THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



[Jan. 13, 



bushes, or a half-drowned gate and rail i stiown jm , g ^ ^^ ^^ ^ & constant]y augmen ting ac- 

 tually above the tide. Leaving ttie vicm 



black peat soil wid 

 ditches and dotted 



i.e.:.-.-*, i:ucr=fc:cd v...;. ret-i} 

 of pollard VV.r 

 als only by small plantations, 



rbeds. The train 



. . 



"■ - - 

 lands are quickly passed. Small elevai 



rivlrVS^in ^crossed, and the passenger per- 

 ceives that it rides high above the land between lofty 

 and wide-sloping barrier banks, and perhapB observes 

 one of those " gangs " of « lighters" which navigate be- 



ports, with cargoes of corn, coal, and other merchandise. 



| whikt passing a large drain, he will see a 



line of wiudmills extending at wide intervals along each 



bank to the extreme distance, perhaps looking as busy 



in. The result, there, 

 cumulation of deposit; ana 



...'_ ,„. -..i, ,. wlti, tl,e diminution of fall, 



the fens and a general!] 



e of drainage. This pr. 



another battle ; 

 en-men fought against the water 



they may be ready emptied as reservoirs for 

 ...it the drainage may be made a 

 as possible by soakage from the porous soil. 

 observe that this region, though gloomy, is 

 fruitful ; for he is carried, not over wide mei 



indmill ; not considering that unles 



n to the sea were 



poldered" lands would quickly be in 



The surface has sunk considerably 





ens." Their chief subsistencewaTfeha^ 



. with bread made from the spring corn 



which they grew in small patches on the high lands. 



For fuel they used peats, dug in the " turf fens " and 



Jing firing for the whole year. 



"msinessof the larger occupiers and landowners 



hiefly grazing ; but on the gradual improvement 



e drainage, and the inclosure of the commons, 



ds the close of the last century, most of the laaj 



ae converted into tillage. Thus, though the poorer 



s had to part with their cows, the progress of a. 



re and extension of arable culture occasioned a 



er demand for labourers : work was plentiful, 



wages rose, the gunning boat and fish-neH 



the plough and spade, and t 



ibsistence to the men. 



;f turf " or peat moor is found, it hag 



of livelihood to a large class of the 



mproved (which might be readily done), a very large 

 ^rnnm-ti™ nf t he districts at nresent inefficiently drained 



of the districts at present inefficiently <3 



isbandry), by the i 





F3L2 



drainage. 



fen people, who have, from tic 



gaged in cutting, drying, and carrying it to the towns 



light for fuel. Another useful 



■ the reed. Beds of 



formerly in ma D y parts of the country ; great 



quantities of these reeds were reaped like corn in the 



. ,. J - : -d dressed, and sold in bundlta 



imodity produced by 

 latter part of 



nage fights ; so heavy has always been the 



of some classes of the inhabitants to almo 



me, good or bad, that has ever been p: 



med, or executed. There has frequently 



i! between the rich* and the poor ; indeed, in almost 



i.-ieacomi 



every large district which [_.. 



objections were raised by the fen-men against the plan 



of a general drainage by the Earl of Bedford. They 



said they should thereby lose their fishing and fowling. 



It was answered that there were some deep places in 



the feHF, and also several meres which could not be 



laid dry, and those were the chief places for fish and 



claimingandcultii 



was once carried on in supplying the large 



These were taken in "decoys" (vulgarly 



have disappear. " ' ; ; "■ drained state 



nman's treasure ; large flocks, 

 , were kept, and were frequ 

 feathers and quills formed valuabl 



uently plucked, as their 



itingsomanytho 

 by the small con* 

 They complained c 

 ' a that g ] 





! grain. Even in such a rapid t: 



from a firr. . v«,ss dry, well 



King Canute floated over these fens in a 



proaching the cathedral, composed his famous poem 



beneath its walls. Very different was it him ttt 



iwn that good pasture and hay ground 

 b valuable. Besides these and some- 



, for instance, the loss of their land ; and again, 



)f private emulation or mere I I 



lad rather be said to be owner of 1000 acres, 



thanpart with 500 acres to make the rest worth 500/. a 



. And as for emulation or envy, it was so 



torious, so diffusive a vice amongst them," says an 



writer, " that a man may imagine it to have been 



«ras in the fen of Lerna. I will 



im perhaps 50/. a year, and he has no other liveli- 

 1. John Nokes has 200 acres in the same fen worth 

 a year, but besides 

 '. a year, and thinks himself, and so is a gentleman 

 )me reckoning ; the other is but a poor man s J 

 s hardly. When the question of the draining of 



John Nokes, his rich neighbour. 



r clouded with dark vj 

 ily inhabited, wooded, 



lly was so well fortifiec 



round by meres and quag- 

 bridges sunk beneath the 

 soldiers, to the destruction 



s high grounds in various parts i 

 ad naturally w 



so many magnincent religious houses. Here 

 sorted not only Saxon patriots, but also ba 

 marauding depredators who, secure in these 

 holds, lived by robbing the upland borderers. 



- ; . j in, s 



" r my wings— thi 



The operation of " paring and burning " originated m 

 e fens about the middle of the 17th century, and sp- 

 ared to be the only way in which the light spongy 

 il could be brought successfully into tillage. But it 

 is long before it became general J many districts, 

 ars alter the general drainage, were badly drained, 

 Hilled, producing coarse and scanty fodder, and gene- 

 ing miasma in the moistened air. The improvement 

 - --"-' -, from the wretched 

 ■ starved, upon tb 



)f breeding and box- feeding on se 

 principles ! The higher grounds lay in wide open 

 overrun with weeds and rubbish, Rushes and Tl 

 the lower partB were fr< 



■•''■■•' 

 i were anciently thro* 

 and the soil raised ii 



i performed their work, and begun to cultiva 

 rtions of that common and of other lands allot 

 :ir recompense— these men, having lost their 

 Qcy and been compelled to sell their cattle, < 





is, destroyed crops, 

 opposition was from the rich. 



"mding the Earl of Lindsey's drainings 



. aggies directed to very different j petition against for cm I 



a tural channels ., ■ ; n " philosopher 



only into another bed, but to .... 



they then aito. . • take by a No 



further error (at and after the time of the Common- priet< 



stead of improving the old channels and cleansing the i few 1 





f meddled with it." 



; they were merely 1 



. ; y reason of huge engi 

 which have long been indispensable for taking up 1 



frequent hollows and dykes, whi 

 out as receptacles for the water, aim i 

 large mounds as places of retreat for the cattle. Jf» 

 the unenclosed fens of deep peat presented the mow 

 dismal spectacle ; wide spaces drowned Eeari ? ?£ 

 • : ". 

 Reed-plashes, rough Hassocks, and Cot: 

 of loose bog, the residence of snipes, wil 



' re cows and horses have been mired ana 

 ir skeletons found when the drains were cat. 

 of time, however, even these desolate plac* 



j of vegetable pr* 



not only «* 



irLs^oggy^thewh* 

 country more healthy and pleasant. Paring ana bur*- 

 iDg was universally considered as essential to «" 



". 



moor was compressed, the surface kept sinking; «* 

 operation of paring was found to be accompanied DJ 

 gradual loss of ground, and it was therefore plain t»J 

 it could not be carried on ad ivjinilvm. Hence aW» 

 ; soil atoj 

 thus consolidating the light powdery earth, and g«*> 

 increasing its productiveness. The new method *£ 

 too obviously profitable to be cried against by tkeOTJ 

 isages, and it has thus become umy»r| 



■: : ■ . . ' • • .■■■■■■■•';:; 



altered, for tb for the re»T 



* ' wo crops of Oats, or one of them Wheat, and the* I 

 or fiveiTMxi .ears, has been •- 

 more valuable rotation, namely, . «i^, 



. , 8 Jr> 





a contracted and 



the ' rushy common. These cottagers, both possessors and \ The wretched s 



; ■- : ^ a.. 



j aiid Clovers, and v 

 the Kept in winter on hay stored from the grounds allotted \ with roots, straw, and artific 



phut of feeding 1 



