114 



Lincolnshire Fens. 



are sown ; then the stubble is manured with fold-jard manure 

 and sown to wheat, next clover or beans, and then wheat again. 



The lands in Wisbech Hundred are about 17,700 acres, and 

 within this district some beautiful spots of high land have been 

 brought under culture, producing immense crops of potatoes and 

 grain. In the parish of Leverington, near Wisbech, is a pepper- 

 mint distillery, one of the largest in the kingdom, and the culture 

 of the plant for distillation has been of great benefit to the poor 

 in the neighbourhoood, producing employment for a great number 

 of boys (who are, engaged in its setting, weeding, &c.) ; this, 

 with the large breadth of potatoes annually grown on the same 

 land^ has caused a vast increase of labour of a profitable kind. 

 For the growth of peppermint the land is thoroughly worked^ 

 cleaned, and manured, so as to render it as rich as possible. In 

 planting, from 200 to 300 men, women, and (chiefly) boys are 

 variously employed — in taking up the plants (which are generally 

 the offshoots of old fields or beds), leading them to the field, 

 setting, &c. Round holes are made with long wooden dibbers, 

 in which the young plants are set, in rows about 18 inches apart, 

 the after-culture consisting chiefly in hoeing and hand- weeding. 

 The crop is fit for distillation in the early part of harvest, when 

 the work of gathering proceeds with the utmost expedition. It 

 is cut green, in its full growth, and taken to the distillery in such 

 quantities as to prevent fermentation. 



Lincolnshire Fens. 



South Holland. — North-westward of Wisbech Hundred, and 

 north of the North Level and Portsand, stretches that part of Lin- 

 colnshire called South Holland, bounded on the west by the Wei- 

 land, and on the north and east by the sea, containing about 80,000 

 acres. The whole country has long been an object of embankment. 

 Ravenbank, the origin of which is quite unknown, appears to have 

 been the third which had been formed for securing a small part of 

 this tract from the sea, leading from Cowbitt across to Tidd St. 

 Mary's. About 6 miles nearer to the sea is another bank, called the 

 Old Sea-dike, or Roman Bank. A fifth bank, called the New 

 Seadike Bank, 2 miles nearer than the Roman, remains, but it is 

 utterly unknown when or by whom it was made. A curious cir- 

 cumstance is, that the surface of the country is 6 feet higher on 

 the sea side of the old Roman bank than on the land side, being 

 the depth of warp deposited by the sea since it was made. In 

 1792 another embankment was made, taking in certain salt- 

 marshes and low lands extendinar alonsr the shore, havins" an area 

 of about 5339 acres. The lands lying in Peakhill and several 

 neighbouring parishes were formerly drained by the Wei land, and 



