10 



Development on a 1,500- Acre Farm. [Apr., 



A RECORD OF 

 12 YEARS' DEVELOPMENT ON A 1500 

 ACRE FARM. 



Wilfrid S. Mansfield and D. Botes. 



The Sliippea Hill Estate of Messrs. Chivers and Sons is 

 situated 7 miles from Ely, at the junction of the Cambridge, 

 Norfolk and Suffolk borders. It lies in the fen country, and has 

 on the north the Little Ouse (or Brandon Eiver) and on the east 

 the Lakenheath Lode, while on the west it touches the main 

 road from Littleport to Mildenhall. The Great Eastern Piailway 

 Company's line to Norwich runs through the centre of the estate, 

 and the railw^ay station of Shippea Hill is on its western edge. 



Like most of the fen country, the district is very thinly popu- 

 lated, and though there is a railway station there is no village of 

 Shippea Hill. The parish is large and extends as far as Laken- 

 heath, a distance of 3^ miles. 



The estate lies in two drainage areas. Burnt Fen and Sedge 

 Fen, and it was after the first of these that the railway station was 

 originally named. At the request of the local farmers, who 

 feared the effects of the prejudice against potatoes grown on fen 

 soil, the name was, however, changed ; the justification for this 

 procedure being the fact that the soil on the estate is not black 

 fen soil at all, and that potatoes grown on it are of good qualit3^ 

 Indeed, the " once grown " seed it produces is eagerly sought 

 after by the neighbouring black land farm^ers. 



As is usual with land in the fen districts, the estate lies at a 

 lower level than the river vrhich drains it, and all drainage water 

 has therefore to be lifted by pumps. As might be expected, the 

 water table is high, and a system of open drainage by means of 

 ditnbpff (" dykes ") is necessary. Naturally the expense of such 

 a drainage system is heavy, but, on the other hand, there are cer- 

 tain advantages, one of these being that the height of the water 

 table can, to some extent, be controlled. In a season such as 

 that of 1921 this ability to keep up the water table has been of 

 great value ; particularly was this demonstrated last season in the 

 case of one field of strawberries which yielded at the rate of B tons 

 17 cwt. per acre, a fact that emphasises once more the value of 

 irrigation for this crop in a dry season. 



The estate is about 3 miles long and, at its centre, about 2 

 irn'inq wide. It is contained in a ring fence, and its area is about 

 1.570 acres, of which 102 acres are " washes " (land bordering 

 on a river and liable to flooding) and 220 acres grass land. 



