Improvement of TVaste Lands. 
question whether stone or tiles slioulcl have the preference in 
draininsi^ was settled by the materials at hand, for the stones 
encumberecl the ground. The quantity of land reclaimed and 
improved amounts to over 5300 acres. 
The work of reclamation was for the most part done by piece- 
work, the men generally working in small companies of from 2 to 
6. The lands are fenced with double stone dykes, stone face 
dykes and wires. The double stone dyke, 5 feet high, cost 
8s. od. per rod, and the stone face dyke Is. Ad. per rod. The 
wire fences, consisting of 7 wires on iron straining posts, Ik inches 
square and 70 yards apart, with larch posts between, cost about 
7s. 2d. per rod, or when used along the roads with nothing but iron 
posts and with iron stays at the curves, they cost about lis. per 
rod. 
I will now refer to a part of the land situated at an altitude 
of about 500 feet, which was laid down as permanent pasture 
after being reclaimed. The soil consists of a good strong loam, 
with clayey subsoil resting upon sandstone. After the operations 
of trenching, draining, fencing, &c., were completed, the various 
fields were cultivated very much in the same way as the examples 
given below. 
Field No. 1, after being trenched and limed, was in the fol- 
lowing year heavily manured with compost, consisting of moss 
and sewage. It was then sown with wheat and seeds for perma- 
nent pasture. The yield of wheat was 5 qrs. per acre, w^eighing 
lbs. per bushel. 
No. 2 was trenched and limed. The following year it was 
manured with vegetable matter taken out of dried ponds, mixed 
with ashes, and sown with turnips, which were eaten off by 
sheep. The following year it was sown with oats and seeds for 
permanent pasture. The yield of oats was 6 qrs. and 2 bushels 
per acre, at a weight per bushel of 44 lbs. 
No. 3 was trenched and limed, and in the following year 
manured with 3 cwts. Peruvian Guano per acre, and sown with 
oats, the yield of which averaged 6 qrs. to the acre. The next 
year it was manured with about 28 cubic yards of farm-yard 
manure and 3 cwts. Guano, and sown with turnips, the yield 
being as nearly as could be estimated 25 tons to the acre. The 
following year it was sown with barley and seeds for permanent 
pasture, when the yield of barley was 5 qrs. and 6 bushels 
per acre. 
No. 4 was trenched and limed, and the following year it was 
sown with oats and seeds for permanent pasture : it was wholly 
manured with matter taken out of drained ponds. The yield was 
6J qrs. to the acre, at a weight of 43 lbs. to the bushel. 
This part of the reclaimed lands, consisting of 160 acres, was 
