150 
Druinaf]c of Whittlcsca Merc. 
of crops now p^rown on the bed of the Mere, or on the site of the 
adjacent rced-bed : — 
Wheat 5 to 6 qvs. per acre. 
Oats .. " .. 7 to 8 ,, 
Beans ' about 3 „ 
Barley not grown. 
Mangold, .. 40 tons. 
Clover .. .. 1 ton 10 cwt. to 2 tons. 
Potatoes 7 to 8 tons. 
Carrots .. 8 to 10 „ 
On the site of the Merc about two-thirds of each farm was 
under corn ; the bulk of straw grown was enormous, as testified 
bj the size and nunnber of the stacks ; the supply of straw for 
manure was in excess of the requirements of the land, except 
where some of the poorer fen had been attached to the holding, — 
an arrangement which may be further carried out to the benefit 
of the estate as the work of improvement proceeds. 
The eye easily ti-aced out the limits of this area by the altered 
appearance of the crops growing in the fields beyond. A 
late spring-frost had occurred a week befoi'e the date of our 
visit ; the amount of injury it had done was graduated very 
nearly in inverse proportion to the quantity of silt or clay mixed 
with the peat in the several fields. 
On the site of the Mere no harm had ensued ; the wheat was 
vigorous and even rank in its growth ; on the inferior lands sur- 
rounding it the corn had a rusty appearance ; whilst the fields of 
the worst quality appeared to be losing half their plant of wheat, 
with a prospect of the crop being reduced to 3 or 4 sacks per 
acre. This land, which skirted the Mere, derived its powers of 
producing corn from the silt which was deposited on its surface 
by floods ; and, consequently, its value depended on the amount 
of that deposit. Its produce has always been variable from the 
injurious influences exercised on it both by drought and frost. 
Some farmers conceive that the work of drainage has been of 
very questionable benefit to land of this description, because it is 
now laid more dry than it used to be. However this may be, 
there is more satisfaction in looking forward to the time when an 
ample dressing of clay may obviate the mischief which arises 
from late frosts, as well as that caused by drought, than in look- 
ing back with regret to a state of things which, at the best, pro- 
duced but inferior and uncertain results, under which the excess 
of moisture, which was a palliative against the effects of heat, 
served only to augment the evil arising from frost. The clay for 
one dressing might be provided, for a large tract, from the bed 
of the Mere, and laid on by a railway ; whilst there are grounds 
for hoping that, before the good effects of this application had 
been worn out, the peat subsoil will have become sufficiently 
