Farming of Lincolnsliire. 



261 



1. The Character of the Soils of the County^ especially of its 

 Marsh and Fen Lands. 



Lincolnshire possesses almost every variety of soil : from the 

 thinnest white to the richest red sand ; from the most incorrigible 

 to the most fertile clay ; from the coarsest gravel to the finest 

 marl ; from the most spongy to the most consolidated peat ; from 

 the sharpest silty warp to the fattest alluvial loam ; and these 

 soils are so intimately arranged and interspersed that the same 

 district will afford light land for the production of green crops 

 and summer pasturage for live stock. This peculiar diversity 

 arises from the geological structure, there being no less than 8 of 

 the great stratified formations in this county, besides a wide dis- 

 persion of different kinds of drift, and large tracts of peat and 

 alluvium of almost every description. These formations are found 

 (particularly in the northern half of the county) in parallel bands, 

 ranging nearly north and south ; and in describing the soils v/hich 

 rest upon them it will perhaps be best to consider each of the beds 

 in its proper order. The lowest in the geological series is the 

 New Red Sandstone, which appears on the north-western border 

 of Lincolnshire, exhibiting the upper members of that group, viz., 

 variegated marls, sands, and gypsum. In the Isle of Axholme 

 (or that portion of Lincolnshire west of the Trent) these beds 

 form a ridge of high ground running north and south through the 

 centre of the district from Owston and Haxey to Epworth, Belton, 

 and Crowle, disappearing under the alluvial deposit on the east, 

 and constituting the great base of the sandy and peaty deposits on 

 the west. The soils on the high land are a clay loam and a rich 

 sand loam, resting on clay, shale^ and gypsum, but principally on 

 the latter. In the hamlet of Low Burnham, near Haxey, there is 

 a very considerable bed of gypsum, having an area of more than 

 500 acres and an average depth of from 12 to 14 feet. At Bel- 

 ton, &c., the gypseous rock is also found, and is prepared by 

 machinery into sulphate of lime, for manure and for the floorinor 

 of farm- buildings and warehouses, being cheaper and more 

 durable than any other kind of material. The white or pure 

 gypsum is used by sculptors and plasterers. The black sand 

 occupies also a part of the low lands, resting upon a white or 

 reddish sand, as in the district south of Haxey. As the white 

 sand is dry and porous it forms a natural subsoil drainage for this 

 land, which is therefore generally good. When the white sand is 

 at the surface the soil is light and unproductive. The soil ad- 

 joining the Trent is alluvial loam or " warp;" and in all the 

 northern half of the isle there is next a belt of lower land, con- 

 sisting of a dark grey sand upon white sand ; some portions of it 

 are very poor. Interspersed among the low sands is a considerable 



