282 



Farming of Lincolnskire. 



under the alluvium of Marshland, in Norfolk, under the alluvial 

 clay of the southern and central parts of South Holland, and 

 occupies most part of the Bedford Level (more or less mixed 

 with silty sediment), resting in general upon blue clay, but on 

 gravel, sand, chalk, or hard clay near the corresponding uplands. 

 It is found over most part of Deeping Fen, being also underneath 

 the alluvial clay near the Welland river ; in Thurlby Fen it is ]0 

 feet in depth, and has a mixture of clayey sediment on its surface ; 

 in Bourn, Morton, &c. fens it is shallower, and gradually thins 

 off as it runs northward. There is some extent of the black land 

 in the southern parts of South Holland, but of no great depth. 

 In Deeping Fen it is a light mould, generally about 12 inches 

 thick. With clay or silt often so near the top as to be turned up 

 by the plough, the mingled soil producing fine crops of coleseed 

 and grain. The greatest breadth of the peat in this part of the 

 country (across Deeping Fen and part of South Holland) is about 

 eight miles. It stretches northward between the Car Dyke and 

 the South Forty- foot Drain, scarcely more than 1 or 2 miles 

 in breadth ; these fens, especially east of the Forty Foot, being 

 skirty," i. e. a mixture of peat and alluvial silt and clay, forming 

 a deep black loam. In Ewerby, Anwick, Digby, &c. fens^ the 

 peat deepens, resting upon gravel or clay, which also form much 

 of the surface. The width here is from 3 to 5 miles. In Digby 

 and the neighbouring fens the peat is naturally poor and hollow, 

 producing not more than 5 quarters of light oats, or 20 bushels of 

 very light wheat, but after mixing the clay (which lies at 4 feet 

 depth), the land yields 30 bushels of good wheat, worth more by 

 %s. per qr. The fens of South and North Kyme, east of the Car 

 Dyke, are better and higher land than those just adverted to (on 

 the west of that drain) ; they have been long drained and cul- 

 tivated, and the black soil has been much worn up by burning, 



overspread a portion of the peat before the banks were erected, and the whole forest had 

 decayed into spongy peat before the Roman roads were projected across it. It is 

 impossible that any adequate sea-barrier could have been in existence, or if it be sup- 

 posed that the downs or deiies of sand had been naturally raised along the shore, it is im- 

 possible that the great rivers could have been artificially conducted over a broad country, 

 elevated 20 to 35 feet above it, and the supposition of such a tract having been drained 

 by pumps or wheels at so early a period of British history, and not only perfectly and 

 deeply drained, but during an interval of time sutficient for the growth of colossal oaks 

 and firs of an age and dimension entirely unexamj)led in EngLuidat the present day, — 

 this is too preposterous to be accepted as an explanation. The only solution of the 

 problem seems to be, that after the buttery clay had been deposited and guttered by 

 silty creeks and rivers, an elevation of the whole country took place, and then, after a 

 long term of years, occurred a subsidence of the land to its present level. Similar 

 forest remains are found in many parts of the British coast, and the gradual elevation 

 and subsequent depression of the island will account for their formation also. Of course, 

 however, alterations in the level of the sea would be equivalent to these changes of the 

 land. These observations are made with a view of correcting an outline of an hypo- 

 thesis hazarded in the Report on the Fens (Journal, Vol. viii.), and adopted by a 

 writer in the Edinburgh Review (No. clxxiv. p. 459). 



