Farming of Lincolnshire. 



283 



&>c., and the clay mlng-led with the remainder by ploughing:. On 

 the western side of the Witham the peat runs up to Lincoln, 

 varying from 4 miles to only ^ a mile in width ; beyond that city 

 it is soon lost in the alluvial flats on the banks of the Till, Witham, 

 and Brant. Its depth varies from 8 inches in the southern parts 

 to IJ or 2 feet over its principal extent, and 5 or 6 feet nearer 

 Lincoln. 



East Fen has a soil of black peat, generally from 2 to 3 feet 

 deep, extending also into the East Holland parishes, and the low 

 lands of Friskney and Wainfleet, being about 6 miles north and 

 south by 5 miles east and west. Most of the peat, however, has 

 now become clayey and solid. It is separated from the hills by 

 about 1^ miles of the Oxford or Kimmeridge clay ; resting gene- 

 rally upon soft blue clay, though sand occurs in some parts; 

 and beneath the clay is white marl and sand. The peat dips 

 under the marshes of Firsby, &c., and appears on the sea coast 

 northward of Skegness, forming a submarine forest visible only 

 at the lowest ebbs. About 5 miles east of the Wold Hills it is 

 found upon the surface of the plastic clay, dipping under the clay 

 of the marshes; at Waltham the subterranean timber is 3 feet 

 from the surface ; at Skidbrook the stratum is black earth, about 

 4 feet from the top : at Saltfleet 13 yards from the top. At 

 Sutton it is at the level of low- water, and rests upon the soft 

 greasy clay ; at Grimsby, and between Barrow and Barton, it is 

 found at the same depth, and consists of peat with remains of 

 trees resting upon similar blue clay. 



The boundary of the peat is in general not well defined ; 

 but the quantity of acres in East Fen and the long western 

 district may be estimated at more than 100,000. Where it 

 is more than 10 or 12 inches in depth the peat has become 

 separated into two distinct strata — a top-soil of black peat earth, 

 or entirely decomposed vegetable matter, mixed with silt and 

 sediment from ancient floods, and with the mineral constituents 

 of the manures applied ; while the subsoil is an infertile brown 

 moor, sometimes a compact mass with fibres scarcely distin- 

 guishable by the eye, or else a soft spongy substance containing 

 leaves and stems of plants. There is no need for repeating what 

 has been already published respecting the nature and qualities of 

 this soil ; its native weakness and lightness, its power of retaining 

 moisture, the injurious effects of its stagnant irony soakage-water 

 upon the roots of plants, its tendency to sink down and become 

 solid by good drainage, and its matchless productiveness when 

 incorporated with a heavier earth — these points must be well 

 understood by all students of this Journal. 



After the peat had been formed the whole level seems to have 

 been so low as to be almost constantly under water. The tides^ 



