732 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



pany of men accustomed to every part of the work, and who accompany their chief to 

 execute works in any part of the country. 



Sect. II. Warping, or the Improvement of Land by muddy Water. 



4450. Warping is a mode of fertilising lands by depositing a coat of mud on their 

 surface. This may be practised on the borders of large rivers and estuaries into which 

 sea tides flow, or where floods are frequent; provided, however, that in either case the 

 waters contain alluvial matters in a state of suspension. According to the best inform- 

 ation that can be obtained {Marshal, in R. Econ. of York., 1788. Day, West Riding Re~ 

 jwrt, p. 171.), warping was first practised on the banks of the Humber, by one Barker, 

 a small farmer at RawclifF, between 17.S0 and 1740: it was afterwards extended by 

 Richard Jennings, of Armin, near Howden, in 1 743 ; but, till about the year 1 753, it 

 was not attempted by any other person. It was first brought into notice by Marshal, 

 in 1788, and subsequently in the Report of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and is now 

 practised by various proprietors and farmers on the Humber, the Trent, and other rivers. 

 It has been long practised in Italy in a manner something different from that employed 

 in this country. It may be considered as of Egyptian origin. 



4451. The theory of warping is thus given by Arthur Young : 



4452. The water of the tides that come up the Trent, Ouse, Dun, and other rivers which empty them- 

 selves into the great estuary of the Humber, is muddy to an excess ; insomuch that in summer, if a 

 cyhndrical glass, twelve or fifteen inches long, be filled with them, it will presently deposit an inch, and 

 sometimes more, of what is called warp. Where this warp comes from is a dispute : the Humber, at its 

 mouth, is clear water ; and no floods in the countries washed by the warp rivers bring it, but, on the con- 

 trary, do much mischief by spoiling the warp. In the very driest seasons and longest droughts, it is best 

 and most plentiful. The improvement is perfectly simple, and consists in nothing 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 from 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 in 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; observing, however, 

 that the effect lessens as you recede from the river ; that is, it demands longer time to deposit warp enough 

 for producing benefit 



4453. The effect of warping is very different from that of irrigation : for it is not the 

 water that works the effect, but the mud ; so that in floods and in winter the business 

 ceases ; and it is not the object to manure the soil, but to create it. The nature of the 

 land intended to be warped is not of the smallest consequence : bog, clay, sand, and 

 peat, are alike eligible ; as the warp raises it in one summer from six to sixteen inches 

 thick, and in the hollows or low places, two, three, or four feet, so as to leave the whole 

 .piece level. Thus a soil of any depth you please is formed, which consists of mud of a 

 vast fertility, though containing not much besides sand and gravel. 



4454. The method of executing the work is described in the following manner by Lord 

 Hawke, in The Agricultural Survey of the West Ridirig of Yorkshire: 



4455. The land to be warped must be banked round against the river. The banks are made of the earth 

 taken on the spot from the land : they must slope six feet ; that is, three feet on each side of the top or 

 crown of the bank, for every foot perpendicular of rise : their top or crown is broader or narrower, accord- 

 ing to the impetuosity of the tide, and the weight and quantity of water; and it extends from two feet to 

 twelve : their height is regulated by the height to which the spring tides flow, so as to exclude or let them 

 in at pleasure. In these banks, there are more or fewer openings, according to the size of the ground to 

 be warped, and to the choice of the occupier ; but in general they have only two sluices ; one called the 

 floodgate, to admit, the other, called the clough, to let off, the water gently : these are enough for ten or 

 fifteen acres. When the spring tide begins to ebb, the floodgate is opened to admit the tide, the clough 

 having been previously shut by the weight of the water brought up the river by the flow of the tide. As 

 the tide ebbs down the river, the weight or pressure of water being taken from the outside of the clough 

 next the river, the tide water that has been previously admitted by the floodgate opens the clough again, 

 and discharges itself slowly but completely through it. The doughs are walled on each side, and so con- 

 structed as to let the water run off, between the ebb of the tide admitted and the flow of the next ; and 

 to this point particular attention is paid. The floodgates are placed so high as only to let in the spring 

 tides when opened : they are placed above the level of the common tides. Willows are also occasionally 

 planted on the front of the banks, to break the force of the tides, and defend the banks by raising the front 

 of them with warp thus collected and accumulated ; but these willows must never be planted on the banks, 

 as they would destroy them by giving the winds power to shake them. 



4456. The season for warping begins in the month of July, and continues during the 

 summer ; and as this sort of business can only be performed at that season, every occasion 

 of having it executed should be embraced, by having the work in perfect repair, that 

 every tide may be made to produce its full effect. With regard to the advantage of doing 

 this work in the summer months, it may be remarked that at these times the lands not 

 only become the soonest dry, a circumstance which must always fully take place before 

 the process of cultivation can be carried on ; but the tides are less mixed with fresh water, 

 in which condition they are constantly found the most effectual. 



4457. The expense of this mode ofimprovi^ig lands must differ much in different cases, 

 according as the circumstances of situation and distance vary ; but it can seldom exceed 



