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XXII.— r//e Improvcmmt of Waste Lands. By D, Macrae. 
It is 'remarkable that while Great Britain is sending forth hcv 
sons all over the face of the earth to replenish and subdue it, 
such large tracts at home are left uncultivated, though capital 
as well as labour are abundant, home markets unrivalled, and 
the privileges and blessings of home life unequalled. It is true 
that where such lands abound the climate is often exceptional, 
and though many spots are naturally fertile the larger proportion 
of them would not be worth much for arable cultivation. Many 
of these tracts, however, would make good grass land or woodland, 
and in this respect their hilly nature or their watery skies would 
not stand in the way of profitable outlay. 
Fifteen years ago, I lived for a short time in one of the 
lead-mining districts of Northumberland, where, at a very 
high elevation, lands, which in their original state had been of 
very little value, were reclaimed mainly by the workpeople 
employed at the mines. In this district there are no large farms, 
and very little arable cultivation is carried on near the spot to 
which my remarks apply, but up and down the dale here and 
there the fell-sides are dotted with cottages, many of them with 
green meadow- fields attached. The lands in many places beyond 
the fences which inclose these fields yield little else than heather 
and coarse grass. The fields are chiefly in the occupation of 
lead-miners, who spend 40 hours weekly (including meal-times) 
in working underground ; their hours of labour being compara- 
tively short, they find it a healthy change, both morally antl 
physically, to spend some of their leisure hours in cultivating 
the land. I believe that much of the grass land in the district 
has been thus reclaimed. In many instances the work has only 
been partially done, and much more is required to bring it into 
a high state of cultivation. 
As the operation of reclaiming must have been pretty much 
the same throughout, I will refer to a few only of the fields 
at the greatest altitude, about 1600 or 1700 feet, which, as far 
as shelter is concerned, are most unfavourably situated ; and 
especially to three meadows in the occupation of three miners, 
whose cottages (built with stones) stand most exposed. 
One of these fields was reclaimed about fifty years ago ; the 
others were not until ten years later. In their wild state they, like 
the land now adjoining on the higher side, grew heather with 
an admixture of very coarse grass. The soil is a good strong 
loam with a subsoil of sandy clay resting upon sandstone rock. 
The process of reclamation consisted in burning and pulling the 
heather, paring off and burning the turf, and spreading the ashes 
