BARREN LAND. 



This makes them sow g^rain crops in 

 preference to routs and icfiunies ; and 

 as fresh eartii is generally very pro- 

 ductive, especially in straw, they im- 

 agine the land to be of a better qual- 

 ity than it really is, and soon exhaust 

 it, by whirh they lose infinitely more 

 in the end than if they began with 

 roots and green crops, and raised a 

 quantity of manure by the stock fed 

 on them. Lime excites new land 

 wonderfully, and no manure is more 

 active, provided there be vegetable 

 matter in the soil, or added at the 

 same time. Bone-dust will raise a 

 better crop of turnips than lime alone, 

 and is chiefly of use in raising the 

 first crop of turnips. It should there- 

 fore be used sparingly, unless obtain- 

 ed cheap, and only on light loams or 

 sands. Mixed with ashes in a heap, 

 and allowed to heat, it becomes much 

 more efficacious. 



Nothing has so rapid an effect in 

 removing sterility as the free use of 

 the urine of cattle, and the draining 

 of dunghills, collected and allowed to 

 ferment in covered tanks ; but tiiis 

 can only be obtained by keeping cat- 

 tle stalled and fed with provender 

 brought to them. This is the great 

 secret of the fertility of the once poor 

 barren heaths of Flanders. In differ- 

 ent situations it rnay not be practica- 

 ble to procure sufficient manure, at 

 least at first, and the progress will he 

 much slower. In this case the seeds 

 of rye, tares, beans, buckwheat, and 

 other succulent plants must be sown, 

 and the crop ploughed in when in blos- 

 som : potatoes and other roots may 

 be raised, to be consumed by cattle 

 and swine, in sheds built for the pur- 

 pose near at hand, and every means 

 that ingenuity can devise must here- 

 sorted to in order to make as much 

 manure as possible. This is not to be j 

 applied to the land at once, but mixed 

 up in heaps with parings of the sur- 

 face, with the ashes of roots burned, 

 and with lime, and when thoroughly 

 incorporated by frequent turning, mix- 

 ing, and repeated watering with li- 

 quid manure, a good coat should be put 

 on the land at once, as far as it will 

 go ; for one acre brought into a tol- 1 

 74 



erably fertile state ■will repay the cost 

 better than many imperfectly impro- 

 ved ; and by proceeding gradually in 

 this way, more land will be brought 

 into a state fit for cultivation at the 

 end of a few years, and at less ex- 

 pense, than could have been done by 

 beginning with too much at first. 



Sviiat has been said of poor land, 

 or sandy loam, is applicable to every 

 kind of unproductive soil, difference 

 of composition and texture being kept 

 in view. Poor, wet, stiff lands must 

 be divided by deep ditches, ploughed 

 in high ridges, and be as much as pos- 

 sible exposed to the wind and frost : 

 grasses must be sown such as suit 

 the soil. Paring and burning the sur- 

 face are here generally useful in the 

 first instance, and may sometimes be 

 repeated with advantage. Such soils, 

 in the end, are best calculated for per- 

 manent meadows ; but it is essentiril 

 to get them into a sound and fertile 

 state by tillage and manuring, and by 

 clearing them of all the roots and 

 seeds of weeds before they be laid 

 down with grass seeds, which must 

 therefore be done with a first crop 

 after a clean fallow, or, which is still 

 better, without any crop of corn at 

 all. and kept free from coarser grasses 

 by hand-weeding. Inoculating grass 

 is by far the readiest way of produ- 

 cing a permanent sward. See Grass 

 Latid. 



There is another kind of barren soil, 

 which extends over large tracts, well 

 known by the name of peat, or moor. 

 This, being chiefly composed of ve- 

 getable matter, is too loose in its tex- 

 ture for any vigorous vegetation ; but, 

 besides, it is of an insoluble, astrin- 

 gent nature, highly unfit for the in- 

 crease and nourishment of plants. 

 Moors being generally situated in val- 

 leys between mountains, draining off 

 the superfluous water is the first and 

 indispensable operation before any 

 improvement of them can be thought 

 of The next thing is to compress 

 the soft soil into a more solid state, 

 and for this purpose any kind of earth 

 or gravel is useful by its mere me- 

 chanical pressure. The surface may 

 be burned in sods, and the ashes wil) 



