WARPING OF LAND. 



many yMre, with very little or no tillage at all, if the lands 

 be kept free from quick grafs, and other weeds, which muft 

 be the cafe in all lands where they are properly mai.aged ; 

 befides, the drains which are made for tie purpofe of warp- 

 ing, are the bell drains, it is (aid, that can be conllruCted for 

 draining the lands at the time they are not ufed for warping, 

 which 18 another very great advantage, it is thought, in low 

 lands in this fort of bulinefs. 



As to the difadvantagfS in warping, it is conceived there 

 can be very few, if any, as the land may be warped in the 

 year in which it fhould be a fummer tallow. Indeed all 

 lands that are warped, it it faid, (hould be prepared in the 

 (pring as fallow lands, fo that they may be ready to let in 

 the warp by the month of June, as the three fucceeding 

 months are the mod proper ones in the whole year for 

 warping ; but they might be continued in warping longer 

 when ncceflary, therefore the rent is, it is thought, out of 

 the queftion. The only inconveniences that can arife are, 

 in the writer's opinion, from the blowing up of the doughs, 

 or the breaking of the banks, which is feldom the cafe, ex- 

 cept where there is fome negleft in the works, and thereby 

 overflowing the adjoining lands, and very probably dellroy- 

 ing the crops ; it, however, very much enriches the land 

 that is overflown : fuch accidents and circumftances (hould 

 notwithftanding be guarded againfl by every cautious con- 

 triver of fuch works. 



It is noticed that warped land feldom fail* of carrying 

 good crops of moft forts ; but that oats are moll to be de- 

 pended on the firft feafon. It is thought that warped land 

 is better calculated for the growth of oats, wheat, and beans, 

 than barley, as the foil by that means becomes fo very rich, 

 that barley in general grows too coarfe. It never fails 

 growing artificial feeds of all kinds, and is the bell of all 

 land foi" pafture. 



V\ hen once well warped, land lafts a confiderable length 

 of time, and is generally the moft conveniently and beft done 

 in a gradual manner, as fuggefted above, as by fuch means 

 the farmer will feldom fail of having great crops. In fhort 

 no fort of field management is known that is fo cheap as 

 warping, when properly applied. Land of all qualities is 

 warped ; but in general it is not warped more than one year 

 in feven ; one year's warping will do for that length of time 

 in moft cafes. The land is various as to the preference of 

 the grain or crops to be fown upon it, as in other cafes. 



In fome cafes, land has been raifed coiifiderably by warp- 

 ing ; in one inllance of bad corn land, almoft good for 

 nothing, it was railed in three years fourteen inches : it lay 

 idle for that time, that it might be raifed by this means ; it 

 was then fuwn with beans, and promifed a crop of eight 

 quarters. 



The warp confifts of mud and falts depofitcd by the cb- 

 bing-tide, as fuppofed above : near Howden, one tide will, 

 it is faid, depofit an inch of mud, and this depofit is more 

 or Icfs in proportion to the diftance from the Humber, at 

 which the place is. 



Cherry-cob fands were gained, it is afferted, by warping 

 ft-om the Humbir ; and tliey are fuppofed to be at lead four 

 yards thick of warp : fome of thcfe were ploughed for 

 twelve, fourteen, or fixtcen years, it- is faid, before they 

 would grow grafs-fecds : the greater part is now in feeding 

 land, and makes very fine pallure. 



The land muft always be in tilhige for fome confiderable 

 time after warping, as pointed out above ; and if laid down 

 for grafs, and continued in that date, it is not warped ; for 

 the falts in the mud would, it is faid, infallibly kill the grafs- 

 iTceds. 



When it is pfopofed to fow the land again with corn, then 



it is warped : when the farmers fuid the grats decline, ihty 

 then warp and plough it out : as the land varies in quahly, 

 fo does the time during which it will produce good grafs. 

 It is never in the date of fallow, but in the year when it is 

 warped, as fuggefted already. 



In regard to the praClice of warping in the low part of 

 the Weft Riding of the above diftndl, it is conceived, that it 

 originated from the tides overflowing the banks of the rivers, 

 and thereby leaving a fcdiment, which was found to be ex- 

 cellent manure, and that the land brought very large crops 

 affr being covered or flooded in that manner. Indeed, it 

 ii believed that the firft trial of warping was made by a fmall 

 farmer, who had fome low land adjoining a certain river 

 called the Dutch river, which was a very poor foil, the low- 

 eft part of which was levelled with the liighed, bv the over- 

 flowing of fome very high tides, which convinced the farmer 

 that he could, by banking the land round, and laying a tiin- 

 iiel through the bank of the river, raife the fame, and make 

 it of coiifiderably more value. He confequently applied to the 

 commiflioners of fewcrs for the level of Hatfield chafe, as 

 being appointed for draining that part of the diftrift, &c. 

 to grant him an order, giving him leave to lay a tunnel, a few 

 inches fquare, through the bank of the faid river, for the 

 purpofe of warping his land, which was granted him with 

 a great deal of reluftance, for fear of overflowing the coun- 

 try thereabouts with water, on his giving a proper fecurity 

 for indemnifying the county againft any injury which might 

 happen thereby, which anfwered his purpofe, it is faid, very 

 well. But now, it is obferved, there are doughs laid of fix 

 or eight feet wide, and drains made of proper dimenfions, to 

 carry the water as circumftances may be. The writer is 

 not certain how long it is fiuce warpuig came much into 

 pradlice, but it is not, however, many years ; it is be- 

 lieved not more then (1799) than twenty or twenty-five 

 years, or thereabouts. 



It is ftated, however, that Mr. Richard Jennings, of Ar- 

 min, near Howden, was the firft perfon who tried the expe- 

 riment of warping, about fifty years fince nt the above pe- 

 riod. It was next attempted, then about forty years ago, 



by a Mr. Farham, fteward to Twifleton, efquire, of 



Rawcliffe, as well as by a Mr. Mould, of Potter Grange ; and 

 it has been tried, it is faid, by a great variety of perfons fince 

 that time, to their great advantage. 



It is obferved in the work firll noticed, that a very great 

 objedl in the hufbandry of warping, is the application and 

 extenfion of it in other diftritls. They have much warp, it 

 is faid, on all the coad from Wifbcach to Bofton, and other 

 places in that vicinity, and which through a long fuccelCon 

 of ages has formed a large trail of warp country, called 

 there the Silt didrift, yet no attempts that have been heard 

 of have been made there to warp artificially. It is there- 

 fore fiiggedcd to the proprietors and farmers living near a 

 muddy river, that they (hould coniider the pofition of their 

 grounds well, and try the amount of the fubfidence of the 

 mud in the water, in a cylindrical glafs jar, as a trea- 

 fure may be near them without their knowing any thing 

 of it. See the Correifled Agricultural Reports of Lincoln- 

 (hire and the Weft Riding of Yorklhire. 



W AuviKO-Biinh, the mounds of earth that are raifed 

 up round the fields or grounds to be warped againft the 

 rivers. See Wauping of Land. 



Wari'ing Cuts, Drains, or Cutltrs, the open paffages 

 which are formed for taking away the water in warping cj 

 ItiiiL Sec the article. 



WyiBriNC Clough, Hatch, or Sluice, the ftroncly framed 

 wood-work which is placed in the inlet cut io the bank of 

 the warping river, which cut is walled on each fide with a 



Arong 



