Marshland Fen. 



107 



every year found, and some of the farm -yards are walled round 

 Avith piles of them. 



There is no general mode of management adopted here, but 

 the following rotation is highly approved of, viz.;, — 1st, coleseed; 

 2nd, oats; 3rd, wheat; 4th, seeds; of which /irt//' are mown and 

 the aftermath grazed (generally by equal numbers of half-breds 

 and long-wools), being ploughed up again for 5l1i wheat. The 

 other half remains dow^n and is grazed for two years, the crops 

 being thus, — 5th, seeds; 6th, beans ; 7th, wheat. 



The wireworm is so destructive, especially on the silty or sandy 

 parts, that a wheat crop is often entirely lost ; but where the land 

 is tolerably free from its ravages, 52 bushels of wheat per acre 

 are frequently grown. Bone-dust is invariably sown with the 

 fallow crop, about 10 bushels per acre, with ashes made by 

 burning side-parings from the ditches, &c., and guano answers 

 well. The drilling of guano wdth the coleseed had been objected 

 to^ as in several cases it had killed the seed ; but some farmers 

 have obviated this by sowing it with a double-coultered drill, 

 and fixing a thorn on each of the first or guano coulters to brush 

 it in before the seed is deposited^ thus preventing the seed from 

 coming in contact with the manure. About 2 cwt. per acre have 

 produced some excellent crops. Oilcake is used in the straw- 

 yards, the cattle generally having 4 lbs. a-day each during the 

 winter, and are sold in spring ready to be ''made up" on the 

 summer pastures. No under-draining has yet been attempted 

 in this fen. 



Marshland Fen, — Westward of Magdalen Fen is another district 

 called Marshland FeU; extending towards Outwell, and divided from 

 Bardolph Fen on the south by the Old Podike. This tract of land 

 was inclosed and drained under an Act of the 3rd Geo. III., and 

 allotted to eleven different parishes in Marshland, vrhich had pre- 

 viously rights of soil and common thereon. Prior to the drainage 

 this fen was a complete reed shoal, the resort of fowlers and sports- 

 men, and was used as a reservoir for other fen v/aters. In the 

 Drainage and Inclosure Act were included Marshland Smeath 

 (a similar tract bounding it on the north-west, at that time one 

 waste of water), Wellmoor in Outwell, and Broad and Short 

 Fens in Wiggenhall. It contains a total of 7263 acres. The 

 drainage was effected 50 years ago by 4 powerful windmills, quite 

 sufficient to have drained it effectually if they could have been 

 worked at all times, but from the uncertainty of the power, the 

 crops were often much injured. This district has now shared 

 the benefit of the improved outfall, in being better drained with 

 only 2 mills than formerly by the 4. These 2 mills, standing at 

 the North extremity of Marshland Fen, throw their waters into 

 the Smeath-and-Fen " drain, and thence by the new Marshland 



