BARREN LAND. 



compensating the loss by anv advan- 

 tage, and in this case burning the sur- 

 face is inexpedient. The grass must 

 be ploughed in, and not too deep at 

 first, that it may soon rot ; a coating 

 of lime ploughed in will accelerate 

 the decay of the grass. This kind 

 of soil requires the addition of vege- 

 table and animal matter to supply the 

 humus in which it is deficient, and 



the principal attention must be direct- 

 ed to this object. 



When the surface is very uneven, 

 so as to form hillocks and hollows, in 

 which water is apt to stagnate, lev- 

 elling is a necessary process. If the 

 soil is loose and sandy, it may be 

 very expeditiously levelled by an in- 

 strument in use in Flanders, which 

 they call a molUbart. It is a large 



Fio-. 



wooden shovel, shod with iron, hav- 

 ing a long handle ; about the middle 

 of this shovel, which is convex at the 

 bottom, are two hooks, one on each 

 side, to v.hich chains are fixed, which 

 unite at the bar to which the traces 

 of a horse or horses are to be attach- 

 ed : a rope fixed to the end of the 

 handle completes the instrument. A 

 man accustomed to the use of it 

 raises the handle, and the shovel en- 

 ters the ground, and is filled by the 

 horse going on. By depressing the 

 handle, the load is made to slide on 

 the rounded bottom of the shovel till 

 it arrives at the place where it is to 

 be deposited. By letting the handle 

 go, retaining the rope, the whole is 

 upset instantly, turning over on the 

 edge ; the handle strikes on the bar, 

 and the load is left behind in a heap. 

 By puUing the rope the whole instru- 

 ment resumes its original position, 

 and is brought back to the place from 

 which the earth is to be taken again, 

 without any loss of time or the slight- 

 est stoppage of the horses. About 

 five cwts. of loose earth maybe thus 

 G 



moved at each lime. By means of 

 this machine the small fields in Flan- 

 ders are raised about two feet or 

 more in the centre, and the ground 

 laid convex, sloping in every direc- 

 tion to let the water run off. 



The land being now enclosed, fen- 

 ced, and drained where requisite, ob- 

 stacles to the plough removed, and 

 in a tolerably level state, it remains 

 only to consider how it may be most 

 advantageously cultivated, so as in 

 the end to repay the first and great 

 outlay. Some lands which have lain 

 waste for ages for want of a proper 

 spirit of enterprise are found to con- 

 sist of a tolerable depth of moderate- 

 ly fertile earth. These must be treat- 

 ed like a garden newly formed, and 

 trenched as deep as possible ; mere 

 exposure to the air and frost will oft- 

 en make them highly productive, and 

 in this case the only caution neces- 

 sary is not to exhaust them at first. 

 It is too common an error with those 

 who have made a great outlay to be 

 impatient, and expect too rapid a 

 replacement of the capital laid out. 



73 



