Warping. 109 



enough, with the result that the land at the finish is left at too 

 low a level, or it may be that the subsoil has subsided to some 

 extent. In cases such as these there are two courses open, 

 either to repeat the whole process, or else, to erect a pump 

 and engine and to pump the drainage water from the low 

 lying land to the higher level of the river, as is commonly 

 done in fen and marsh districts. 



The first crop to be grown on the new soil is white clover. 

 This crop is kept down for some time as the land is, at the 

 outset, cold and short of vegetable matter. White clover not 

 only grows on this land exceedingly well, but it also has been 

 found to be the best preparation for succeeding crops. It is 

 whilst the land is under this crop that ihe drainage works 

 described above can be carried out. After the land has been 

 properly drained it is divided up into farms varying in size 

 from about 150 to 200 acres, and buildings, &c., are erected. 

 Farms of about this size are found to be the most convenient 

 and the most readily let ; they will command a rent of 2/. per 

 acre or more. 



Thorns Moors. 



The account of the warping process in the foregoing pages 

 is descriptive of the general method in operation. There is, 

 however, a large district where warping, or rather the pre- 

 paration of land for warping, differs to some extent. The 

 district known as Thorne Moors consists of a waste tract of 

 country lying between the Trent and the Ouse and extending 

 about four miles each way. It is a comparatively high piece 

 of moorland, and till recently it was a dangerous swamp. 

 Deep ditches have been cut through it and the water drained 

 off, and it is now comparatively sound. The moor consists of 

 peat moss, and all kinds of vegetable matter of a light yellow 

 colour, for a depth of several feet, gradually merging lower 

 down into blacker peat in a further state of decomposition. It 

 is of exceptional interest to the botanist, consisting as it does 

 of so many forms of early plant life in an extraordinarily good 

 state of preservation. For some years a Peat Moss Litter Com- 

 pany has been established upon these moors, and a large 

 number of men (in the first instance Dutch) are employed 

 in " graving " the turfs, stacking them into huge piles to dry, 

 and then carrying them to the factory where they are torn into 

 tine fragments, pressed into bales and sent all over the country 

 for litter, for the sugar refining industry, and for other pur- 

 poses. In this manner the surface of the land is lowered 

 several feet, and becomes available for the warping process, 

 whilst, at the same time, the material removed is disposed of at 

 a profit. 



