Farming of Lincolnslnre. 



327 



ticable, and perhaps advisable. The foHowing^ is the opinion of 

 one whose kindness has furnished the chief facts that have been 

 adduced respecting" the Isle of Axholme : — If a large main drain 

 were cut from Idle-stop " to the conjunction of the Trent and 

 Ouse with the Plumber at Trent fall, it would, effectually drain 

 the whole neighbourhood comprised within the Isle levels, as well 

 as the adjoining lands in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshu'e. This 

 drain would pass through the lowest lands in the district, and its 

 outfall would be at least 10 feet lower than that at Althorpe ; it 

 would also possess the natural advantage of having no fresh water 

 except its own to contend with. The Trent being narrow at 

 Althorpe, the freshes rise to a considerable height ; whereas at the 

 Trent fall, where the junction with the Humber is effected, the 

 area of the river becomes very great, and the freshes have very 

 little effect in varying the ebb or level of low water. The drain, 

 if cut, must be a tidal one, and not less than 200 feet wide at the 

 bottom. The water should pass into it from the minor drains by 

 means of self-acting sluices. The water from Bawtry (in Notts) 

 now passing through Bycar-dike to Stockwith, would enter it at 

 Idle-stop, and would, with the assistance of other inlets, be suffi- 

 cient to keep the new river open and cleansed. The new river, 

 being a tidal one, would be used with great and perfect success 

 in warping the adjoining lands, more than 20,000 acres of which 

 might be warped by it, which cannot be done hy the river Trent. 

 This opinion accords with the Reports of Smeaton in 1776, of 

 Rennie in 1813, and of a committee appointed in 1828 ; the latter 

 projecting ''the complete drainage of more than 100,000 acres, 

 the warping of 15,000, which would alone add 20,000/. a year to 

 their value, and procuring a navigation to the whole," the esti- 

 mated expense being 350,000/. It is for the proprietors to deter- 

 mine whether the immense advantages accompanying a good natural 

 drainage, and the creation of so vast an amount of fertility bv 

 the process of warping, would not remunerate them for the outlay 

 required in such an undertaking. 



This imperfect sketch of the Lincolnshire drainages has un- 

 avoidably occupied a large space, but simply because the subject 

 could not be treated with justice within narrower limits, its im- 

 portance claiming a separate report for itself. Although tliis 

 county comprises within its borders but a very small portion of 

 the Bedford Level, it possesses an immense extent of low land 

 on a dead level, below the tides of the ocean, and divided into a 

 variety of districts, each with its peculiar contrivances and great 

 works of drainage, such as have now passed under consideration ; 

 and when we consider the extent of the contiguous flats of Hol- 

 derness. Walling Fen, &c., in Yorkshire, of the Bedford Level, 

 of the East Norfolk lowlands, &c,, what a magnitude and mul- 



