On Reclaiming Heath Land. 
99 
In respect of those lands which by reason of their steepness 
cannot be ploughed, I have but few observations to oflFer. Drain- 
ing, hming, or planting, appear to be the only resources which we 
can profitably employ for their amelioration. I have seen paring 
and burning, with a good application of lime, tried, but do not 
approve of it. The slippery state of the surface after paring, 
combined with its steepness, enable every shower of rain to wash 
away a considerable portion of the lime and ashes. Besides these 
objections, paring and burning will not always eradicate the heath 
without having recourse to the plough also. 
In laying down heath land to permanent pasture, I would 
always suggest that a good selection and variety of clovers and 
grass seeds should be sown, more particularly of those natural 
grasses which are most congenial to the soil and climate. 
It is a lamentable but a notorious fact, that much more harm is 
frequently done to redeemed heath land by over- cropping and 
over-stocking afterwards, than by any of the usual methods adopted 
in the primary act of reclaiming. Farmers in general are too apt 
to plough and rake away at the land so long as it is in high con- 
dition and produces a crop of any description, never looking 
beyond their immediate profit. They scour away at it as though 
it could never be exhausted ; take two or three white crops in suc- 
cession without returning back to the land the manure created by 
it. Sometimes a green crop, which is drawn, succeeds a host of 
white ones ; then another white crop, and sometimes two. The 
land is at length sown down with grass seeds, which are mown the 
following year ; and then, without allowing the land breathing 
time, the plough is again stuck in, and another scourging routine 
of cropping pursued similar to that detailed until the virility of the 
land is so far exhausted as to be almost if not quite beyond re- 
covery. Some of my readers may consider this an overdrawn 
picture ; but I assure them I have not unfrequently witnessed such 
facts. It is too commonly done on inferior lands difficult of 
access, to which my observations are principally directed, and 
which constitute the great bulk of recently reclaimed heath land ; 
good land possessing in itself a reactive and reproductive power ; 
or, in other words, an intrinsic value, which requires little more 
than fair play and ordinary attention to keep it fertile. Too much 
ought never to be exacted from lands of a weak constitution. 
Whatever is taken from them in the shape of produce ought inva- 
riably to be returned in the shape of manure. To build up and 
never to pull down is a maxim that ought always to be kept steadily 
in view. Like a delicate constitutioned man or beast, they ought 
to be well fed and supported, and never overworked ; exercised 
and taxed in moderation, seasonably and regularly, but never 
beyond their powers. Adhering to these principles, we may safely 
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