748 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



covered with water, or the soil is extremely wet, they may be drained, as large districts in 

 the fens of Lincolnshire have been, and made highly valuable. The object, in that case, 

 is, by embankments, draining, and other means of improvement, to convert these marshes 

 into pasture or meadow, or even arable lands ; and where such improvements cannot be 

 accomplished, the most useful woody aquatics, as willows, osiers, &c., may be grown with 

 advantage. 



4559. Romney marsh is one of the most extensive and fertile fresh-water marshes in 

 Britain. It contains nearly 24,000 acres; besides which Walland marsh and Dinge 

 marsh, which are comprised within the walls, contain, the former 12,000, and the latter 

 8,000 acres. Boys informs us that " the internal regulations of these marshes are com- 

 mitted to the superintendence of expenditors. These are appointed by the Commissioners 

 of Sewers, and are to take care that the repairs of the walls are maintained in due order, 

 and that the costs attending the same be levied on each tenant according to the number 

 of acres occupied by him ; for which purpose they are to cause assessments to be made 

 out, with the names of the occupiers, and the rateable proportions to be borne by them 

 respectively ; and these rates, which must be confinned by the commissioners, are termed 

 scots ; and that when any occupier refuses to pay his scot, the expenditors can obtain a 

 warrant from the commissioners, empov/ering them to distrain for the same, as for any 

 other tax." These marshes are both appropriated to the purposes of breeding and 

 feeding. 



4560. Salt water marshes are subject to be overflowed at every spring tide, and at other 

 times, when, from the violence of the wind or the impetuosity of the tide, the water flows 

 beyond its usual limits. Their goodness is in a great measure analogous to the fertility 

 of the adjoining marshes ; and their extent differs according to the situation. Embank- 

 ments, as it is remarked in The Code of Agriculture, are perhaps the only means by which 

 they can be effectually improved, especially when they are deficient in pasture. How- 

 ever, where pasture abounds, they are in some cases more valuable than arable lands, the 

 pasture operating as a medicine upon diseased cattle. 



4561. Marshes on the Thames. In The Agricultural Survey of Kent it is asserted, that 

 great profit is made by the renters of marshes bordering on the Thames, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of London, from the grazing of horses, the pasture being deservedly accounted 

 salubrious to that useful animal. Such horses as have been worn down by hard travel, 

 or long afflicted with the farcy, lameness, &c., have frequently been restored to their 

 pristine health and vigour, by a few months' run in the marshes, especially on the salt- 

 ings ; but as every piece of marsh land in some measure participates of this saline dis- 

 position, so do they all of them possess, in a comparative degree, the virtues above 

 mentioned, and for this reason the Londoners are happy to procure a run for their 

 horses, at 4s. or 5s. per week. Another method practised by the graziers in the vicinity 

 of London is, to purchase sheep or bullocks in Smithfield at a hanging market, which, 

 being turned into the marshes, in the lapse of a few weeks are not only much improved 

 in flesh, but go off at a time when the markets, being less crowded, have considerably 

 advanced in price ; and thus a twofold gain is made from this traffic. Many of the 

 wealthy butchers of the metropolis are possessed of a tract of this marsh land, and, 

 having from their constant attendance at Smithfield, a perfect knowledge of the rise and 

 fall in the markets, they are consequently enabled to judge with certainty when will be 

 the proper time to buy in their stock, and at what period to dispose of them. 



4562. In various districts of the island situated on the borders of the sea, or near the 

 mouths of large rivers, there are many very extensive tracts of this description of land, 

 which by proper drainage and enclosure may be rendered highly valuable and productive. 

 This is particularly the case in Somersetshire and Lincolnshire. In the former of these 

 counties, vast improvements have, according to Billingsley, as stated in his able Survey, 

 been effected by the cutting of ditches, for the purpose of dividing the property, and the 

 deepening of the general outlets to discharge the superfluous water. Many thousand 

 acres which were formerly overflowed for months together, and consequently of little or 

 no value, are now become fine grazing and dairy lands. 



Sect. VII. Downs and other Shore Lands. 



4563. Downs are those undulating smooth surfaces covered with close and fine turf 

 met with in some districts on the sea-shore ; the soil is sometimes sandy, and at other 

 times clay or loam. In inland situations there are also down lands, as in Wiltshire, 

 Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire ; in the latter two counties they are called wolds. 



4564. Sandy downs on the sea-shore are often more valuable in their natural state 

 than after cultivation. In a state of nature they frequently afford good pasture for sheep 

 and rabbits, and at other times produce grasses that may be used as food for cattle, or as 

 litter. But the great object should be to raise plants which contribute to fix these soils, 

 and to prevent them from being drifted by the winds, which often occasion incalculable 



