28 EXPLOITATION OF PLANTS 
£5 or £6 per acre in the preliminary operations, charges 
which often equal or exceed its original cost. Never- 
theless, with intelligent handling the large expenditure 
is found to be remunerative, and good crops accrue at 
once. This type of reclamation may be illustrated by 
the case of the East Anglian Breckland, a large area of 
sandy heath of the most unpromising character. 
SaNnpy HEaTHS 
Breckland.—In reclamation, as in warfare, it is sound 
strategy to attack the forces of the enemy where their 
main strength is concentrated; if, therefore, the 400 
square miles of N.W. Suffolk and S.W. Norfolk lying 
to the north of Newmarket, and centred on Brandon 
and Thetford, can be brought with profit to the plough, 
it follows that other heathy and bracken-covered wastes 
must yield to analogous treatment. Moreover, the 
results of the very full investigations into the vegetation 
of Breckland at the hands of Mr. E. P. Farrow (cf. 
Journal of Ecology, vols. 4 and 5), give an admirable 
picture of the nature of the difficulties which are being 
surmounted with success in the reclaiming experiments 
at Methwold, which Dr. Edwards, supported by the 
Development Commission, has had in progress since 
1914. 
Breckland has a surface largely of sand, the remains 
probably of sand dunes which once bordered the original 
bay of the Wash. This sand, still liable to movement 
by wind and much excavated by rabbits, overlies glacial 
drift, and this in its turn the chalk. The rainfall is 
one of the lowest in Britain, averaging 224 inches. 
x 
