WARRANTY. 



WASP. 



opened. They are placed above the level o 

 the common tides. 



" Willows are also occasionally planted on 

 the front of the banks, to break the force of th 

 tides, and defend the banks by raising the fron 

 of them with warp thus collected and accu 

 mulated; but these willows must never be 

 planted on the banks, as they would destro;, 

 them by giving the winds power to shake them.' 

 It is stated that in England the first cost of a 

 sluice for warping, that is, 5 feet in height am 

 7 feet in width, may be estimated at from 400/ 

 to 500Z ; and that such a sluice will in genera 

 be adequate to the warping of 50 acres annu 

 ally, and, where the soil is contiguous to the 

 river, for 70 or more. 



The following is given as the substance of a 

 note by a commissioner employed in warping 

 " Warp leaves one-eighth of an inch every tide 

 on an average ; and these layers do not mix in 

 a uniform mass, but remain in distinct layers. 



"If only one sluice, then only every other 

 tide can be used, as the water must run per- 

 fectly off, that the surface may incrust ; and if 

 the canal be not empty, the tide has not the 

 effect. 



" As a new soil is created by this practice, i 

 is of little consequence what the original nature 

 of the land may be, almost all kinds being im 

 proved by it. But at the same time it may be 

 the most beneficial in such light soils as are 

 very open and porous, and such stiff ones as 

 are defective in calcareous matter, and which 

 require substances of this kind to render them 

 less tenacious. Land, when once well warped, 

 will continue for a vast length of time in a 

 good state of fertility ; but still it is suggested 

 by some experienced warpers as a better prac 

 tice to apply a small portion of warp whenever 

 the land is in the state of fallow, which will be 

 about every 5 or 6 years, as by this means the 

 farmer will be more secure of having good 

 crops. The depth to which the lands are co- 

 vered by the tides must be regulated according 

 to their levels, and the height of the tide in the 

 rivers from which they proceed. It may be 

 admitted to the height of 3, or 4, or more feet; 

 but the deposit of sediment is in some measure 

 proportionate to the height of the water, though 

 the same effects may be obtained from much 

 smaller quantities of water by continuing the 

 process a great number of tides." 



The expense of this mode of improving 

 lands must necessarily differ much, in different 

 cases, according as the circumstances of situa- 

 tion and distance vary ; but, according to Mr. 

 Young, it v can seldom exceed 12Z. or 151. the 

 acre, and in most instances it must be greatly 

 below such estimates. 



Warped lands are found capable of growing 

 most kinds of crops in great plenty, but par- 

 ticularly oats, beans, wheat, flax, potatoes, and 

 grass-seeds. 



WARRANTY. In horsemanship, &c., a 

 term applied to the assurance of the animal's 

 being sound when purchased. See BCTING 

 and SELLING. 



WARREN. A franchise, or place privileged, 

 either by prescription or grant from the king, to 

 keep beasts and fowls of warren in ; as rabbits, 

 hares, partridges, pheasants, &c. 

 1092 



By statute 21 Edw. 3, a warren may lie open, 

 and there is no need of closing it in, as there 

 is a park. 



In the forming a warren, great caution is to 

 be used for the fixing upon a proper place and 

 a right situation. It should always be upon a 

 small ascent, if possible, and exposed to the 

 east or the south. The soil that is most suita- 

 ble is that which is sandy ; for when the soil 

 is clayey or tough, the rabbits find great diffi- 

 culty in making their burrows, and never do it 

 so well ; and if the soil be boggy or moorish, 

 there would be very little advantage from the 

 warren ; for wet is very destructive to these 

 animals. See RABBIT. 



WASP (Fespa). An extensive genus of in- 

 sects, of which three species are common to 

 Britain. The hornet, or V. crabro, already men- 

 tioned; common wasp, or V. vulgaris, which 

 makes its nest in the ground; the small wasp, 

 or V. coaretata, the nest of which is a kind of 

 paper made of woody fibre and suspended to 

 the boughs of trees. 



Of the wasps most commonly known in the 

 United States there are two species, namely, 

 the large, fierce, stinging insect which builds 

 its flat paper nest in bushes, &c., and the more 

 harmless blue-winged mud-wasp, commonly 

 called the mason, from its plastering its nest 

 with mud against the walls of houses, &c. 

 These nests are composed of cells, each one 

 of which contains a single egg, together with a 

 considerable number of living spiders, caught 

 and imprisoned therein solely for the purpose 

 of affording the little mason's young a ready 

 supply of fresh provisions. In noticing this 

 characteristic of the mud-wasp, Dr. Harris also 

 refers to the habits and nests of some other 

 tribes of the same family, such as the holes of 

 he stump-wasp, stored with hundreds of horse- 

 flies for the same purpose ; the skill of the 

 eaf-cutter bee in cutting out the semicircular 

 pieces of leaves for her patchwork nest; the 

 himble-shaped cells of the ground-bee, hidden 

 n clusters under some loose stone in the fields, 

 made of little fragments of tempered clay, and 

 stored with bee-bread, the work of many weeks 

 ' the industrious labourer ; the waxen cells 

 made by the honey-bee, without any teaching, 

 upon purely mathematical principles, measured 

 only with her antennae, and wrought with her 

 aws and tongue ; the water-tight nests of the 

 lornet and wasp, natural paper-makers from 

 he beginning of time, who are not obliged to 

 use rags or ropes in the formation of their 

 durable paper combs, but have applied to this 

 urpose fibres of wood, a material that the 

 rt of man has not yet been able to manufac- 

 ure into paper. These are only a few of the 

 bjects deserving of notice among the insects 

 f this order; many others might be men- 

 ioned, that would lead us to observe with what 

 onsummate skill these little creatures have 

 >een fashioned, and how richly they have been 

 ndowed with instincts, that never fail them 

 n providing for their own welfare, and that of 

 heir future progeny. (Treatise on Des.. Insects.) 

 Wasps are not only destructive to grapes, 

 'Caches, and the more delicate kinds of fruit, 

 ut also to bees, the hives of which they attack 

 nd plunder, frequently compelling these in- 



