On Warping Land. 289 



profit is immense. Mr Webster warped some moor-land, 

 worth only Is. 6d. per acre, (for such land there is in that 

 neighbourhood), and could immediately let it for L.5 per acre. 



6. The Mode of Cultivation and Produce. The best mode 

 of cultivating new warped land, is to sow it with clover, and 

 to let it remain under that crop for two years, in order that 

 it may be brought into a state fit for corn. It does not an- 

 swer to sow land, immediately after it is warped, with wheat, 

 even though fallowed ; but after white, or red clover, con- 

 tinued for two years, a good crop of wheat may be relied on, 

 unless injured by the slug, which sometimes makes its ap- 

 pearance ( 4<J7 ). 



Nor is it proper, when land is warped, to plant it with 

 potatoes, or to sow it with flax, it being at first of too cold a 

 nature ; though these crops may answer, if the land be not 

 too strong for potatoes, after it has been for two or three 

 years in cultivation. 



In the quality of warped land, there are most essential 

 differences ; some parts of the field being very strong, and 

 others very friable. The land nearest the drain is in gene- 

 ral the lightest, owing to the quantity of sand that is depo- 

 sited as soon as the water enters the field : the land farthest 

 from the drain is, in general, the best. The produce of 

 warped land varies much ; but in general, it may be stated, 

 of wheat, at from 20 to 40 bushels ; of beans from 35 to 50, 

 and in some rare instances even 80 bushels ; and of oats 

 from five to eight quarters per acre. Warped lands require 

 manure, and will not carry many crops without its aid, even 

 where the situation is dry, and the soil fertile ( 4<58 ). 



1. Can the Process be extended? Some doubts are enter- 

 tained, whether this great repository of highly prepared 

 matter in the Humber, may not be exhausted ( 469 ). But 

 there seems no just ground for such apprehension, when the 

 great extent of the estuary in which it is found, and the vast 

 tract of country, which, for ages, has been pouring down these 

 valuable substances into its bosom, are considered. At the 

 same time, it would be desirable to remove every doubt of 

 that sort, by as accurate examinations of the banks or the bed 

 of the river and the shoals in it, as is practicable in such 

 cases. If upon inquiry it should be ascertained that the 

 quantity of warp is as immense, as there is reason to ex- 

 pect, it is to be hoped, that such a treasure, in value equal- 

 ling any of which the country is possessed, will not be ne- 

 glected. We have the means in our power, of converting 

 land worth only a few pence, to land worth L.5 per acre per 



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