84 THE FERTILITY OF THE SOIL [CH. 



fertile, yielding 10 to 14 tons of potatoes, 7 to 9 quarters 

 of wheat and still larger crops of oats ; it lets readily 

 at £2 per acre per annum and is considered to be 

 worth £40 to £50 per acre, whilst the average cost of 

 warping is only some £20. The improvement is 

 permanent, although sometimes the shrinkage of the 

 land becomes so gi-eat after a few years that re- 

 warping is desirable to bring it up to its old level. 



The process is obviously only possible where the 

 land lies below the level of ordinary high tides. One 

 large district, Thorne Moors, is in the main rather 

 too high and an interesting modification is here 

 adopted. The Moors are mainly peat, and peat is an 

 article of distinct commercial value; it is therefore 

 dug out, dried, and broken in a disintegrator; the 

 coarser part is made up into bales and sold in the 

 cities as peat moss litter, while the finer material 

 is sent abroad to be soaked with molasses and 

 then used as cattle food. Some also is distilled 

 for the sake of its products. An area of about 200 

 acres is thus excavated to a sufficient depth — some 

 5 ft. or more — and the warping is then begun. 



The defects of a clay soil cannot so easily be 

 remedied as they arise from an excess of clay and 

 fine silt rather than a deficiency of anything. Under 

 special conditions reclamation has been effected by 

 digging in great quantities of coarser material: a 



