75 



long on the increase, and have made mischievous en- 

 croachments on the habitable and cultivable world. 



In our own islands, the blowing sands in the Hebrides, 

 and even in some parts of the main land of Scotland, 

 have in the memory of man committed extensive depreda- 

 tions ; and in Ireland, in the north of Donegal, we 

 have still remaining, the walls of a house begun by a Lord 

 BoYNE, standing in the midst of a sandy desert, the 

 surface of which is now on a level with the second story 

 of the building. 



1 have not hopes, that by any interfei'ence of ours, or 

 by any style of cultivation, we can entirely arrest the pro- 

 gress of such desolating clouds of sand ; but there may be 

 cases of less violence, where, under favourable circum- 

 stances, the ingenuity of man may devise means of clothing 

 the surface, so as to prevent the loose materials from 

 being blown over other grounds, to their injury and rum. 



Let us remember, that, if we can clothe our sandy surface 

 with a grassy sole, we carry two important points ; we 

 arrest the loose sand made mischievous by every stirring 

 wind, and we create a valuable] grassy surface where 

 nothing was produced before ; for we know the diminutive 

 varieties of grass that occupy such dry soil alvrays to 

 afford a most kindly pasture. 



Let those who start at the wildness of my projects, 

 recollect that this is the moment for experiment ; that 

 though our hopes of success may not be very sanguine, yet, 

 shall we make the trial, one result is certam, that the pro- 

 prietor hghtens the distress of his unfortunate tenants, and 

 that whatever expenditure he chooses to encounter, his 

 money is disposed of in the most charitable manner, in 

 finding employment for the industrious and unoccupied poor. 

 It remains for me to shov/, that my speculations are not 



