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me highly pernicious. It is called burn- 

 baking, or breafl-plcughing. It mufl 

 have taken its rife from lazinefs. Where 

 land is covered with a coarfe, rough, 

 fward, or is become very foul, the indo- 

 lent farmer, to avoid the pains of making 

 it clean, folicits his landlord (or, in fome 

 places, .the cuftcm is fo prevalent, that he 

 does not even afk him) to grant him leave 

 to pare and burn the turf; by which, if 

 he has a dry feafon, he gets rid of all his 

 trouble at once ; and generally procures 

 three, or four, florid crops, by means of 

 the alhes. But this is obtained at a heavy 

 expence to the landlord ; whofe proper- 

 ty, in the fee-fimple of fuch land, is, by 

 this means, diminiilied at leafl one fifth. 

 The injury is fo obvious, that no unpre- 

 judiced perfon can well doubt of it, The 

 fward, or fkin, is generally pared off, by 

 this method, to the thicknefs of about 



two 



