364 



Farming of Lincolnshire. 



the soil and aspect of the latter has been described in the first 

 part of this report. It is a wild moor, grazed in summer by 

 beasts and sheep, which must have great difficulty both in tra- 

 versing its tangled heath and boggy rivulets, and in finding 

 provender. All the land is high, and is therefore well situated 

 for drainage ; but some persons are of opinion that it would grow 

 nothing if cultivated. Some portions may be thus infertile, but 

 where herbage now grows better herbage might be made to grow ; 

 and similar tracts in its vicinity have undergone the improvement 

 of drainage and ploughing with success. Near to the village is 

 a clay soil, which might be mingled with the light peaty sand, and 

 cause the production of good crops upon land that will grow but 

 little of itself. It is a sudden blow to the feelings of an agri- 

 culturist when he enters upon this dreary region of unprofitable- 

 ness, no matter on which side he approaches ; for on the one 

 hand it will present a sudden contrast to the highly cultivated 

 Cliff, and on the other the surface will appear to change instan- 

 taneously from the prolific Warp, clad with rich produce, to a 

 blasted scene of blankness and sterility. The inclosure has been 

 hitherto delayed solely because of the private considerations of 

 the chief landowners in the neighbourhood. 



The rental of the district, which has now been reviewed, is 

 from 45. to \6s. per acre on the common sands; 155. to 2l5. per 

 acre on the cold soils ; 21 5. to 285. per acre on the better heavy 

 land ; and SOs. to 355. per acre on the red soils and limestone ; 

 up to 4i2s. per acre on the smaller properties on the limestone, 

 and on the warp lands ; generally tithe free. 



From the lofty hill summit at Burton-on-Stather the Isle of 

 Axholme is seen stretching out for many miles beyond the broad- 

 flowing and winding Trent — an immense plain, luxuriant with 

 pasture and clustering foliage among its dark arable fields, inter- 

 sected by long lines of drains, and exhibiting bright shining 

 spaces where distant warping-works are in progress. The rich- 

 ness of the scenery is not delusive, for on descending to the flat, 

 and entering upon the wide plain of warp, and again mounting 

 the elevated land of the Isle, the fertility and cropping are found 

 to be of first-class order and abundance. The total quantity of 

 land is 50,590 acres, and when 10 per cent, has been deducted 

 for waste, roads, drains, fences, <Scc., there remain 45,531 acres of 

 productive soil. The principal portion of this is arable, as the 

 grass land is scarcely one-seventh of the whole. The Warp land, 

 or alluvial deposit, occupies about 14,688 acres, and contains three 

 classes or qualities of soil. On the first class soil the rotation is 

 generally wheat and potatoes alternately, for many years together 

 (in some cases as many as 50 years), without the introduction of a 

 fallow or any other kind of crop ; occasionally, however, there is 



