Farming cf Liiicolnsidre. 



297 



water outside has already been considerably lessened by the 

 amendment of the Welland channel. By reason of drainage the 

 fen has subsided at least 2 feet, and thus the lowering of the 

 wheels is both practicable and necessary. By this alteration the 

 drainage-water might be scooped out at any rate one foot lower 

 than at present, which would be of great benefit to the lower 

 portion already noticed. 



Great quantities of water are let in from the upland rivers 

 during the summer, to water the fen. This practice hinders the 

 work of drainage, by increasing the amount of work to be per- 

 formed by the engines, and by dim.inishing the quantity of back- 

 water which keeps the outfall open during the dry season. The 

 peat land becomes so dry, and subject to be blown by high Vvinds, 

 that this watering is affirmed to be necessary ; the consolidation of 

 the soil, however, by draining and claving will probably obviate 

 this necessity, and the upland waters will at a future time perhaps 

 be employed for irrigating instead of injuring the fen. It is quite 

 possible to dispense with the practice on some of the lower lands, 

 for on one farm the water has been kept by a private steam-engine 

 two feet lower than that of the surrounding neighbourhood, and not 

 a single pint of water was taken in " from the drains ; the effect 

 being the production of more equable crops of grain. Very few 

 farmers have set down private wheels ; but where such is the 

 case an indisputable benefit is sure to be felt. That the powerful 

 Pode-Hole engines are capable of thoroughly drying the Fen, 

 provided the high land water were excluded from the ditches, is 

 demonstrated by experiments made with a Dalton gauge : the 

 engines removing exactly the excess of downfall water over that 

 evaporated.^* 



* The average fall of rain during the six years 1838-43 upon Deeping Fen was 27 '50 

 inches, or 69,632,393 tons of waler on the whole 25,000 acres. The average weight of 

 water lifted by the engine in those years was 24,704,828 tons. This is equivalent to 

 35*4 percent, of the quantity of rain fallen; but much of it consisted of the water 

 admitted from the rivers in summer, and the quantity therefore remaining to be eva- 

 porated must be about 75 or 80 per cent. The average downfall throughout England 

 within the same period was 26-8 inches, and the evaporation 57*4 per cent. ; by com- 

 paring which facts it appears that this fen was superfluously charged with water. That 

 the engines are of sufficient strength and magnitude to remove the necessary propor- 

 tion of downfall water, is apparent from the following fact : — In 1848 the fall of rain 

 amounted to the great quantity of 34-3 inches, or 86,S50,58j tons upon the surface of 

 the fen ; the quantity lifted by the engine was 42,695,663 tons, equal to 49 • 1 per cent. 

 If then, the upland waters were never admitted, the engines are capable of leaving only 

 50*9 per cent, of the heaviest downfall to be removed by evaporation. As the Pode- 

 Hole engines were probably the first ever erected in the fens, a few particulars regard- 

 ing them are worthy of notice. There are two engines under one roof, the one of 80, 

 the other of 60 horse power. The wheel of the former is 28 feet in diameter, and the 

 float-boards are 5 feet wide. It was intended to " dip 5 feet, but, owing to the sub- 

 sidence of the land, there is seldom a dip of more than 2 feet 9 inches. The water is 

 lifted on an average 7 feet, and at the above dip lifts 160 tons per minute. The other 

 engine has a wheel of 30 feet diameter and 5 feet in width. This dips 14 inches lower 

 than the 80-horse v/heel, so that, when the latter has a dip of 2 feet 9 inches, there is a 



