ENGLISH AGRICULTURE. 63 



around the Wash, extending over the counties which have 

 been named. 



Now what is the character of the fen country? It is 

 strikingly flat, and in many cases wonderfully fertile, 

 divided agriculturally into marsh and fen, two words which 

 have quite a different signification to a fen fanner to what 

 they might have to an outsider. The marsh is one thing ; 

 the fen is another. The marsh consists of a fine laminated 

 marine clay of very high fertility ; the fen is composed of 

 ack peat capable of producing much straw, but is not so 



uctive in grain. 



The marsh is nearest the sea ; the fen is more inland. The 

 h yields some of the richest land in England, and perhaps 

 e most extensive view of it is obtained from the top of 

 ston " Stump." From the top of Boston stump, that is, 

 e tower of Boston church, is to be seen a very extraordinary 

 view of perfectly flat country, including in a twenty mile 

 radius some of the best land in England. The fens are 

 less productive. They are black, peaty soils, unpromising, 

 and were at no very distant period the home of snipe and wild 

 fowl, but are now reclaimed. On these fens extensive 

 claying has been adopted, the Oxford clay having been dug 

 up and spread over the surface, so that the character of the 

 soil has been completely altered. 



The fen country is interesting, because it has been 

 rested from the ocean by enterprise. The sea walls which 

 ave been erected from time to time are of vast extent and 

 f very massive character, so much so that in driving over the 

 untry the road lies along the top of these sea walls. In 

 tudying the successive stages by which reclamation has been 

 ffected, we find, first, the Roman wall, and upon the land 

 ide or inside of this wall are ruins of churches and abbeys. 

 Later in our tour, if we drive along a wall erected in King 

 Charles II.'s time, we may see no ruins of churches, but 





