124 



Lincolnshire Fens. 



Sec, and the remainder mixed with the clay by ploughing, before 

 the process of claying" was generally known. The old system 

 of farming was to pare and bmn for coleseed, and then take three 

 crops of oats in succession, after which the land was laid down 

 for grass a number of years, and pared, &c., again. Coleseed 

 is not grown now upon the clayed land ; turnips are the ge- 

 neral fallow crop ; good seeds are grown, being for the most part 

 grazed ; no beans, and very few oats are sown, wheat being the 

 principal crop, and yielding on an average about 4 qrs. per acre. 

 These fens are on a low level and not well drained ; but still 

 many of the farmers have commenced underdraining ; it is, how- 

 ever, to be feared, that little benefit will ensue until a better out- 

 fall for the hollow drains is provided, by means of a better system 

 of drainage. 



Separated from this district by the high lands of Billinghay and 

 Walcot, is a long reach of black land, called the " First District," 

 in the Witham Act. It stretches about 20 miles, — from Lin- 

 coln to Kyme Eau. It varies in breadth from about 4 miles at 

 the southern extremity, and about 3 miles most of the way up, to 

 only half a mile towards the northern limits at Lincoln; and con- 

 tains upwards of 25,000 acres. 



In the middle of the last century these fens (being now divided 

 into nine or ten districts, belonging respectively to each of the 

 villages on the neighbouring hills) — by the inundation of the 

 Witham, were a perfect sea; and it is a remarkable fact that no 

 longer than 60 years ago, a thousand acres in Blankney Fen — 

 (now one of the richest districts) — were let annually by public 

 auction at Horncastle, the reserved bid being 10/. The first Act 

 passed for embanking and draining this waste, was in 17S7 or 

 1788; and during the inclosure, the Commissioners sold portions 

 to speculators at 14/. per acre : these were cropped immediately 

 for 3 years with oats, each crop making more than the purchase- 

 money ; and thus, by improved drainage, multitudes of individuals 

 — not only in this, but in every part of the Fens, — have realized 

 their fortunes. Through a senseless opposition, an extent of a 

 mile in breadth, the whole length of these Fens, was left outside 

 the embankment, — lest the waters should be too confined, and 

 the other side of the river be overflowed. This screed of land 

 bordering the Witham was called the " Dales, ' being a wash'' 

 or reservoir open to the river and overflowed — like the rest before 

 inclosure — for 9 months in the year ; and windmills were erected 

 to throw out the superfluous water from the fens into the " dales." 

 But the mistake was soon perceived, another Act was obtained, 

 and this breadth was embanked, partitioned off as frontages to the 

 different fens, and an additional mill built to drain each. This 

 district consists of a number of fens, reaching in long narrow slips 



