Report of S€)ciety's Meetings. 395 



The thanks of the Society were accorded for the com- 

 munication, and the Secretary was direfted to inform 

 Mr. Swann that they would do what they could to assist 

 in his experiments. 



The following communication from the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society of England was also read, and the Secre- 

 tary directed to forward the thanks of the Society for 

 the information : — 



Royal Agricultural Society of England, 



12, Hanover Square, London, W., 



July 9th, 1894. 



Dear Sir, — In reply to your letter of the 30th May last, I have com- 

 municated with two Members of the Council of this Society who are 

 praftical Agriculturists, conversant with Fen farming, and I have 

 the pleasure to append below extracts from their letters dealing with 

 the points to which you refer: 



Extract from letter No, 1 , 

 (Mr. W. Prankish, Limber Magna, Ulceby, Lincolnshire.) 



•'Although I live fortunately considerably above high water mark, 

 yet it may serve your purpose to describe what I know of the fens and 

 marshes below that leveK They are very much as described in the 

 second paragraph of the British Guiana Society's letter. The sea, of 

 course, is banked out, and the main drainage is by large open drains ; 

 the land is intersected by other drains at various angles to suit the 

 levels of the land, and these may form different Fields, or be sub-divided 

 as is found most suitable. These Fields are drained by tiles, at such 

 depths as are found most effeftive, into the open drains, so that Steam 

 cultivation does not interfere with any ditches. I do not think Steam 

 cultivation is carried on to any great extent, and when used is mostly 

 in the dry weather in Summer or Autumn. The round about system 

 was first tried, but now double engines are almost entirely employed, 

 and as a necessity, the weight of these Engines prevents much work 

 being done at unsuitable times, say when the land is too wet. The 

 drainage of these low lying lands is always a difficulty; but as the tide 

 goes down twice in 24 hours, these large open drains are generally 

 found sufficient to hold such water as may accumulate in ordinary 

 weather; but in exceptionally wet times, such as in 1879 and some 



