322 
Improvement of Waste Lands. 
thereof on the land. The draining^, which was done with stones, 
only aimed at the removal of springs. The land was fenced 
principally with stone dykes. A good dressing of lime was 
applied, as much as from 5 to 10 cart-loads to the acre. Where 
peat-earth or any other good earth could be got conveniently, it 
was mixed with the lime to make a compost, and cowhouse- 
manure was afterwards used. I believe it is now generally con- 
sidered preferable to use the lime by itself in the first instance, 
and in after top-dressings, where lime is applied, to mix suitable 
earth with it. The lands never were trenched, and, in conse- 
quence of the large quantity of stones underneath the surface, are 
unfit for the plough ; but as grass was the object, attention was 
paid almost exclusively to the surface. 
I saw a field being reclaimed by one of the workmen con- 
nected with the mines in the same district and in the same way as 
above stated, with this difference that the importance of thorough 
draining being better understood, the work was more thoroughly 
carried out than in days of old. 
As the result of such operations, the lands yield fair crops of 
hay ; while the unreclaimed lands adjoining are worth only from 
about Is. 6rf. to 2s. 6d. per acre, inclusive of their value for 
grouse shooting, although their soil for the most part appears to 
be as fertile as that of the meadow-lands in their natural state. 
As crops of hay are annually taken off these fields, they are 
frequently manured with cowhouse-manure, lime, and compost. 
The quantity of manure is usually limited to the production of 
the miner's cow, calf, and pig; but in some instances that number 
is doubled, and in not a few, a galloway, useful for carting home 
the coals, peat, hay, &c., is added to the stock. 
About 100 feet further down the same fell-side I saw a mea- 
dow of about three acres, trenched as well as drained, which 
had apparently been originally reclaimed in much the same 
way as the others ; but, in trenching, large heaps of stones were 
raised out of the ground, and these were made available for the 
draining, for renewing the old stone dyke, and making a bridge 
over a small ravine. The drains, which were 18 feet apart and 
from 3 to 4 feet deep, were completed about the beginning of 
June, when the land got a moderate dressing of stable manure 
and was sown with turnips, which however produced only a light 
crop. The following spring the land was manured as in the pre- 
vious year, and planted with potatoes, which promised very well, 
but being affected by the disease, not much more than half of the 
expected crop was realised. 
This field has since been laid under grass, and now yields 
good crops of hay, though for a while it grew less than before it 
was trenched. This, however, is easily accounted for ; as, in 
