Book III. 



. IMPROVING FARMERIES. 



749 



mischief. The most suitable plants for the purpose are, the 'lymus arenarius, Juncus 

 aren^rius, ^rundo Z)6nax, Ononis spinosa, Galium verum, Tussilago Petasites, and a 

 variety of other creeping-rooted plants and grasses. Of woody plants, the elder is 

 one of the best for resisting the sea breeze, and requires only to be inserted in the 

 sand in large truncheons. Where the sands on sea-shores are mixed with shells, 

 and not very liable to drift, if they can be sheltered by fences or an embankment, 

 and sown with white clover, it will be found both an economical and profitable 

 improvement. 



4565. The drift-sands of the outer Hebrides have in some places been consolidated and covered with verd- 

 ure by " square pieces of turf, cut from solid sward, and laid upon 

 the drifting surface, in steep places nearer to each other, and in less 

 inclined places at a greater distance : on very rapid declivities the turfs 

 are placed in contiguity. These turfs, although separated by intervals 

 of a foot or so of sand, are not liable to be buried, except in very ex- 

 posed places." (Quar. Jour. Agr. vol. i. p. 715.) N. Macleod, Esq. of 

 Harris, has reclaimed and brought into useful permanent pasture 

 above 120 acres of useless drifting sand, by planting it with .^rlindo 

 arenkria {fg. 710.) in 1819. The operation is performed in September, 

 by cutting the plants " about two inches below the surface with a 

 small thin-edged spade, with a short handle, which a man can use in 

 his right hand, at the same time taking hold of the grass with his left; 

 other persons carrying it to the blowing-sand to be planted in a hole, or 

 rather a cut, made in the sand, about eight or nine inches deep, (and 

 deeper where the sand is very open and much exposed,) by a large 

 narrow-pointed spade. A handful of .4rundoarenkria, or bent grass, 

 was put into each of these cuts, which were about twelve inches dis- 

 tant, more or less, according to the exposure of the situation. When 

 properly fixed in the blowing-sand, the roots begin to grow and spread 

 under the surface, in the course of a month after planting. This grass 

 is relished by cattle in summer, but it is ofgreater value, by preserv- 

 ing it on the ground for wintering cattle : it would be injudicious to cut 

 it, because it will stand the winter better than any other grass, and is 

 seldom covered with snow. Neither wind, rain, nor frost will destroy it; 

 but the old grass naturally decays towards the latter end of spring and 

 the beginning of summer, as the new crop grows. White and red clover 

 will grow spontaneously among this grass in the course of a few years, 

 provided it is well secured. (Trans. Highl. Soc. vol. vi. p. 265.) 



4566. Poor sandy soils in inland districts are not unfre- 

 quently stocked with rabbits. When the productions of ara- 

 ble lands are high, it is found worth while to break up these 

 warrens and cultivate corn and turnips ; but it frequently happens that, taking the requi- 

 site outlay of capital, and the expenses and risk into consideration, they do not pay so 

 well as when stocked with rabbits. Such lands are generally well adapted for plant- 

 711 i"g ; t>ut in this, as in every other case 



where there is a choice, circumstances must 

 direct what line of improvement is to be 

 adopted. 



4567 Shores and sea beaches of gravel and 

 shingle, without either soil or vegetation, are 

 perhaps the mostunimproveable spots of any; 

 but something may be done with them by 

 burying the roots of the arenarious grasses 

 along with a little clay or loamy earth. Of 

 these, the best is the ^rundo arenkria and 

 jB'lymus arenkrius {Jig. 711. a), already 

 mentioned; and E. geniculatus (6) and 

 siblricus (c) would probably succeed equally 

 well. The last grows on the sandy wastes 

 of Siberia, and the preceding is found on 

 the shores of Britain. 



Chap. V. 



Improvement of Lands already in a State of Culture, 



4568. A profitable application of many of the practices recommended in the chapters of 

 this and the foregoing Book may be made to many estates which have been long under 

 cultivation. It is certain, indeed, that the majority of those who study our work will 

 have that object more in view than the laying out or improvement of estates ab origine. 

 Few are the estates in Britain in which the farm lands do not admit of increased value; 



