Margins
A "blessed word," now enjoying a daily vogue, is \marginal, as applied to land. It means, as a rule, though its uses vary, land that oscillates between the desert and the sown. Some of it has fallen out of cultivation ; some has never been cultivated nor, it may be, traversed by stock, chiefly for the reason that cultivation of any sort was too difficult or expensive. These objections no longer prevail, for two reasons. One is that, thanks to Sir George Stapledon and others of his Aberystwyth school, the Swiftian ideal, has been reached: the newer types of grass grow at least two blades where they once grew one. Seeding gives richer results. The second is that new machines and apparatus make an initial clearance and subsequent or synchronous ploughing comparatively easy even on fell and mountain ; and a good deal of marginal land is on the plain. Both botanical and mechanical sciences are in advance of their application. The same sort of theoretic advance is being made in forestry—and in a more salient form. Scandi- navian experts say that the new trees, like the grasses of Sir George Stapledon, should be as much as 100 per cent, bigger and better than the old. This is claimed, by the research students of trees as different as oaks and Scotch firs. In the bad old past the promise and practice have been reversed. English orchards, for example, are full of quite useless walnuts, solely because some nurseryman 150 years ago or so produced a bad, quickly growing variety cheap. If people would only love the best when they see it.
Previous page
