412 



The Claying of Fen Soils. 



[Aug., 



THE CLAYING OF FEN SOILS, 



WiLFEiD S. Mansfield, B.A., 

 Advisory Chemist, School of Agriculture, Cambridge. 



The true fen soils of East Angiia, or " Blacklands " as they 

 are called, are light soils, black in colour, containing a very: 

 high percentage of organic matter, the mineral matter present 

 being mainly coarse and fine sand, only a very small percentage 

 of the finer particles being present. Even the top soil may 

 contain over 50 per cent, of organic matter, and in the subsoil 

 the high organic content is even more marked, until a layer of 

 unadulterated peat is struck, sometimes within a foot of the 

 surface. This layer of peat may be only a few inches in 

 thickness, in which case the local name of " Bears' Muck " 

 is given it, or it may continue to a depth of several feet. Under 

 this peat is either sand and gravel, or clay, and on this the 

 value of the land depends. Blackland overlying clay is superior 

 in every way to that overlying sand and gravel, and if the clay 

 is within four feet of the surface, then the process of claying 

 the top soil is rendered cheaper and the land has an increased 

 value. 



Historical. — The practice of claying fenland is undoubtedly 

 an ancient one, though exactly when and where it had its origin 

 it is impossible to say. Arthur Young, in his Lincolnshire, 

 written in 1799, does not mention it, from which it may 

 perhaps be assumed that it was not then a common practice. 

 Samuel Wells in his Histonj of the Drainage of the 

 Great Level of the Fens, 1830, gives an interesting note 

 on this subject in which he says: " This mode of manae^e- 

 ment is so very modern, that the author finds some difficulty 

 in giving an accurate description of its singular process." He 

 continues, "The object is to give solidity to the land; but iH 

 is for experience to prove whether the heavier soil will not force 

 itself back before the industrious owner can reap the reward 

 of the expense he has thus unavoidably incurred. One beneficial 

 effect, undoubtedly, arises from the measure — the employment 

 of the poor." 



In 1841 Mr. Morton, writing in the Journal of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society, says : " This mode of improving peaty soils 



