heath ; 5. Coarse herbage ; 6. Stones ; and 7. Rocks. 



1. Woods. The growth of large trees, though a great 

 impediment to cultivation, is a sign that the soil is naturally 

 fertile. It must also have been enriched, by the quantity of 

 leaves, which, in the course of ages, have fallen and rotted 

 upon the surface. Such are the beneficial effects of this pro- 

 cess, that after the trees have been cut down, the soil has 

 often been kept under crops of grain for a number of years, 

 without interruption, or any addition of manure. Land thus 

 treated, however, ultimately becomes so much reduced, by 

 great exhaustion, that it will not bear a crop worth the ex- 

 pense of seed and labour ( XI ). Ij, is evident however, that 

 this deterioration, entirely proceeds from the improvident 

 management previously adopted. 



In reclaiming such wastes, the branches of any trees that 

 are felled, are generally collected and burnt; and the ashes, 

 either in whole or in part, are spread on the ground, by 

 which the fertility of the soil is excited. Indeed, where 

 there is no demand for timber on the spot, nor the means 

 of conveyance to any advantageous market, the whole wood 

 is burnt, and the ashes applied as manure. 



In various parts of England, much coppice land has been 

 grubbed up, and brought into tillage ( I3f ). In Oxfordshire, 

 the temptation is considerable, as from L.30 to L.35 per 

 acre may be obtained, and the land" left in a state fit for the 

 plough ( l3 ). Sometimes woods are grubbed for pasture 

 merely. In that case, the ground should be as little broken 

 as possible, because the surface of the land, owing to the 



