446 
Farming of Cornwall. 
parts of the western wastes, in reclaiming them with profit and 
success. 
71. We had also an immense breadth of waste on the slate 
formation, which has been reclaimed by cottagers,* chiefly miners. 
The soil is exceedingly thin, resting on red or yellow gritty clay 
and coarse slates, abounding in quartz fragments, and traversed by 
mineral lodes and elvan rocks in every direction. The late Earl 
of Falmouth and Lord de Dunstanville gave a great impetus 
towards the reclaiming of this coarse kind of ^and, by granting 
pieces from 3 to 5 acres to cottagers on leases of three lives, 
at a small conventionary rent of from 25. 6(f. to bs. per acre, on 
condition of their building cottages on the holding. The parish 
value of those plots " 358 in number on Illogan and Nancekuke 
Downs" now averages from 10s. to 20s. per acre. The Earl of 
Falmouth has nearly 2000 tenements of this description, which 
have increased in value since 1815 from 20 to 25 per cent. Other 
landowners have followed this example ; and to give an idea of the 
extent of wastes which has been reclaimed in this manner, — the 
number of working miners is about 27,000 ; and it has been as- 
certained that out of 685 miners of whom the question was asked, 
161 were possessed of cottages of this character. 
72. The Messrs. S. and R. Davey, of Redruth, have broken 
about 1 00 acres of this kind of land from the wastes of St. Agnes 
Common since 1839. The cost of enclosing and cultivating, 
including the expense of the first crop, varied from 10/. to II/, 
per acre. At the commencement of their undertaking, the land 
was manured with bone-dust and lime for wheat, — but the pro- 
duce was only fil for pigs and poultry. The present method of 
cropping is swedes or pasture turnips followed by oats and seeds. 
The crops will average from 60 to 70 bushels of oats, and from 
18 to 25 tons of swedes per acre. This has been effected en- 
tirely by the use of bone and guano. It has been correctly ascer- 
tained for this Report, that in the parishes of Perranzabuloe and 
St. Agnes there are 7037 acres of the same kind of waste, .5000 
of which would pay handsomely for reclaiming. There is also a 
great quantity of the same kind in the parishes of St. Alfen, 
Kenwyn, Kea, Feock, and Mylor, and in various other parts of the 
county (17). Analyses of the soils of some of them have been made 
by Mr. Huiit, at the request of Sir Charles Lemon, with a view 
of ascertaining the qualities of the raw material out of which im- 
provements have been wrought, and in the hope that such know- 
ledge may be available for future improvements. 
* This bears a close resemblance to the allotment system. We have . 
very lew allotments in the county. Mr. Tremayne, of Heligan, has esta- 
blished some in his neighbourhood, which work exceedingly well. 
