On Reclaiming Heath Land. 
81 
has been adopted and extensively practised by most landholders in 
the north of England and borders of Scotland, who have reclaimed 
large tracts of heath land within the period I have alluded to. 
My father, who is an extensive farmer and landowner, living at 
Bolton Park, near Wigton, in Cumberland, whose corroborative 
testimony I have received in favour of this metliod in particular, 
has within the last thirty years, to my own knowledge, reclaimed 
and brought into a profitable state of cultivation upwards of 2800 
acres of various qualities, a great deal of which was not worth 
more than from \s. to 3^. per acre to rent previous to its being 
reclaimed ; and some of it even less than these sums. I speak 
within bounds when I state that the whole of these lands have 
amply repaid him for reclaiming them, and are more than qua- 
drupled in value, although in many instances imperfectly drained. 
My father regularly gets from 5 to 8 quarters of oats per acre 
on his first course of cropping. Oafs, in nine cases out of ten, I 
consider the most suitable as the first crop, and the most pro- 
fitable also to the farmer, if the altitude of the situation does 
not forbid their growth. I will now suppose, for example, that 
I have got a piece of heath land (say 100 acres) to reclaim and 
divide into suitable enclosures; and, in order to proceed stea- 
dily with a little variety of crop, I will break up 10 acres yearly, 
until I have reclaimed the whole: takingr care to begrin with the 
farthest or most inaccessible lot first, so that I may have the bene- 
fit of occupying it from as many sides as possible, and over the 
unbroken ground — an advantage which is sometimes overlooked. 
This precaution is not always necessary in the vicinity of good 
roads, but nevertheless ought not to be unheeded. In the first 
place, after having selected the ground to be broken up, it is de- 
sirable to erect a good substantial stone wall or quickset sod fence 
around the proposed enclosure. If the former be considered 
more suitable, all stones that are visible upon the land should be 
grubbed up and carted or conveyed off in sledges ; which is ex- 
pedient for the double purpose of erecting the fence and removing 
them out of the way of the paring spade and plough. If a sod 
fence with thorn-quicks is more suitable, I should recommend it in 
like manner to be made previous to the breaking up of the land, 
in order that the quicks may be making progress as soon as pos- 
sible. In either case I prefer having the fences put up, wJiolly or 
in part, before the plough is brought into operation, as the cart- 
ing, &c. to the stone fence is much easier performed before the top 
sward is broken ; and a similar remark will generally apply in the 
case of a sod fence, because the horses, when turning with the 
plough at the land-ends, break up and trample the top sward in 
such a manner as to materially injure it for sodding. 
The next thing to be done is to drain the enclosure effectually, 
VOL. VI. G 
