Arable Land 



carriages and farmers' carts ; even in Burns's days, 

 horses are said to have been drowned not in fords but 

 actually suffocated in the mud of the King's highway ! 



Thorn scrub seems to have been very common and 

 there were very few enclosures. Such agriculture as 

 did exist seems to have been of a very pettifogging 

 character. 



This subject is a fascinating one, and also of great 

 practical importance ; but we have no space here to 

 treat it adequately. 



At a very much earlier period in Roman times the 

 Britons seem to have practised *' nomadic agriculture," 

 that is, they burned down stretches of the forest or 

 scrub, and sowed corn on it until the land was absolutely 

 exhausted. Then it was left to itself and grew weeds, 

 thorny bushes, bracken, and anything that could escape 

 the ravages of numerous grazing animals, until it was 

 again fit to be burnt and resown. More reasonable 

 systems were beginning to prevail when the Saxons 

 had conquered the country. 



King Alfred says : " Sethe wille wyrcan wast baere 

 lond, ateo hin of than acre acfest sona fearn, and thornas 

 and figrsas swasame weods." Alfred is pointing out that 

 if a man wants to work waste land, he must clear off 

 from his acre the bracken, furze, thorns and weeds. 

 He was not to cut and then burn away the rubbish. 

 That method, as the Saxons had probably discovered, 

 destroys all the good humus that has accumulated since 

 it became waste. 



Tennyson's northern farmer speaks of the reclama- 

 tion of Thornaby Waste, and we hear of his " stubbing 

 up " the furze just as King Alfred recommended. In our 

 own times there are not wanting traces of this original 

 sort of agriculture. 



In Clare Island and Inishturk in Ireland, each farmer 



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