Farming of Devonshire. 
469 
tain, and thereby seriously diminish their value. I feel assured 
that this practice only requires to be noticed for its inconsistency 
to be admitted. 
In the South Hams the use of lime, together with paring and 
burning, are the principal means upon which they rely for main- 
taining the fertility of their arable land. The latter practice is 
supposed to have originated in this county ; hence its name 
Denshiring (abbreviation of Devonshiring). In the commence- 
ment of the seventeenth century it constituted a regular portion 
of the tillage operations ; but shortly after this the use of lime as 
a manure superseded it, and from that time it has been gradually 
becoming a less general practice. The effects of each are in 
some respects similar — both act as stimulants to the land, and 
render it more productive by changing the dormant constituents 
of the soil into a condition available for the support of vegetable 
life. It is therefore evident that by their continued use we must 
ultimately impoverish the soil. This evil Is seriously increased in 
the south of Devon by their applying only a small portion of the 
farm-yard manure to the arable land. Thus they continue to 
stimulate the soil to yield its nourishment to their crops, which 
are either disposed of in the market as corn and cattle, or laid on 
their pasture land as manure. 
Sea-sand- — In the north and west of Devonshire the applica- 
tion of sea-sand to the land is considered equal to lime as a sti- 
mulating manure, but it also possesses fertilising properties of 
which the latter is destitute. It is found on several parts of the 
coast of Cornwall ; but this county is supplied from the neigh- 
bourhood of Bude, where it forms a large bank on the sea-shore 
of considerable length ; and although many thousand tons are re- 
moved every month no decrease is observable, the loss being 
supplied on the return of the following tide. This commodity 
forms the principal article of traffic on the Bude and Launceston 
Canal by means of which it is conveyed at a trifling expense, 
and depots are established on its banks for supplying the dis- 
trict through which it passes. Considerable quantities are also 
freighted to London for the manufacture of certain patent ma- 
nures. By a microscopic examination it appears to consist of 
the fragments of common coast-shells, amongst which are oysters, 
scallops, cockles, and muscles, with the spines of sea urchins. 
These live between low tide and 30 fathom water, and are there- 
fore readily brought under the influence of the breakers. 
On arable it is generally applied at the rate of 80 or 90 seams 
(11 or 13 two-horse cart-loads) per acre before ploughing for 
wheat. It is a valuable manure for grass land, and produces a 
sweet and luxuriant herbage. 
Sea-weed is another natural manure which our maritime posi- 
