WASTE. 



by open cuts as the mud-earthy material futifides. It may 

 then be drawn off in the ufual way, and the land converted 

 to valuable palture or corn crops, as may be the moft fuit- 

 able and proper. 



In this manner, and by the application of proper fub- 

 ftances of different kinds on the furfacc when neccffary, 

 many conlidorable trafts of fuch forts of wafte 'and in dif- 

 ferent parts of the kingdom have, within thcfe late years, 

 been brought into an excellent ffate of cultivation for the 

 produftioM of corn as well as grafs. And befides fuch ad- 

 vantages, the removal of the ftagnant wetnefs in the lands, 

 in many inftances, is of much benefit in promoting the 

 healthinefs of the neighbourhoods, by removing the cold 

 and putrid exhalations that proceed from them. 



The writer of the traft already alluded to remarks, that 

 the improvement of boggy grou id of this fort, in his trials, 

 required more attentio.^, and likewife morecxpence, to bring 

 it into cultivation, than that of the firll divifion. That in 

 five or fix fields, under the management then pointed out 

 and pradtifcd, there were fmall fpots of this kind of land, 

 arifing from internal wetnefs on the breads of the oppofite 

 hills, which had been long choal ed up, and made fwamps 

 of a temporary nature fome dillance around them ; but 

 which have been removed by tapping and forming furface 

 cuts from them, to conduft the fuperfluous internal and the 

 top water, by the fide ditches, to tlie main cuts, and in fome 

 particular inftances by ftrong covered or open deep cuts to 

 the fame channels or paffages. Since this method has been 

 had recourfe to, thefe fields have, it is faid, been fown with 

 wheat, and have borne very excellent crops. At the bottom 

 of the hills on the different fides runs a fmall brook, it is 

 obferved, which has been converted into one of the main 

 paffages for taking away the wetnefs of the whole of the 

 wafte : on each fide of the brook, the earth has been gra- 

 dually walhed down from the adjacent hills, and a quantity 

 of black mould depofited from it, to the depth of about 

 two feet and a half, and in fome places three feet : under- 

 neath this foil or mould is in general a fine white fand upon 

 a gravel, but in fome places the mouldy material only covers 

 a common peat earthy matter. Various trials, it is faid, 

 have been made in bringing thefe different foils or lands into 

 cultivation : with a mixture of lime, a tolerable crop of 

 wheat has been obtained, even from the peat earth part ; and 

 on the other, by the fame means, abundant crops of oats 

 have been had. It is intended to try if cabbages, by the 

 lielp of lime and dung in mixture, will thrive in thefe bot- 

 toms. By fuch means, it is not doubted, but that in the 

 courfe of a few years thefe bottom parts will throw up 

 abundant crops of excellent grafs, which, in many places, 

 indeed already begins, it is faid, to appear. One half ot thofo 

 boggy bottoms was capable of being ploughed the firll year 

 after they had been fned from wetnefs ; the other part was 

 either fown with oats after being dug over, or planted with 

 proper aquatic trees, fuch as withys and others. 



But for waftcs of this nature, where there is much coarfe, 

 rufliy htrbaj;e on the furface, and they are confiderribly dry, 

 the method advifed below is fuggetted as very beneficial and 

 proper, -t is, in the months of April and May to pare 

 and burn th" furface ; and after the matters thus produced 

 arc fpread equally over it, the ground to be turned over 

 with a very ebb furrow, and at the proper feafon to be fown 

 with tun.ips in the broadcaft manner. From the almoll en- 

 tire abfence of root-weeds, in confequence of the burning, 

 the crop will require little care in dreffmg by the hoe. The 

 turnips ar« to he coiifumed upon the ground, by folding 

 (heep upon it by means of flakes or hurdles. As foon as 

 the land is cleared of the turnips, it is to be ploughed with 



a good furrow, and to remain in that ftate until the feafon 

 for fowing the fame crop again arrives. If well worked, and 

 laid into ridges or ftitches of the ufual breadth of two feet 

 and a half, the dung produced by the ftieep that confumed 

 the firft turnip crop will render the land capable of giving 

 a fuperior crop of the fame kind the fecond feafon. This 

 fecond crop, lik^ the firft, is to be contumed by folding 

 (heep on the land in the fame manner ; which being finiftied, 

 the land is to be ploughed and laid into ridges for a corn 

 crop, which is to be either barley or oats, as the nature of 

 the foil and fituation of the lands may be. If rich and well 

 ftieltered, they fhould be cropped with barley ; if otherwife, 

 with oats ; in either cafe to be iown off with grafs-feeds for 

 patture. It is thought that under this procefs of ma- 

 nagement the fmalleft poffible expence is incurred, and that 

 the lands, at the end of three feafons only, are thrown into 

 pafturc in high condition, while in the courfe of the procefs 

 one valuable corn crop, and one good crop of turnips, have 

 been afforded, together with a lefs valuable one of the fame 

 fort ; which laft, however, may be fufficient to defray all 

 the expence of tillage attending it, over and above that of 

 reducing the coarfe furface. The expence of preparing for 

 the fecond turnip crop, and for the corn crop, will amount 

 to no more than the price of ordinary light tillage ; and the 

 lands, from being brought into the ftate of grafs in high con- 

 dition, will not only affurd abundant profitable pafture, but 

 at the fame time be ready, when broken up at a futUrc 

 period, to yield full crops of corn. 



In low wet bottoms, another experienced improver of 

 wafte lands ftates too, that the moft beneficial mode that 

 has been attempted is, to pare and burn for the fame crop 

 to be eaten off by ffieep ; then to fow oats, and afterwards 

 to lay on five chaldrons of lime to the acre as a preparative 

 for another crop of turnips to be eaten by ftieep as before ; 

 after which to fow oats, with feeds in the quantity of fixteen 

 pounds of white clover, five pounds of rib-grats, and a 

 quarter of good hay -feeds to the acre. Land fo managed, 

 it is faid, will carry coiifiderably more ftock than it did in 

 its original ftate. If the water has been completely removed, 

 thefe feeds may be broken up at the end of two years, or as 

 foon as they appear to decline in produAivenefs, for wheat, 

 and be put into the four-ftiift hufbandry, namely, turnips 

 after wheat, to be fucceeded by barley, clover, turnips, and 

 wlieat again. Until the land becomes tired of red clover, 

 there cannot, it is fuppofed, be a more judicious method 

 adopted for fuch waile lands than this. When it becomes 

 tired with the red clover, which it will moftly be after two 

 fncceffive rounds, either beans, peas, or feeds, may be fub- 

 ftitiited. The two furnier are ameliorating crops, and will 

 be found beneficial where fuch waftes are of a flrong quality 

 of foil, particularly tlie former, where the Innd is ftrong 

 enough for beans. The heft fubftitute for red clover, in 

 fuch cafes, is fmall feeds for two years, which throws it 

 from the four into the five-lhift fyftem. 



There are fome other methods of improving and bringing 

 thefe forts of waftes into cultivation, but which will be fecn 

 under their proper heads. See Bog,'SwamV, Morass, &c. 

 Alfo Si'rtiN<i-M lining, and SALT-JtLir/i. 



Planting with willows and oziers may often be highly pro- 

 fitable in fiich lanrls. 



ThinI Divifion of Wajl: Land. — This includes all forts of 

 peaty or moffy lands, from thofe of the fmalleft depths to 

 thcfe of the greateft, however different they may be in 

 their qualities, textures, aud other circumftancea. ,\s they 

 vary very greatly in all tfiefe refpefts, as well as in fome 

 others, and in the quantities of moifture or wetnefs which 

 they contain, it is obvious tli.u there muft be great diverfity 

 5 A I ia 



