790 



WAR 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL: 



WAR 



7. Waltheria Glabra; Smooth-leaved Waltheria. Leave 

 smooth, ovate-lanceolate, bluntish, with tooth-like serratures 

 heads of flowers alternate, on axillary stalks. The leaves ar 

 stalked, oval, somewhat lanceolate, two or three inches long 

 one and a half or two inches broad, smooth on both sides 

 paler beneath, seldom pointed; footstalks slender, six o 

 eight lines long; stipules lanceolate, pointed, deciduous 

 flowers in dense, almost sessile, leafless tufts, ranged alter 

 nately on an axillary stalk ; outer calix of three very narrow 

 smooth, deciduous leaves; inner permanent, bell-shaped 

 very smooth, with long, almost thread-shaped teeth; corolla 

 yellow, scarcely longer than the inner calix; capsule mem- 

 branaceous, with one seed. A shrub, related in many re- 

 spects- to the first species, but altogether smooth. Native 

 of Guadaloupe. 



8. Waltheria Cordata; Heart-leaved Waltheria. Leaves 

 smooth, heart-shaped, sharply and unequally toothed, from 

 one to two inches long, on roughish footstalks, about a quar- 

 ter of their own length, broadly ovate, bluntish, veiny, but 

 not plaited, paler beneath; stipules awl-shaped; heads o! 

 flowers ovate, solitary, on straight axillary stalks; common 

 flower-stalks generally much longer than the footstalks, 

 stout, each bearing a dense head of flowers half an inch 

 long; calix, &c. like that of the preceding. This is distin- 

 guished by the smoothness of the leaves and most other parts, 

 from all the other species. Native of the West Indies. 



Warping of Land is the practice of improving land in 

 particular situations, on the borders of large rivers and 

 channels, into which the sea-tides flow, and where the level 

 of the ground is such as to admit of their being overflowed 

 with facility. This practice has hitherto been confined to the 

 extensive sea-districts of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. It has 

 been observed, that the waters of the tides that come up the 

 Trent, Ouse, and Dun, and other rivers of these counties, 

 which empty themselves into the great sestuary of the Hum- 

 ber, are muddy to an excess ; insomuch that in the summer 

 season, if a cylindrical glass, twelve or fifteen inches long, 

 be filled with the water, it will presently deposit an inch of 

 muddy matter, which in those parts is called Warp. Where 

 it comes from, is a disputed point : the water of the Humber 

 is clear at its mouth, and no floods in the countries washed 

 by the warp rivers bring'it, but on the contrary do much mis- 

 chief, spoiling the warp. In the very driest seasons, and 

 longest droughts, it is found the best and most plentiful. 

 The improvement which warping makes in land, is said to 

 consist in nothing more than merely letting in the tide at 

 high-water, to deposit the warp, or muddy material, and per- 

 mitting it to run off again as the water falls. But in order 

 to render it fully efficacious, the water must be completely at 

 command, so that it may be kept out and let in at pleasure; 

 consequently there must be not only a cut or canal made to 

 join the river, but a sluice at the mouth of it, formed to open or 

 shut, as wanted; and that the water may be of a proper depth 

 on the land to be warped, and also restrained from flowing over 

 contiguous lands, whether cultivated or not, banks are neces- 

 sary to be raised round the fields to be warped, and these 

 banks must be from three or four to six or seven feet high, 

 according to circumstances. If the tract be large, the canal 

 which takes the water may be made several miles Ion?, so as 

 to warp the lands on each side the whole way, by means of 

 lateral cuts in any suitable direction: but it is to be observ- 

 ed, that the effect lessens as the distance from the river in- 

 creases; that is, it requires a longer time for the water to de- 

 posit warp enough to produce the benefit. Warping begins 

 in .Inly, and proceeds during the summer months; and as it 

 cin only be performed at this particular period, every occa- 



sion of having it executed must be embraced. It has been 

 already said, that the land to be warped must be banked 

 round against the river: the banks should be made of the 

 earth taken on the spot from the land ; they must be formed 

 so as to slope six feet, that is, three feet on each side of 

 the top or crown of the bank, for every foot perpendicular 

 rise; their top, or crown, being made broader or narrower, 

 according to the impetuosity of the tide, and the weight and 

 quantity of water; and they extend from two to twelve feet: 

 their height is regulated by the height to which the spring- 

 tides flow, so as to exclude or let them in at pleasure. In 

 these banks there are to be more or fewer openings formed, 

 according to the quantity of ground to be warped, and the 

 choice of the proprietor; but in general they have only two 

 sluices, one called the flood-gate, to admit, the other termed 

 the clough, to let off the w:;ter in a gentle manner: these 

 are sufficient for ten or fifteen acres. When the spring-tide 

 begins to ebb, the flood-gate is opened to admit the tide, 

 the clough having been- previously shut by the weight of 

 the water brought up the river by the flow of the tide. As 

 the tide ebbs down the river, the weight or pressure of the 

 water being taken from the outside of the clough next the 

 river, the tide-water, that has been previously admitted by 

 the flood-gate, opens the clough again, and discharges itself 

 slowly, but completely, through it. In forming t'he cloughs, 

 they are walled on each side, and so constructed as to let 

 the water run off between the ebb of the tide admitted, and 

 the flow of the next; and to this point the workmen pay 

 particular attention. The flood-gates are placed so high 

 on this account, as only to let in the spring tides when 

 opened. They are therefore, of course, placed above the 

 level of the common tides. Willows are occasionally plant- 

 ed on the fronts of the banks, to break the force of the 

 tides, and defend their fronts with the warp thus accumu- 

 lated and retained. These trees, however, must never be 

 planted on the banks themselves, as, being agitated by the 

 winds, they would loosen the foundations. The first cost 

 of a sluice for warping fifty acres annually, supposing the 

 sluice to be five feet high and seven in width, will be from 

 4 to 500. This practice creates a new sort of soil, and it 

 is of but little consequence what the original nature or 

 quality of the land may be, as all kinds of soils, almost with- 

 out exception, are wonderfully improved by it; but it is con- 

 fessedly most beneficial in light-soiled, open, porous lands, 

 and to such stiflT ones as are deficient in calcareous matter, 

 and require substances of this kind to reduce their tenacity: 

 such soils, when well warped, will remain for a vast length of 

 time afierwards in a high state of fertility. Experienced 

 warpers, however, suggest, as an improvement in this mode 

 i>f tillage, to apply a small portion of warp whenever the 

 land is in a slate of fallow, which will be about every five or 

 six years. The depth to which the land should be covered 

 jy the tides, must be regulated according to their levels, and 

 the heights to which the tides rise in the rivers from which 

 .hey proceed. The effect of warping is very different from 

 ihat of irrigation : as it is not the water that produces the 

 mprovement, but the mud or material which is deposited; 

 lence in the time of floods, and in winter, warping ceases: it 

 s not the purpose of warping to manure, but to create and 

 'orm the soil. It is, in this point of view, of little or no con- 

 equence, as has been above observed, whether the soil be 

 )og, clay, sand, or peat, as the warp will be deposited upon it, 

 n one summer, from the depth of six to sixteen inches, and 

 n the hollows or low places, two, three, or four feet; so as to 

 eave an entirely level surface. Hence a soil of any depth 

 may be formed, which consists perhaps principally of sand, 



