MR. W. G. CLARKE ON BRECKLAND CHARACTERISTICS. 563 
now appear as ordinary enclosed fields on light land farms ; 
others have remained unfenced, but are still cultivated ; 
while a considerable number which were first broken up when 
the high price of corn made it profitable to the farmer, have 
long since been allowed to revert to their primitive barrenness, 
and are now areas on which stones or bents are the most 
prominent objects according to the time that has elapsed since 
they were last cultivated. It is possible to tell the comparative 
time since a “ breck ” was cultivated by the size of the stones 
upon the surface, year by year the vegetation covering stones 
of larger size, so that those derelict but a few years are covered 
with stones both large and small, while those which have 
not been ploughed for a generation have only the largest 
Hints visible. Within the past decade big areas of heath and 
derelict “ breck ” — notably on Rushford. Knettishall, Snare- 
hill. Melford, Roudham, and West Tofts Heaths, Brettenham 
Drove, and on the Elveden estate — have been brought under 
cultivation by the steam plough. 
In the middle of the iSth century unenclosed land extended 
almost unbrokenly from Attleborough to Mildenhall, and 
from Watton to Bury St. Edmunds. Roads were few. but 
tracks were innumerable, branching off one from the other 
and pursuing their erratic courses, sometimes to a goal, 
sometimes not. Some were more used than others, but none 
was a made road, and vehicles of any weight often sank up 
to the axles in the sandy soil. Many bye-roads have been 
closed and such ancient tracks as the Icknield Way. Peddar’s 
Way and the Drove, are partially obliterated and falling into 
disuse. With the exception of some islets of Scotch firs 
(P. sylvestris) most of the heathy part of the district was 
a treeless waste, beloved by the great bustard and the stone 
curlew. Since about 1S40 trees have been planted in enormous 
numbers, sometimes as fir “ belts ” which are so characteristic 
a feature of the scenery, often as plantations of Scotch firs, 
larch, spruce, and to a less extent of silver birch, beech, elm, 
and oak. Hedges are infrequent and sometimes consist of 
Scotch or spruce fir, a feature of the district that is almost 
unique. These hedges are made of ordinary trees kept stunted 
