WAR 



WAR 



very produftive material when employed as manure in com- 

 pofition with otlier matters, or ufcd alone. 



Warps are applied to flat, wide beds or ridges of 

 ploughed land in fome diftrifts. It is often a bad mode of 

 laying land when in the ttate of tillage. 



Warp in Cows, in Rural Economy, a term made ufe of 

 in fome places to fignify to mifcarry or flip their calves. 

 Where cows are hable to warp or flip their calves, and it has 

 taken place in different cafes, it is confidered dangerous to 

 permit them to continue in the yards with the whole of the 

 fame fort of ftock, from the fear of the fame eff'edt being 

 produced on the others. For though fome cows may pro- 

 bably, by conftitutional weaknefs, or fome bodily imperfec- 

 tion, be more Uable to warp than others ; fuch accidental 

 circumllances as produce fuddcn fright are very often the 

 caufe. Putrid difajjreeable fmells, and the expofure of 

 putrid animal fubftances, have frequently too the fame effeft. 

 It is ilated, that in an inclofure in the parifh of Arhngham, 

 in the county of Gloucefter, near to which was a dog- 

 kennel, eight heifers out of twenty warped, in confequence, 

 as it was fuppofed by the farmer, of the frequent expofure 

 of the flefli, and the fliinning of the dead horfes before them : 

 the remainder being removed to a diftant pallure, it is faid, 

 did well. Many other cafes of this fort have likewife been 

 noticed. 



Warp, in the Manufadures, is the threads, whether of 

 filk, wool, hnen, hemp, cotton, or the like, that are 

 extended lengthwife on the weaver's loom, and acrofs 

 which the workman, by means of his fliuttle, pafles the 

 threads of the woof, to form a cloth, ribband, fiiltian, or 

 other matter. 



For a woollen ftufi", &c. to have the neceflary quahtics, 

 it is required, that the thread of the warp be of the fame 

 kind of wool, and of the fame finenefs throughout ; that 

 they be fized with Flanders or parchment-iize, well pre- 

 pared ; and th.-!! they be in fufiicient number, with regard 

 to the breadth of the ftuff to be wrought. See Woof, 

 Cloth, &c. 



Warp, in a Ship, is a fmall rope employed occafionally to 

 remove a (hip from one place to another, in a port, road, or 

 river. Hence, 



To Warp, in Sea Language, is to change the fituation of 

 a fliip, by puUing her from one part of a harbour, &c. to 

 fome other, by means of warps, which are attached to 

 buoys, to anchors funk in the bottom, or to certain ftations 

 upon the fliore, as polls, rings, trees, &c. The fliip is ac- 

 cordingly drawn forwards to thofe ftations, either by pull- 

 ing on the warps by hand, or by the application of fome 

 purchafe, as a tackle, windlafs, or capilern, upon her deck. 

 When this operation is performed by the fliip's leifer an- 

 chors, thefe machines, together with their warps, are carried 

 out in the boats alternately towards the place where the fliip 

 is endeavouring to arrive ; fo that when flie is drawn up 

 clofe to one anchor, the other is carried out to a competent 

 diftance before her, and being funk, ferves to fix the other 

 warp, by which flie is farther advanced. 



Warping is generally ufed when the fails are unbent, or 

 when they cannot be fuccefsfuUy employed, which may 

 arife from the unfavourable ftate of the wind, the op- 

 pofition of the tide, or the narrow limits of the channel. 

 Falconer. 



Warp alfo denotes a towing-line, by which boats are 

 hauled in^a canal, &c. 



Warp of Shrouds, the firft given length, taken from the 

 bolfter at the maft-head to the foremofl; dead-eye. 



WARPED into Junks, in Rofe-Making, 13 yam warped 

 iato fhort lengths for fpun-yarn. 



WARPEN, in Geography, a lake of Sweden, hi 

 Dalecarha. 



WARPENI. See Wardpenny. 



WARPING of Land, in Jgriculture, the praftice of 

 forming, fertihzing, and improving lands of the tillage kind, 

 which is employed in fome particular fituations on the 

 borders of large rivers and channels into which the fea-tidlb 

 flow, and where the level of the ground is fuch as to admit 

 of their being overflowed with much facility. This prac- 

 tice has hitherto been chiefly confined to the extenfive fea- 

 diftrifts of Lincolnfliire and Yorkfliire, but is little known 

 to moft others. It has been remarked by the writer of a 

 late calendar of hulbandry, that the waters of the tides that 

 come up the Trent, Oufe, Dun, and other rivers of the 

 former of the above counties, which empty themfelves into 

 the great eftuary of the Humber, arc muddy to an excefs ; 

 infomuch that in the fummer feafon, if a cyhndrical glafs, 

 twelve or fifteen inches long, be filled with the water, it will 

 prefently depofit an inch, and fometimes more, of this muddy 

 matter, or what is there called warp. Where it comes from 

 is, it is faid, a difputed point : the Humber, at its mouth, 

 is clear water ; and no floods in the countries waihed by the 

 warp rivers bring it, but, on the contrary, do much mifchief 

 by fpoiliug the warp. In the very drieft feafons and longeft 

 droughts, it is found the beft and moft plentiful. 



The improvement in land, which is made by this means, 

 is, it is faid, perfetlly fimple and eafy, confifting in nothing 

 more than merely letting in the tide at high water to depofit 

 the warp, or muddy material, and permitting it to run off 

 again as the water falls. But in order to render it fully ef- 

 ficacious, the water muft be at command, i'o that it may be 

 kept out and let in at pleafure, confequently there muft be 

 not only a cut or canal made to join the river, but a fluice at 

 the mouth of it formed fo as to open or fliut, as wanted ; 

 and that the water may be of a proper depth on the land 

 to be warped, and alfo prevented flowing over contigVious 

 lands, whether cultivated or not, banks are neceflary to be 

 raifed around the fields to be warped, of from three or four 

 to fix or feven feet high, according as the circumttances of 

 the cafes may be. Thus, if the tract 'be large, the canal 

 which takes the water, and which, as in the praftice of irri- 

 gation, might, it is faid, be called the grand carrier, may be 

 made feveral miles long : it has been tried, it is faid, as far 

 as four, fo as to warp the lands on each fide the whole way, 

 and lateral cuts made in any fuitable direftion for the fame 

 purpofe ; it is, however, to be obferved, that the effeft 

 leflens as the river is receded from ; that is, it demands 

 longer time for the water to depofit warp enough for pro- 

 ducing the benefit. 



It is to be noticed in this cafe, however, it is faid, that 

 the effeft is very different from that of irrigation or water- 

 ing ; as it is not the water that works the eff^ft or im- 

 provement, but the mud or material which is depofited, fo 

 that in time of floods the bufinefs ceafes, as alfo in winter ; 

 and that it is not in this cale to manure the foil, but to 

 create and form it. What the land is, it is fuppofed, which 

 is intended to be warped, is not of the fmalleil confequence : 

 a bog, clay, fand, peat, or even a barn floor, all one and the 

 fame ; as the warp raifes it in' one fummer from fix to fixteen 

 Inches thick, and in the hollows or low places, two, three, 

 or four feet, fo as to leave the whole piece or field level. 

 Thus, a foil of any depth that may be required is formed, 

 which confills of mud, or a material of that fort,' of vaft 

 fertility, though not containing much befides fandj'btUa 

 fand unique, it is fuppofed. 



It is ilated in addition, too, by the fame writer, that Ml*. 

 Dalton, of Knaith, on Trent, in die fame county, feut fome 



of 



