54 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



moderate thickness would be still more useful ; in the fourth 

 place, that the depth of ploughing should be seldom greater than 

 thoroughly to mix the dressing applied with the soil, but not to 

 bury it j fifthly, that there is little danger of being too liberal in 

 manure, and the stronger and the more active the manure, so 

 much the better ; and, lastly, that, whatever crop is grown, the 

 most advisable course is, as soon as possible, to bring the lands 

 into permanent mowing or pasturage. Some of the largest crops 

 of timothy or herdsgrass, which I have ever seen, have grown 

 upon such lands ; and, where well reclaimed and managed, few 

 lands will carry a heavier amount of stock. 



In speaking of the crops which may be cultivated on these 

 lands, I should have added that barley is generally discouraged, 

 the grain produced being represented as inferior in quality. I 

 have no authentic facts in the case ; and this, after all, may be 

 mere prejudice. 



XCIV. WARPING. 



In giving an account of the agriculture of England, it would 

 be wrong for me to omit the practice of warping land an opera 

 tion which has taken place in Lincolnshire, and on the borders 

 of Yorkshire, in the neighborhood of the Humber, a considerable 

 river, which, at its mouth, opens into a large estuary, or arm of 

 the sea. It consists in introducing the tidal waters of this river 

 upon lands lying lower than the tides at their flood, and there 

 detaining them until they have deposited a considerable portion 

 of the fine matter, or silt, commonly called warp, which they 

 hold in suspension. In this way, by degrees, a deposit of one, 

 two, three, and sometimes more feet is made, which forms one 

 of the richest soils that can be found, easily tilled, requiring at 

 first little or no aid from manure, and producing the richest 

 crops and the most abundant pasturage. I went over these 

 grounds with singular pleasure, admiring the skill and energy 

 which could boldly triumph over many obstacles, and wrest 

 from the dominion of the sea a vast body of soil, before this 

 utterly profitless, but now converted into rich fields, loaded 



