THE IMPEOVEMENT OF OUR WASTE LANDS. 229 



Looking at the present state of the country from an agricultural point 

 of view, it does not, I think, admit of a doubt, that ere long all the low- 

 lying parts of our waste lands will be taken up and reclaimed, for the 

 purpose of being made arable, in order to increase our supply of food. 

 Keeping this in view, it certainly must be the interest of every landed 

 proprietor who is possessed of this description of land to have all por- 

 tions of it which can be made at all available for cultivation prepared for 

 this without delay, by planting a considerable proportion of it with trees, 

 in the shape of well-defined plantations on well-chosen sites, in order to 

 produce shelter in the districts before they are taken up for improvement 

 agriculturally. By attending to this in time, the plantations will have 

 attained some height, and be capable of producing shelter over the dis- 

 trict, when the land adjoining comes to be put under cultivation ; but if 

 on the contrary, no plantations are formed till the land is being made 

 arable, the full advantages of the improvement will not be realised till 

 the plantations shall have grown up to produce the desired state of 

 shelter for the fields. 



Great advantages will certainly result from early planting on those 

 districts of waste lands which are capable of being made arable, and also 

 any portions which are left for permanent pasture for sheep-grazing will 

 also be very much improved. A much higher rent will be obtained for 

 arable land well sheltered with plantations than for arable land which 

 lies open and exposed. The foresight of our landed proprietors who have 

 such land to improve will lead them to plant large portions very soon, 

 as it will certainly be to their ultimate benefit ; and in order to bring 

 about this desirable condition in regard to the lower-lying portions of 

 their waste lands, they should plant all knolls embraced on them which 

 may be found of a very poor or rocky description, and therefore unfit for 

 being made arable ; and the tops of all the ridges bounding the flats, and 

 also the hollows, should be planted altogether to the extent of at least a 

 tenth part of the whole land intended for improvement. 



These plantations should be formed of all kinds of trees suitable to the 

 different soils and situations in which they are to grow. Previous to 

 planting, the portions of land to be dealt with in this way should be 

 securely fenced, and all wet parts of them made dry by open cuts of a 

 sufficient depth, according to the nature of the soil and subsoil ; but con- 

 sidering the general character of these high-lying waste lands, the drains 

 will have to be made thirty inches deep, the same width at the top, and 

 about nine inches broad at bottom, as already described in the section 

 for the drainage of woods and plantations in the chapter on Drainage. 



These drains should be laid out at such distances as the character of 

 the different parts of the land to be operated on may indicate, and the 



