382 



Farming of Lincolnshire. 



crops of rape, wheat, or oats. Most of the peat fens have been 

 clayed, many parts twice, but in some districts this has yet to be 

 done. In Bourn Fen the peat is clayed on one estate with ex- 

 cellent effect, whilst on land adjoining- the proprietor does not 

 allow his tenants to "cut up" the soil — they may plough as 

 deeply as they please, but if they trench, more rent is instantly 

 demanded. Peat land is subject to honey-comb." or con- 

 tract when dried by frost, the upper crust of earth pinching 

 the young wheats and loosening them from the land. Much 

 cropping is injured in this way, and the remedy doubtless is a 

 better district drainage, and then a complete hollow drainage. 

 Underdraining is becoming a common practice in many parts 

 of the fens, but it is yet done only by the more enterprising 

 farmers, and cannot be looked upon as a main point in the 

 general management. Oil-cake for cattle in the yards, and 

 bones for the green crop, are universal items of fen husbandry. 

 There is one manure which is hardly ever seen here, viz., lime ; 

 it is precisely the chemical agent required, as its action is to 

 neutralize the acid substances formed so rapidly in the peat, 

 and thus to preserve the soil in a condition for nourishing the 

 tenderest plants. The great obstacle to the use of lime here 

 is the cost of obtaining it ; but if the distance of the limestone 

 from even the western Fens, next the hills, be too great for 

 carting with profit, the railways have now extended their firm 

 smooth tracks of iron across the softest and most miry portions 

 of the level, and can convey lime with cheapness and expedition 

 even into those localities which are furthest from the quarries. 

 Both lime, chalk, and marl, may now be carried in abundance by 

 rail from the neighbouring uplands over East Fen, the whole line 

 of fen from Lincoln to Boston, and across Deeping Fen, and the 

 marsh lands between it and Boston. Besides these lines of swift 

 transit there are the slower but readier roads of water ; all the larger 

 drains and rivers are navigated with cargoes of corn and coal, and 

 being ramified through every part of the fens, might convey 

 enriching earths from various railway stations, and deliver at any 

 desired point. Convenience for supply is ready and complete, 

 and it remains now for the farmers and proprietors to decide 

 whether it be desirable and profitable to improve the soil by re- 

 turning these manures in the same boats or trucks which take 

 their produce to market. 



The peat soil is not difficult to work, but is peculiarly infested 

 with " twitch " (or couch) ; the light yet rich earth forms a fine 

 matrix for the growth of its long penetrating fibres, and great 

 labour is necessary in constantly eradicating it. Field mice under- 

 mine the land and devour immense quantities of cropping. The 

 wireworm also revels here, as neither pressing with the roller nor 



