Cultivating and Improving Wastes. 1 57 



which, by the action of the atmosphere, become friable and 

 fertile (* 8 ) ; but these processes are slower, and not so effec- 

 tual as paring and burning. 



In coarse rough pastures ant-hills frequently abound. A 

 successful experiment has been tried, of mixing these hills 

 with lime ; and the compost was found to answer well for 

 barley and grass seeds (* 9 ). But if possible they should be 

 burnt ( 30 ). 



6. Stones. The stones which impede the improvement 

 of land, are either loose, thrown up when the land is trenched 

 or ploughed ; or fixed in the earth, and not to be removed 

 without much labour and expense. 



Loose stones may often be converted into use, for the 

 purpose of covered drains, of constructing walls or fences, 

 or making and repairing roads either on the farm, or in the 

 neighbourhood ; and on these accounts, are sometimes worth 

 the trouble of collecting. They may be removed with the 

 least inconvenience when the land is fallowed. Where 

 loose stones are of a moderate size, they are sometimes 

 found advantageous rather than detrimental, as in the stone- 

 brash soils of Somerset, and other districts. They prevent 

 evaporation, and thus preserve moisture in the soil; and if 

 they are of a porous quality, they absorb moisture when it 

 is redundant, and give it out when deficient. Hence farmers 

 have resolved to bring back again to their corn fields, those 

 very stones they had been induced to carry off(3l). 



Where stones are large, and fixed in the earth, if they 

 appear above the surface, they should be removed before 

 the ploughing of the waste commences : but where they are 

 concealed under the surface, various modes to get rid of 

 them have been adopted. In some parts of Yorkshire, the 

 whole surface is gone over with sharp prongs, which, at the 

 distance of every twelve or fourteen inches, are thrust into 

 the ground, to the depth of about a foot, to ascertain where 

 stones are to be met with. The spot is marked by a twig, 

 and the stones are removed before the land is ploughed. 

 Sometimes the plough is used without such previous ex- 

 amination, and the place marked where stones are en- 

 countered, that they may be taken away; and sometimes, 

 in order to discover and remove such stones, the land is 

 trenched by the spade, the best of all methods of breaking 

 up waste land for the first time( 3z ). 



Stones above the surface, may be avoided by the plough- 

 man, though not without loss of ground; but stones under 

 the surface, are often not discovered till the plough is drawn 



