JUNE. 403 



times more, of what is called warp. Where it 

 comes from, is a dispute : the Humber, at its 

 mouth, is clear water ; and no floods in the coun- 

 tries washed by the warp rivers bring it, but, on 

 the contrary, do much mischief by spoiling the 

 warp. In the very driest seasons and longest 

 droughts, it is best and most plentiful. The im- 

 provement is perfectly simple, and consists in no- 

 thing more than letting in the tide at high-water 

 to deposit the warp, and permitting it to run off 

 again as the tide falls : this is the aim and effect. 

 But to render it efficacious, the water must be at 

 command, to keep it out and let it in at pleasure ; 

 so that there must not only be a cut or canal made 

 to join the river, but a sluice at the mouth, to open 

 or shut, as wanted ; and that the water may be of 

 a proper depth on the land to be warped, and also 

 prevented flowing over contiguous lands, whether 

 cultivated or not, banks are raised around the fields 

 to be warped, from three or four to six or seven 

 feet high, according to circumstances. Thus, if 

 the tract be large, the canal which takes the water, 

 and which, as an irrigation, might be called the 

 grand carrier, may be made several miles long ; it 

 has been tried as far as four, so as to warp the 

 lands on each side the whole way, and lateral cuts 

 made in any direction for the same purpose ; ob- 

 serving, however, that the effect lessens as you re- 

 cede from the river; that is, 'it demands longer 

 time to deposit warp enough. 



But the effect is very different from that of irri- 

 D d 2 gation ; 



