On Flooding Land. 



situation is favourable, it can hardly fail to be attended with 

 benefit, in a pecuniary point of view ; and of all the methods 

 of reclaiming waste land, flooding is one of the most expe- 

 ditious and the least expensive. 



The practice of flooding, under the name of " The Loch 

 Husbandry" has been carried to great perfection in Livonia. 

 It has there been ascertained, that it is a great improvement 

 to have fish put into the water employed in flooding the 

 soil. Carp is principally employed, at the rate of from thirty 

 to forty fish per acre. They are put in at from six to eight 

 months old, and it is found, from the fertility they produce, 

 that the land will yield a third more in this way, than if the 

 water had been without fish. The family of a great landed 

 proprietor in Courland, (Baron Hoher,) owes its fortune 

 entirely to this system. They have twelve fields appropria- 

 ted for the purpose of flooding, four of which are constantly 

 under water, and the other eight fields were cropped with 

 grain, by means of which, an immense quantity of straw is 

 annually furnished. This is an important acquisition in a 

 country, where they are obliged to keep their cattle con- 

 stantly shut up in cow-houses, for five or six months in the 

 year ( 57 ). 



SECT. X. On Warping Land. 



THERE is no circumstance which proves more clearly the 

 advantages to be derived from minute and extensive inquiries, 

 adopting for their basis the political divisions of the coun- 

 try ( 458 ) than the discovery of the process called warping 

 land. This most valuable species of improvement, applica- 

 ble wherever tides in their course keep alluvial matters in 

 a state of suspension, was confined to a small district on the 

 banks of the Humber ; and though it had existed there for 

 about 50 years, yet not a syllable concerning it, had ever 

 found its way into a page of printed husbandry ; and it might 

 have remained unknown for many years longer, had not the 

 Board of Agriculture undertaken the survey of the kingdom, 

 in the course of which it was brought to light ( 459 ). 



In discussing this subject, it is proper to consider, The 

 origin of the practice ; The nature of the improvement; 

 The means of effecting it ; The season most suitable for 

 the purpose ; The expense and profit ; The mode of cul- 

 tivation and produce ; The situations where it may be at- 

 tempted ; and, The improvements and the extent of which 



