Farming of Lincolnshire. 



373 



public warping-drains, may cut through the bank and make use 

 of the water, and if another property intervene, land must be pur- 

 chased through which to cut a drain. The usual payment is 

 ''full-price for cut and half-price for cover, i.e., full value for 

 land occupied by the drain and half-price for the soil covered by 

 the banks ; but as the seller retains possession of the banks (for 

 grazing, &c.), the latter price may be considered more as a pay- 

 ment for privilege than a remuneration for sale. Any person 

 erecting a sluice in the river bank must give his bond to the 

 Sewers Commissioners to pay all damages in case of an accident. 

 Generally speaking the spring tides only are used, as they have 

 sufficient volume of back water to keep the vvarping-drains clear 

 and open ; and the land is raised from 1 to 3 feet in one or two 

 years. When peat-land 9 or 10 feet in depth (as Crowle Moors) 

 has been warped, the surface subsides, after several years' culti- 

 vation, in consequence of the spongy moor settling under the 

 weight of warp, and it is then necessary to warp a second time. 

 Some small plots adjoining the rivers have been warped three 

 times. The expense oi warping is very variable ; when the cost 

 of the large drains and other works is included, the calculation 

 would probably be 12/. to 20/. per acre ; but on those lands im- 

 mediately contiguous to the public warping-drains (made at the 

 inclosure in 1795) the expense of flooding is only about 21. 2s. 

 Within the last thirty years all the peat-land within three miles of 

 the Trent (in the Isle of Axholme) have been warped, the drainage 

 thus greatly improved, and the soil, from being almost worthless, 

 made worth from 60Z. to 100/. per acre. The custom is not to 

 warp a whole estate at once, but to do one, two, or more fields 

 each season ; so that the total quantity of land now under the pro- 

 cess is not great, although when multiplied by the number of 

 years during which the practice has been continued, the area that 

 has been completed is very large. A gentleman, who has kindly 

 furnished the principal part of the facts and the statistics that 

 have been given respecting the Isle of Axholme, calculates that 

 about 9000 acres of land in the Isle, and the district of Marsh- 

 land in Yorkshire immediately adjoining (without including the 

 warp lands east of the Trent), have been warped by the Trent 

 and Ouse since the year 1800. At present about 600 acres 

 are under the process, and it is probable that the same quan- 

 tity of land will be warped annually for some years to come. 

 The warp is a long time becoming solid : at first it cannot be 

 walked upon; but there is much difference in its nature owing to 

 the various gravities of the particles floating in the currents 

 directed over the land, and a sand-bed soon grows stiff whilst a 

 strong warp is a long time in setting. It is first surface-gripped 

 at the back-end of the year, being laid out in 4 yard lands, allowed 



