132 



Lincolnshire Fens. 



The general rotation of crops is 1st, coleseed ; 2nd, oats ; 3rd, wlieat, 

 sown with, 4th, ryegrass, ^vhich is grazed or mown, and then pared and 

 burnt for coleseed again, or else for — 1st, turnips; 2nd, oats; 3rd, 

 wheat ; manured for, 4th, beans : but beans are not veri/ generally sown. 

 Wheat sometimes follows coleseed, when it is intended to lay down seeds 

 (Timothy-grass and small seeds) for a few years ; and the land is occa- 

 sionally laid down for grazing without a crop. The produce is usually 

 for oats, about 7 to 10 quarters ; and wheat, from 3^ to 5^ quarters per 

 acre ; beans are very precarious. Swedes and a few white turnips are 

 grown as well as coleseed, though not to half the extent; the swedes are 

 sometimes used in the fold-yards with straw and oilcake for the beasts, 

 of which there are many wintered, eating from three to six, or even 

 seven, pounds of cake per day. Very little artificial manure is used, 

 but the best fen farmers purchase a great deal of what they call " Boston 

 manure," such as night-soil, mussels, ashes, soot, and a little lime, be- 

 sides a large quantity of bones and sulphuric acid. 



I have endeavoured thus to give a general outline of the his- 

 tory and condition of this Great Level, tracing its successive 

 transmutations, from being one vast bay of the sea with a surface 

 chequered by numerous islands, to a boggy wilderness ; and its 

 change, after the commencement of the drainage by the first 

 adventurers, — into a region of wild and swampy country partly 

 cultivated, and partly overflowed, by which overflowings," says 

 Dugdale, in the winter time, when the ice is strong enough to 

 hinder the passage of boats, and yet not able to bear a man, the 

 inhabitants upon the hards and the banks within the Fens, can 

 have no help of food, nor comfort for body or soul, nor supply of 

 any necessity, save what those poor desolate places do afford. And 

 what expectation of health can there be to the bodies of men, 

 where there is no element good ? the air being for the most part 

 cloudy, gross, and full of rotten harrs ; the water putrid and 

 muddy, yea, full of loathsome vermin; the earth spongy and 

 boggy, and the fire noisome, by the stink of smoky hassocks." 

 And thence, in the progress of its drainage, have been noticed the 

 works for improving the outfalls of the great rivers and the im- 

 provements in the interior drains ; and lastly, its final change, by 

 the introduction of steam-engines, into the present fruitful and sa- 

 lubrious country. A rapid survey has been taken of the various 

 districts, — noticing the richness of their soils thus regained from 

 the waters ; the extreme verdure and beauty of their pastures ; 

 the abundance and luxuriance of their crops of grain, pulse, roots, 

 and seeds, upon what in former times were drowned lands ; the 

 advantages resulting from the navigation of the leading drains, for 

 the carriage of this corn and merchandise ; the extensive works 

 of drainage, drains, sluices, banks, &c. ; the method of keeping 

 tens of thousands of acres dry, by raising the water from the low 

 lands with windmills and steam-engines^ — there being about 



