Farviiiig of Dorsetsliirc. 
453 
ol inforniiitign would be valueless, and might do niischiel ; and 
minute accuracy is only to be obtained by careful enumeration. 
The chief field of improvement in this county is its heaths, 
hundreds of acres of which answer precisely iiv the present day 
to every description of them heretofore written. They chiefly 
lie between Dorchester and Cranbornc, and consist of lower 
Bagshot sands. AVhere the heath only grows, reclamation is 
seldom tried ; but where furze, or fern, or holly indicates a better 
soil, little tracts liave been, and are still occasicmally taken in. 
Upon this subject the opinions of the majority of agriculturists 
are most discouraging. The soil is said to be of the most barren 
kind, ami to have below it at a few inches from the surface an 
iron pan, a formidable opponent to draining, in their estimation. 
Mr. Damen, of Winfrith, broke up 30 acres of this heath-land 
about eight years ago ; it was ploughed, fallowed, and dressed 
with bones and superphosjihate for turnips. He had a beautiful 
plant after they were hoed out, but in a week or two after there 
was not a sound turnip in the field. In the next year a very few 
oats — about five sacks an acre — were grown. It was then tur- 
niped again, with 2 cwt, guano and 5 sacks of burnt lime to the 
acre drilled in with compost. The turnips failed as much as 
before, and since then the land has been given up to the labourers, 
who have grown on it very bad crops of potatoes. It seems, 
however, to be overlooked that the heaths have been even worse 
treated than the downs ; they are robbed outrageously ; they get 
no return whatever ; there is a continued exhaustive drain upon 
them ; not the slightest particle of manure, except what they 
receive from heaven, falls upon them ; and their remorseless 
plunderers, after robbing them of all their possessions, steal tlieir 
tiliins. After furze has ceased to grow the surface is pared for 
turf. If the ashes were returned to tlie soil there would be no 
great harm done, but not only is the turf carted off with fre- 
quently the little soil beneath, but the "paring" process is jier- 
formcd on them, and the " burning " process in the labourer's 
cottage. There are no sheep or cattle, as on the downs, to 
give them an occasional top-dressing, and the little help they 
receive from tlie elements is more than counterbalanced by the 
injury done by the rains which stagnate upon their surface. The 
heaths, therefore, require a most indulgent treatment and a long- 
nursing before they can be said to have recovered from the 
effects of the ill treatment they have received, and to have re- 
gained their original constitution. The ^process may be long 
and tedious ; it may even in the long run appear unprofit- 
able, after the ordinary valuation of such lands; but that they 
would not prove ungrateful for considerate and generous treat- 
ment those who have noted how sorely they have been tried 
