302 



Farming of Lincolnshire. 



an accompanying lull of the winds. But a considerable propor 

 tion drains naturally^ the mills being chiefly on the west side of 

 the Forty-foot ; the water during winter, however, is much too 

 near the surface for o-ood subsoil drainao:e. The rivulets that 

 flow down upon the western fens are embanked over the flat land, 

 and delivered into the drain, whilst the mill-drains and ditches are 

 thus preserved from the upland water. The fens of Howell and 

 Ewerby, west of the Car Dyke (into which their water is thrown 

 by mills), and the fens of South Kyme and Heckington, with 

 other minor districts between the Car Dyke and Holland Fen, 

 exhibit on the map a network of drains, dykes, eaus, and skerths, 

 crossing each other in apparent confusion : in fact, there are two 

 distinct systems of drainage, one pointing eastward to the Witham, 

 the other southward to the Forty- foot; and since the former out- 

 let has been stopped, the currents of the first set of drains have 

 been turned round and constrained to take a new direction towards 

 the new outfall. The consequence of these sharp angles^ inde- 

 pendently of the crookedness of the drains themselves, is a bad 

 drainage by means of wind- engines. The head of water, how- 

 ever, both in these and the more southern districts, is not high, 

 the water being lifted only from 1 to 4 feet. Notwithstanding, 

 all the lands, reaching as far as Little Hale Fen, are obliged to 

 pay an acre-tax to the Witham Commissioners. 



Holland Fen, about 22,000 acres, lying between the fens just 

 mentioned and Boston, and termed the Second District by the 

 Witham Act, has an excellent natural drainage by means of the 

 North Forty-foot, Clay Dyke, Hammond Beck, and several 

 smaller drains, into the South Forty-foot. The inclosure and 

 drainage of this tract was under an Act passed in 1767; and 

 Heckington and Helpringham, &c,, fens were inclosed and 

 drained about the same time. Before this took place^ the whole 

 country was frequently under water for several weeks together 

 between Boston and the hills, the inhabitants traversing the flood 

 by means of boats. At the present day it is not enough that the 

 drains keep the water always below the surface of the land ; but 

 considerable exertions have been made to provide all the Black- 

 Sluice districts with a complete natural drainage, and give to 

 those that already possess this advantage a further facility for 

 carrying out all the scientific improvements in husbandry which 

 depend upon a perfect deep-draining of the soil. It is now more 

 widely understood, and believed that an excess of moisture in the 

 land is deleterious to the growth of plants, both by hindering the 

 preparation of food for the roots and by preventing the healthy 

 action of the leaves, in consequence of the dampness of the at- 

 mosphere ; and that the warmth of both soil and climate is 

 materially increased by efficient drainage. So great is the amount 



