296 Farming of Lincolnshire, 



water in the ditches durins: the winter being seldom lower than 

 15 inches from the surface.* This is considered a good drainage 

 by many who were accustomed to the wretched system of wind- 

 drainage, their mills having been frequently unable to effect their 

 duty until the water had remained so long upon the soil as to 

 dissolve most of the nutritious salts and manures which it con- 

 tained. Nothine: is more certain than that water stag-natino- near 

 the surface of the fen lands for any considerable time greatly 

 injures the roots of growing wheat, and likewise destroys clover 

 and all those valuable grasses which strike their roots deep in the 

 ground. Besides this, when put in motion by wind or steam- 

 engines, it washes out of the soil and carries away with it the 

 soluble fertilising particles, thus occasioning a lasting injury to 

 the productive powers of the land. Hence there can be no doubt 

 that many lands, usually regarded as well drained, do in reality 

 suffer very much from the causes here stated, even when water is 

 seldom or perhaps never seen level with their surface. A testi- 

 mony to the truth of this remark may be drawn from the dark 

 blood-coloured water which is thrown out by mills, whereas in 

 those parts where the drainage is by the natural descent to sea, 

 and is tolerably rapid, the water in the drains is colourless and 

 transparent. The truth is, that all the water which cannot be 

 retained by the soil, evaporated by the air, or absorbed by vegeta- 

 tion, ought to be drawn off the soil without being suffered to 

 stagnate; it has then no time to dissolve the soluble matters 

 mixed with the soil, but, on the contrary, by its slow and uniform 

 filtration through the earth, communicates and mixes the various 

 substances in that equal manner which is most conducive to 

 fertility.! To accomplish this a perfect subsoil drainage is 

 required, but first of all the water-level must be kept 2J or 3 feet 

 (at the least) below the surface of the land, and the outlet always 

 kept open in winter, so that every shower of rain that falls in 

 excess on the soil begins, without a moment's delay, to pass gra- 

 dually away. In the North Level (Cambridgeshire) since the 

 natural drainage was introduced there is a marked increase of 

 fertility of parts which were previously held to be well drained ; 

 and, doubtless, a similar result would accompany the better 

 drainage of the lower lands in Deeping Fen and other districts in 

 Lincolnshire. It may yet be long before Deeping Fen obtains a 

 natural outfall, but an advantage might certainly be gained by 

 lowering the wheels of the engines, seeing that the " head " of 



* It must be borne in mind that the fen land, with the exception of those parts 

 raised by the earth cast out of drains, &c., seldom varies 6 inches or a foot from one 

 uniform level. 



f For further remarl<s upon this point see " Considerations on the North Level" a 

 ■work by the well-known Tycho Wing, ^sq. 



