§ 47

We have seen that Forestry has been reinstated, and under what pleasant, profitable circumstances it grows. Now my dream takes me on, and my spirit peregrinates in other localities and seeks enlightenment. Windswept moors, and places where bogs are prevalent, prove difficult antagonists to agriculture as generally practised. It is true that what the Italians call “terra ingrata,” literally translated, “unyielding soil,” is in England as well as in Italy an obstinate problem, which it will take time to solve. In such counties where there is much of this unyielding soil, science is trying to find remedies or uses to which it can be put. Science is busy with experiments. Effort is being made to discover what trees (if any) can be planted with advantage in such districts; so far, the pine is in favour. In the meantime, much more use is made of peat for many purposes, as fuel for instance, and manure for gardens and the growth of flowers and shrubs, which answer at once to its fructifying influence. Extending my spirit flight through the length and breadth of the land, I see that no land capable of growing grain is out of service. Grain for bread, grass for cattle and sheep, unpolluted rivers where ample supplies of fish are obtainable, and the nation is provided against starvation, even in time of another War.