O/i Reclaiming Heath Land. 
91 
are of paramount importance for raising the first and second crops. 
Without their assistance little produce can be obtained ; and the 
difficuhy of ploughing down the heath, and getting rid of it, renders 
the system of paring and burning doubly advisable. The only 
objection worthy of consideration that I have ever heard raised 
against paring and burning the siu-face of the soil in reclaiming 
heath land is, that " it permanently reduces the stamina or con- 
stitution of thin soils." To this opinion I demur. I admit that to a 
trifling extent it reduces * the vegetable mould ; but, in return for 
this reduction, we receive an active and enriching manure in the 
ashes. These ashes are of more value than the substance from 
which they were made. With them the finest crops may be pro- 
ciwed on nearly all inferior soils, which would not for several years 
produce them without ashes, or some other substitute. These 
crops will enable the farmer to return a supply of good manure to 
the land from which it is derived : and if, in ten years afterwards, 
his land is not found in as good a state as his neighbour's, who 
has reclaimed his land without paring and burnuig ; and if he 
has not also received a better return for his outlay, then I will 
succumb, provided they both do justice to their land in the inter- 
mediate time, and are upon equal footing as to the quality of the 
land. A quick and sure return for the outlay of capital, is what 
the fartner must and will look to ; and to this no reasonable land- 
lord will object, provided it can be obtained without inflicting an 
injury either temporary or permanent upon the land. It should 
never be forgotten that the real incentive to improvements lies in 
the certainty of a quick and adequate return for the capital adven- 
tured. This is the " philosopher's stone," and the mainspring to 
all our exertions. Paring and burning heath land, with a proper 
dressing of lime, will give to the farmer as much produce in three 
years as any other method I have ever seen tried will give in four. 
" Hope deferred makes the heart sick ;" and no sensible man will 
wait lour years for that which he can get in three. 
In addition to other benefits derived from paring and burning 
the surface, it exterminates the sluss and the egors of insects, 
which abound in the turf ; and destroys the seeds and roots of 
injurious plants. 
Where the heath is very strong it is frequently set fire to and 
burnt previous to paring, from the difliculty experienced in dis- 
* This reduction is only temporary, and is soon compensated by return- 
ing the whole of the produce to the land after being converted into manure. 
A similar reduction, although by a slower process, will be the result witli- 
out paring and burning, if a compensating return is not made to the land. 
I submit, therefore, that paring and burning the surface is a method of 
reclaiming heath land at once safe, economical, and expeditious; and that 
the improvement or deterioration of the land depends altogether upon its 
subsequent management and prudent husbandry. 
