The Effect of Climate on Agriculture 27 



grass, heather, or bracken. In some parts of the west 

 great peat-bogs or mosses occur where the water 

 accumulates in the hollows. 



When we speak of the cultivated portion of our 

 country we mean those parts that are under crops and 

 also the area of grassland used for pasturing animals. 

 About 60 per cent, of the United Kingdom is cultivated, 

 the remainder being scanty mountain pasture, heathy 

 land, sand, bog, or bare rock. In each of the four 

 countries the proportions of cultivated land vary 

 considerably. About three-quarters of England and 

 Wales are cultivated, about three -fifths of Ireland, 

 and only a quarter of Scotland. 



Scott, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel, aptly 

 describes the surface and vegetation of his native land 

 in these lines : 



O Caledonia! stern and wild, 



Meet nurse for a poetic child ! 



Land of brown heath and shaggy wood: 



Land of the mountain and the flood. 



Taking the United Kingdom as a whole we find that 

 the greatest part consists of pasture land, which forms 

 about three-fifths of the cultivated portion, or a little 

 more than a third of the total area. The reason for 

 this widespread pasture area is found in the moist, 

 equable climate of our country, and as a consequence 

 the characteristic appearance of its surface is its general 

 verdure. Of course this was not always the case, for 

 in early times Britain was covered almost from one end 

 to the other with forest, of which now there are only 

 small remains. 



