126 



Lincolnshire Fens. 



that, as railroads will ere long become the chief modes of transit, 

 the river being- no longer needed for vessels, the sluice may be 

 removed, and these Fens will acquire a natural drainage. 



The soil of the First District" is peat, upon a whitish siltj 

 clay ; the depth of moor varying from 8 inches in the southern 

 parts, to 5 or 6 feet, nearer Lincoln. The usual depth is about 

 8 inches of decomposed vegetable matter ; then a foot of moor, 

 "upon 12 feet of clay ; and underneath that is about one foot of 

 soil similar to the surface, mixed with branches of trees, &c. ; 

 beneath this there is one foot of sand ; and lastly, a bed of clay of 

 quite a different character to the upper stratum, being yellow, 

 and very strong and tenacious. The whole of the surface is 

 black land, extending even a little beyond Lincoln ; and there is 

 also a small breadth of it on the east side of the river. Claying 

 has been done once on nearly all these fens, but not many fields 

 have been done twice. It has been the usual method to make 

 the '^ddves" four yards apart, and sometimes only two yards apart, 

 and one or two feet wide, the clay being taken out one " draw" 

 deep. This practice, combined with the improved drainage, has 

 wonderfully augmented the value of the land; — Blankney Fen 

 (before referred to as worth little or nothing) is now worth 60/. 

 per acre, and the whole of these fens, which are all exceedingly 

 well drained, fetch a high rental — the worst letting for 2bs.' — the 

 principal part for 35.>f. — and the best for '21. per acre. In Me- 

 theringham, and some other Fens, there is a narrow skirt of black 

 soil which has a gravelly subsoil, being thus inferior land, but has 

 had clay carted upon it with good effect. This is rather north- 

 ward ; and as a general rule, these fens improve in quality the 

 further they are south ; — each district being better than the next 

 above it. 



These fens have, generally speaking, been badly managed ; 

 being chiefly occupied by farmers who live on the neighbouring 

 high lands ; and their straw, mown seeds, &c., have been carried 

 off the fen to the upland farms, no manure being returned beyond 

 the few bones sown with the coleseed. But there are many su- 

 perior managers who consume their straw, cScc, on the fen, giving 

 their beasts a good quantity of linseed oil-cake, during the winter. 

 The old system was to tear up an immense quantity of the black 

 earth into heaps, with an implement called a bob," and then 

 burn it, the ashes making a manure for coleseed ; after this, one 

 or two crops of oats v/ere taken, and the land laid down to grass 

 for 3 or 4 years ; and thus the surface has been lowered several 

 feet. There is no regular course of cropping pursued, but a six- 

 field system is much approved of ; thus — 1st, coleseed; 2nd, wheat; 

 3rd, seeds; 4th5 wheat; 5th, oats; 6th, wheat. About two-thirds 

 of the seeds are grazed, with sheep of the long-wool breed ; and 



