THE IMPROVEMENT OF OUR WASTE LANDS. 239 



Considering the rapidly-increasing population of this country, and the 

 demand there is to have every square foot of land made to grow its share 

 of the people's food, the question naturally comes to be asked, Could 

 not the railway banks be made more profitable ? When we take into 

 account the great extent of railways in this country, and the amount of 

 land taken up by the sloping banks on each, the quantity of land thus 

 lying dormant must be very considerable. In many parts of the Con- 

 tinent the banks on the sides of the railways are cultivated advanta- 

 geously, and I think that a very great proportion of our own railway 

 wastes might be made profitable. Much might be done to improve them 

 for cultivation by an increase of surface soiling and manuring. If the 

 danger from fire or the steepness of the banks prevents them being cul- 

 tivated for many kinds of crops, yet they, at all events, could be made 

 to grow good crops of grass. In their present state they may be said 

 to be under a crop of grass, but in reality it is a crop of weeds. Where 

 grasses have been sown, they have been of a very inferior description, 

 and the result is that the crop is almost worthless. All the railway 

 banks capable of being dug should be improved by first increasing the 

 soil on the surface, and also by a liberal application of manures. They 

 should then be sown down with good grass-seeds. They should be 

 liberally manured every season, so as to increase the growth of the 

 grasses as much as will allow of them being cut two or three times in 

 each season, either to be converted into hay, or sent by rail to large 

 towns and sold to dairymen. 



