Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 3, 1802).djvu/82

64&#93; 641 LAM or dusky, sometimes mixed with blue, the whole underside being silvery. These fish sometimes grow to the lengtlvof ten inches, are found in the rivers Thames, Severn, and Dee ; are potted with the larger kind, and occasionally preferred, on account of their milder flavour. — Vast quantities are taken about Mortlake, and sold to the Dutch, who employ them as bait for their cod fishery. It is computed that above 430,000 have in one season been vended to them at 40s. per thousand ; as they possess the se- cret of preserving the lamprey till the turbot fishery commences. 3. The l-rojichialis, of Lam- PEKX, which is found in the Isis, near Oxford, and other British ri- vers ; it is about eight inches long, and the body does not exceed the thickness of a swan's quill. — Un- like the other species, lamperns conceal themselves in the mud, and never adhere to stones, or other matters. The flesh of these fish, in gene- ral, is white, fat, soft, and easy of digestion : it has an agreeable taste, and is not less nutritive, though more wholesome, than that of the eel : those of a large size, however, possess a superior flavour, LAND, in geneml, signifies any kind of ground, but is particularly applied to such as is ploughed, or tilled for agricultural purposes. As we treat, in alphabetical or- der, of the diiferent methods of cultivating the earth, we shall at present confine our attention to the proper modes in which waste, or other soils, may be most advan- tageously converted from a natural and unproductive, into an artificial state. The best method of meliorating •L A N sivawpy ground, after it has beefl properly drained, is to pare and burn-it. Where the earth, how- ever, is dry, and the soil or mould so thin that it will not admit of paring the surface, the most effc-c- tual mode of bringing it into tilth, wiii be to plough it well, and turn the grass-sods inward. As soon as the new surface is mellowed with frost, the field should be harrowed, in order to fill up ail the seams : tlius, the air will be excluded, and the sod become perfijiftly rotten. In thii state, it ought to he during summer, and the succeeding win- ter j but early in trie following May, it will be requisite to cross- pluugh the whole, after which the earth must be well pulverized with a brake-harrow, and t.ius prepared for a future crop. Old heath-lands may be advan- tageously reclaimed frotn their bar- ren condition, by first passing a drill roller over them ; after which they should be sown with oats and grass-seeds at the same time. When the harvest is finished, the soil is directed to he Jed hard with sheep, for two years j then repeat- edly ploughed and harrowed, so as to render it fit for the reception of cole-seed : this vegetable is like- wise to he fed off w ith ^heep, and the soil worked in a simi.ar manner tor r}'e, together with which grain, seeds are again to be sown. Such crop sliculd now be sufiered to re- main as a layer, till it can be well manured with marl, in the pro- portion of about sixty loads per acre j after which it may be biought into a regular coiirse of tillage. By this metiicd, the whole Jlag wiil have sufficient time to putrefy, and the soil will not be easily exhausted, as is frequently practised willi new lands. Ground,