82 



veiled through Cumberland, considerable tracts of this 

 description, that never had been broken up ; and we agreed, 

 they were well adapted to florin culture, for then I was 

 not aware of what spontaneous Nature could do. 



These grounds were generally covered with a grassy sole, 

 no doubt chiefly our oivn agrostis ; for I met with it every 

 where in Cumberland as abundant and a& luxuriant as 

 in Irelat^d, and the agrostis vulgaris never obtruded 

 itself upon me. Here then we have a wide field, even 

 what I saw ; and I hear the same description is extensively 

 spread over the North of England; and their never having 

 been broken up, proves that the proprietors deemed them 

 unfit for agricultural purposes. Can we then change these 

 weak pastures into rich meadows? What a stimulus do 

 we give to the agriculture of the better parts of the 

 country ? We greatly reduce the price of hay, and thus 

 enable farmers to keep more cattle to labour their lands 

 better, and to make more manure. 



This description too has generally a cold retentive bottom, 

 and is saturated with undischarged water, exactly the same 

 case with much of the grassy mountains, and fitted pre- 

 cisely for the same measures I have dwelled upon so 

 much with respect to them. The same severe surface- 

 draining and plentiful top-dressing, must produce the same 

 effects : the rapid change from a poor soil to a rich one, 

 from a wet, to a dry one, would (as I have so often seen) 

 throw the native agrostis stolonifera into high luxu- 

 riance, and repress the aquatics, now the chief possessors. 

 More careful weeding would probably be required, as 

 we have not severity of climate to aid us in combating 

 intruders. 



I have no personal knowledge of England South of 

 Cumberland ; but I have no doubt there must be other 

 tracts in their low countries, adapted to the nteasures I 



