ig4 teftet* from a Pen Agncultttryi, Aug. 



without it; and turnips in the hii^h country were dear in pro- 

 portion. NotwirhftanHinp all this, I believe the average price of 

 Colefefd, laft year, in this (!illri6i, did not exceed 4I. The neigh- 

 bourhood of Chatteris will by no means ferve for a true medium 

 of the fens in general (the land there being deeper ?.nd richer 

 thm many other fens)-, thougjh, even in that neighbourhood, 

 fone grazirrs from a diflnnce bought good average crops at 4I. 

 and un'er. A number of fa(fl:s in this particular came within 

 my own knowledge ; even there was colefeed, laft year, fold in 

 the neighbourhood of Chatteris, fo low as 30s. per acre. 



The anfwer to the fecond query is equally vague and delafive. 

 The crop commonls produces from 30 to 42 buO.els per acre; 84 

 bufhels is a produce which I never heard of; and, though it 

 mav be believed in Scotland, it will gain very little credit in 

 thele parts- The gentleman's objeft (who is clearly not a prac- 

 tical agriculturirt:) feems to be, to advife the cultivation of cole- 

 feed. As a green crop, it is certainly a valuable objr£l ; but he 

 ought to have added, that it will fucceed only on fen land, or a 

 rich loam that lies low. I have {tt.x\ attempts made to raife it 

 on uplands; but they have generally failed. Another thing he 

 ought by no means to have omitted, is, that if fufFered to (land 

 for feed, it is fo exhaufting a crop, if a full one, or makes the 

 land fo extremely foul with weeds, if not, that it is totally inter- 

 dicled by the proprietors of feverat large eftates hereabouts. 



The remaining items of the annual rotatio?i are completely 

 miftated, where any fyllem prevails. It is true, that there may 

 be, here and there, a fmall piece of land (which muft have for 

 many previous years received a great deal of manure beyond its 

 fhare), that might bear fuch a rotation once in half a century; 

 but, to give fuch an account as a general rotation of fen lands, 

 asid fuch an average of produce, is altogether without foundation. 

 Surely the gentleman does not mean to infinuate, that if mowed 

 for hay the fixth year, and then ploughed and burnt, that it 

 would bear the fame rotation again ! 



The fens of Cambridgefhire may be thus chara^lerized. 

 Though the term Fen applies to the whole, the land is not per- 

 fectly flat, nor by any means of one kind and quality ; there 

 b'.'ing a confiderable diverfity of fubftrata, and difference of ele- 

 vation, with refpeCi to the water level. The lowell land is a very 

 light foil, the fubllratum peat, about 2 feet in depth, lying upon 

 apcongeries of roots and fibres called bear s mucky (or mw more 

 );enerally Uj)on clay, the other having principally difappeared, 

 owing to circum(Va))ces in the natural hijlory of fens, which need 

 not be here defcribed) This is the proper definition of real fen 

 land ; and of this kind is a very great proportion of the fens 



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