WASTE. 



the ftate df barren heath a large farm of many hundred 

 acres, which now of itfelf would be no fmall eftate. And 

 j'et it may be faid, the writer oblerves, that this vaft im- 

 provement coft him nothing ; for he ufed to fay that the 

 work always defrayed its own expence. It was befides the 

 means and afforded the pleafure of giving employment to a 

 great number of labouring poor, and of doing much good 

 to all around in different ways, but efpecially by furnidving 

 feed-corn, which is found to do the beft when taken from 

 new lands, a confideration tliat fhould more powerfully re- 

 commend the improvement of thefe forts of land. 



In the improvement of this fort of wafte land, where the 

 heath and other coarfe plants on the furface are confiderable, 

 it is the practice with fome to apply lime in large propor- 

 tions fome time before the ground is to be broken up, as it 

 ;is found to have great power and effeft ia deftroying fuch 

 .coarfe matters, and in preparing the fuperficial parts of the 

 foil and ground for the operation of the plough and the aftion 

 of other tools, and of bringing it into the neceffary cultivation. 

 It is a mode which is thought to fucceed well, and to be 

 highly ufeful and advantageous in many fuch cafes. 



A large part of an extenfive traft of barren heath of no 

 :great value near Cardiff, in South Wales, has not long ago 

 been improved to vaft benefit at a moderate expence, by 

 breaft-ploughing, or paring and burning the furface, carefully 

 fpreading and turning in the afhes in a light manner, mixing 

 them well with the foil by dragging and harrowing, and 

 then applying lime in not too large a quantity, cropping 

 with wheat, turnips, or fome other more fuitable crops. In 

 fome inflances, the lime was mixed with the afhes to better 

 advantage. This, it is afferted, is the cheapeft and mofl 

 effeftual method of bringing fuch fort of wafte land into a 

 ftate of cultivation and improvement. 



' Though objeftions have been made to the cultivating of 

 wheat in the firft inftance, in fuch cafes, it would appear, it 

 is faid, to be the nioft profitable mode of proceeding. This 

 crop fhould be followed by turnips, or by oats with ray- 

 grafs and red clover, but the former fs to be greatly pre- 

 ferred in general, efpecially if the neceffary quantity of 

 fuitable manure can be procured in a ready manner ; when 

 barley with feeds may be tried in fucceffion to the turnips, 

 particularly where they fucceed in fuch a manner as to 

 keep fheep a fufficient length of time on the field. The 

 courfe of the crops will then run thus : wheat, the ftubble 

 carefully turned down in the autumn, then turnips, and 

 thefe followed by barley or oats, with ray-grafs and red 

 clover. The firft crop of thefe graffes grazed by flieep, or 

 other forts of live-ftock, as moft convenient. Land thus 

 managed, when broken up a fecond time, will foon become, 

 without doubt, it is fuppofed, nearly equal to moft other 

 land in the vicinity of it. 



It may be neceffary in many cafes, and on many accounts, 

 to vary the firft crop. In fome it may be moft ufeful and 

 proper to begin with turnips ; in others witli oats and feeds, 

 or with the former only. In lands wliere mucilage appeared 

 deficient, buck-wheat, turned in, has been tried with great 

 fuccefs, efpecially when afterwards mixed with lime and 

 dung. But the above method of beginning with wheat was 

 found the befl in all cafes where circundlances would permit 

 it. Wheat, when the ground is properly prepared, will al- 

 ways, it is thought, beft repay the expence of fuch pre- 

 paration ; and green leguminous crops, eaten off by fheep or 

 cattle, will afterwards improve the land confiderably, even 

 without other means, which fhould, however, never be ne- 

 glefted where the expence of providing them is moderate. 

 See a trail on the cultivation of wafte land in the above 

 (liftria of Wales, by Col. Capper. 



Heath land, where the ftaple is very thin before fmall 

 ftones and gravel are reached, may be improved in fome- 

 what the fame way ni fome cafes ; and after the furface 

 materials have been reduced and fpread out, by nine-fhare 

 ploughing it, and fowing it with grafs-feeds well har- 

 rowed in. By this fimple method, the fward foon becomes 

 fweet, good, and pro.iudive, the heath that originally co- 

 vered tlie ground foon difappearing. Waftes that are natu- 

 rally poor, thin, and barren, fhould never, or but in few 

 cafes, have corn attempted to be raifed upon them in the 

 firft inftance. Heath lands of this fort intended for fheep- 

 walks may be improved by breaft-ploughing,- burning, and 

 fpreading out the afhes upon a certain proportion of them 

 every year ; half of fuch portion being direftly prepared 

 for early turnips ; the other half for the fame crop in the 

 fpring. The turnips on the ilrft part, when fed off on the 

 land by fheep, fliould have the ground they occupied fown 

 after being prepared early in the fpring with tares, in the 

 quantity of three bufhels to the acre, with a few oats ; 

 thefe to be fed off with fheep alfo, then fowing turnips 

 again for the fpring, which being fed off as before, the 

 land is to be fown with oats and wliite clover feeds, eight 

 pounds to the acre, with a bufhel of good hay-feeds. The 

 clover not to be in any way ftocked, after the oats are cut, 

 until the fpring. This land, by being hurdled off, where 

 practicable, and fed with fneep for two or three years, will. 

 It is faid, become an excellent fward, and form a great im- 

 provement, affording the improver vaft profit in the increafe 

 of the fheep it can fupport. 



There are other modes of bringing wafte lands of thefe 

 different kinds into cultivation, as by planting potatoes in 

 the ridge and other methods, which is well iuited to the 

 means of improving fmall portions by the labouring poor, 

 in many inftances, as they often produce good abundant 

 crops, and render the lands foon fit for other purpofes, with- 

 out fcarcely any expence being incurred. 



The fowing of the feeds of leguminous plants among 

 thofe of the grafs kind, too, has been found not only to in- 

 creafe the herbage much, but to greatly ameliorate the 

 earth of the land in different cafes. See Heath, Moor, 

 Would, &c. Alfo Paring and Burning. 



Planting thefe forts of waftes with proper kinds of trees 

 may alto anfwer well in many cafes, and afford great advan- 

 tage to the owner;. See Planting. 



Second Divifwn of M^a/k Lam!. — This comprifes all the 

 forts and varieties of foft, boggy, and watery land that are 

 formed by the depofition of different rich earthy or other 

 fuch matters ; and is, in many cafes, a colleftion of the rich 

 mud and fediment wliich is wafhed down from the higher 

 grounds, io mixed with the recrements of different decayed 

 vegetables of its own growth) and fo over-charged with 

 ftagnant water, that no fort of animal can fcarcely pafs 

 upon it. It is a fort of wafte land that is, for the moft 

 part, more difficult of impi-ovement than heathy moor, or 

 any of the kinds included in the firft divifion, but which will 

 nioftly pay better for the expence wlien it has been accom- 

 plifhed than any of them. It is indeed a fort of land that, 

 when well freed of its wetnefs, is the richeft and moft pro- 

 duAive of any ; nor is the clearing of it of its water in 

 many cafes fo difficult as may at firft be fuppofed. Some- 

 tmies the water which produces tlie mifchief comes from 

 higher grounds, fo that it may be eafily intercepted, and 

 afterwards be made to ferve it, in the way of manure, by 

 being thrown over the furface of it. In other cafes, the 

 water is afforded by internal fprings, which are eafily dif- 

 covered, when the land has got an outlet on the lower fide 

 of it, to which the water thus produced can be condufted 



by 



