On Reclaiming Heath Land. 
97 
which are seldom fit for anything but litter or thatch. Therefore, 
admitting the alternate system of cropping to be good both in 
theory and practice, the second crop ouglit to be turnips, cole, 
r\e, clover, vetches, or other green crop. If the land be too rotten 
or wet to consume green crops upon it with sheep, it will be ad- 
visable to adopt such of the above as may be cut green for stall- 
ing. I would rather see two green crops taken in succession than 
two white ones ; but how very few converts I shall make by this 
avowal ! Potatoes should never be grown upon new laud for the 
table ; but for seed I should prefer them to any other, as they are 
invariably strong and healthy. For the third crop I should re- 
commend barley or oats, and the land sown down to grass, which 
in the following season ought to be pastured, and not mown as 
hay, if we desire a good sward as the reward of our management. 
If the land be in high condition, the grain is apt to injure the grass 
seeds by getting lodged. To obviate this, instead of sowing the grass 
seeds with oats or barley, I should rather sow them with a crop of 
cole, to be eaten off' with sheep. Many farmers would grumble 
at this, thinking that they were losing a good crop of corn ; but I 
have seen the most luxuriant pasture obtained by this method ; 
and I never saw a farmer who tried it, however reluctantly, that 
ever regretted having done so. So very mucli depends upon the 
nature of the soil, climate, and other circumstances, that I think 
it would only tend to weary the reader were I to pursue the in- 
quiry further in reference to the course of cropping upon lands 
adapted for the culture of corn and grain, being convinced that it 
would be presumptuous to offer any determinate rule as a uni- 
versal panacea. 
All lands* which, by reason of their great elevation above the 
level of the sea or steepness, will not admit of corn culture, must 
* All lands in England and Wales at an elevation of 1000 feet above the 
level of the sea, whatever may be their qualities in regard to the nature of 
the soil, are too high for aiable culture. In some districts, hosvever, we 
find as good crops produced, and the harvest as early at an elevation of 
800 feet, as in others at 300 feet lower. Local circumstances have a great 
tendency to alter the climate, as well as the period of ripening of grain. 
Poor clay-soils on a cold-bottomed retentive subsoil, and northern aspect, 
are much later than those of a light, dry, sandy, gravelly, rubbly nature, on 
a rocky or porous subsoil, with a southern aspect and a good inclination, 
approaching to a right angle with the sun at midday. Large tracts of 
undrained land, unreclaimed heaths, forests, lakes, mountains, and mo- 
rasses, all have a great tendency to attract moisture, and decrease the 
temperature of the district ; whilst, on the other hand, a well-cultivated 
and well-drained district has the opposite effect. Moisture attracts mois- 
ture, and water attracts water. How much then might be done to improve 
the climate of this country, were a complete and thorough drainage effected 
of all the waste lands, in addition to what is steadily gomg on in cultivated 
districts ! The effect of such a state of things may be readily imagined by 
those who have studied the laws of nature. 
VOL. VI. 
H 
