Farming of Lincolnshire. 



263 



extent of peat and peaty sand ; and it is in this central division of 

 the isle that the chief improvements by floodinof from the river 

 have been effected. West of tliis band, towards Wroot, <Scc., the 

 surface is peat. 



On the east side of the Trent, the red sandstone appears in the 

 parish of Alkborough as a dark sand-loam skirting the steep 

 declivity of the hills toward the south ; and as the lowland widens 

 out (between Messingham and Butterwick, &c.) forms a breadth 

 of low sand between the alluvium of the river and a peaty tract 

 which divides it from the hills. Here (as in the Isle) the great 

 improvements by the process called Warping" have been 

 accomplished upon the middle district of sand. About 2 miles 

 east of St. Kinnal's Ferry, a hill of red pebbly sand rises from the 

 flat of barren dry blowing sand, which lies in bare heaps or fern- 

 clad patches ; and further to the east is a wide moor on a higher 

 level than the flat just mentioned, and consisting of a peaty sand 

 on a red sand with white veins. Unlike the hill, w^hich is destitute 

 of herbage, this moorland is completely matted with mosses and 

 heath, but the largest vegetation consists of tufts of black rushes 

 and bunches of furze ; and the lower portions are boga:y with 

 watercourses and stagnant plashes. This extends to Scotton, 

 where the formation disappears from the surface, and stretches 

 southward to Corringham. The red sand, in some places con- 

 cealing valuable beds of alabaster, continues by Gainsborough 

 and Knaith in the shape of low hills overhanging the Trent to 

 Marton, &c., forming a fertile soil, in some places rich, but with 

 a narrow tract of marsh next the river ; and so reaches to Newark 

 in Nottinghamshire, its eastern boundary averaging about 2h miles 

 distance from the Trent. 



The Lias formation has a larger area than the red sandstone, 

 but both occupy only a small proportion of the surface of the 

 county. At Whitton-on-the-H umber the lias hill (lying upon 

 the red sandstone) rises abruptly from the edging of marsh-land 

 on the margin of the united Ouse and Trent waters, and, pre- 

 senting a bold scarp sometimes exceeding 200 feet in height to 

 the west, runs nearly parallel with the Trent at about 1 to 3 miles 

 distance for 15 or 20 miles. It is of the marlstone series, com- 

 posed of alternate layers of clay and stone, and pervaded by 

 numerous springs of water (some of them petrifying), forming 

 brooks, which, as the hill falls gradually for 2 or 3 miles to the 

 eastward, flow in that direction, and then northward to the H umber 

 at Wintringham Haven. The surface soil, for some distance 

 from its brow, is a cold clayey loam, containing many fossil shells, 

 and extends from Burton-on-Stather to the neighbourhood of 

 Gainsborough with but little interruption. Much care is re- 

 quired in working this land, as it must be neither too wet nor too 



