XIII 

 LINCOLN HEATH AND WOLD 



WE finally left the Fens at Sleaford, and, after cross- 

 ing some undulating country formed by the alterna- 

 tions of oolitic limestones and clays, climbed up on to 

 the long ridge which traverses Lincoln from north to 

 south Lincoln Heath, the outcrop of the sandy 

 formations there constituting the middle and lower 

 oolites. A century ago this was open rabbit warren, 

 but it has been enclosed and is now worth 2 5 to 40 

 an acre. The soil is thin and light, red-brown in 

 colour and gritty in texture, full of fragments of oolite 

 rock, and demanding a good deal of rolling and con- 

 solidation in working. The fields run large, and stone 

 walls take the place of hedges, so that the country has 

 something of the wide and spacious look of the chalk. 

 Arable farming prevails almost exclusively, the only 

 permanent grass being a small paddock or two near 

 the homesteads. We called at a large farm about 

 half-way between Sleaford and Lincoln, and there saw 

 some of the very special farming that earns a profit 

 out of this scanty soil. Peas formed the basis of the 

 rotation. Our host was growing a few garden 

 varieties for seed, but his standard article was the blue 

 wrinkled marrowfat that is sold to the northern towns 

 for boiling. The peas were grown with a little 

 artificial manure only, but they formed the best 



