90 
On Reclaimiiir/ Heath Land. 
reign on in undisturbed possession of these elevated hills in all 
their primitive wildness, without a probability of ever being called 
upon or compelled to dispute her authority. In this state they 
are likely to remain, except where, here and there, in some shel- 
tered nook, a few acres may be nibbled out by some enterprising 
workman ; who, by dint of hack and spade, will often surmount 
great obstacles. 
That the act of reclaiming: must have its limits in mountainous 
districts no one will attempt to dispute. Beyond this limit, which 
cannot be definitely fixed, the only improvement or good which 
can be effected appears to me to be that of surface drainage, and 
of rearing woods and plantations. These will thrive at several 
hundred feet higher than any crops of an agricultural character, 
if planted in sufficiently large tracts. I am persuaded that great 
benefit is derived from plantations, in high climates, by contiguous 
lands ; from the warmth and shelter afforded during more than 
one half of the year, not only to cattle, but also to herbage. 
Shelter and warmth are as indispensable to neat cattle as to the 
human race. 
I have no doubt my opinion will be questioned as to the pro- 
priety and prudence of paring and burning upon thin soils, and 
not without some show of reason ; but I wish my readers to un- 
derstand that, where I come upon soils of this description with a 
green sward of thin texture, I do not class them as " heath land." 
Such may be unreclaimed virgin soils, certainly, but ought not to 
be confounded with the former; although we I'requently see them 
blended together in such a manner as to render their separation a 
matter of difficulty. Where the plough can be brought to work 
eftectually upon such of this nature as possess a delicate and thin 
top sward, with little vegetable root and no heath upon them, I need 
scarcely add, that economy alone will point out the expedience of 
dispensing with the paring spade. As regards heath-growing 
land of this description the case, however, is very different; and 
paring and burning cannot be prudently dispensed with, for the 
purpose of getting rid of the heath : without \\ hich, it is impossible 
to get a crop worth having, or even to get the land half ploughed. 
I have seen such land hoise* pai-ed (without burning), limed ,and 
ploughed, and ploughed again and again for the first crop. Yes, 
I have repeatedly seen this method tried with the view of preserv- 
ing all the vegetable mould, as I was informed ; and the invariable 
result has been a return of little more than the seed sown for the 
first and second crops : and, in after years, I never could discover, 
where this mode had been acted upon, that the land was more 
productive than other fields of similar quality which had been pared 
and burnt. The ashes, scanty though they may be on such land, 
* Done with a light plough drawn by one horse. 
