Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/441

Rh WASTE LANDS.] AGRICULTURE 405 spreads also into the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Hunting don, and Northampton. Its length is about 70 miles, its breadth from 3 or 4 to 30 or 40 miles, the whole area being upwards of 1060 square miles, or 680,000 acres. On the map the fens appear like an enlargement of the Wash, and in reality have the aspect of a sea of land, Ijing between that bay and the high lands in each of the above-named counties, which seem to form an irregular coast-line around it.&quot; This fen country has for centuries been the scene of drainage operations on a stupendous scale. The whole sur face of the great basin of the fens is lower than the sea, the level varying from four to sixteen feet below high- water mark in the German Ocean. The difficulty of drain ing this flat tract is increased from the circumstance that the ground is highest near the shore, and falls inland towards the foot of the slope. These inland and lowest grounds consist of spongy peat, which has a natural tendency to retain water. The rivers and streams which flow from the higher inlands discharge upon these level grounds, and originally found their way into the broad and shallow estuary of the Wash, obstructed in all direc tions by bars and shifting sand-banks. These upland waters being now caught at their point of entrance upon the fens, are confined within strong artificial banks, and so guided straight seaward. They are thus restrained from flooding the low grounds, and by their concentration and momentum assist in scouring out the silt from the narrow channel to which they are confined. The tidal waters are at the same time fenced out by sea-banks, which are pro vided at proper intervals with sluice doors, by which the waters escape at ebb-tide. To show the extent of these operations, it may be mentioned that the whole sea-coast of Lincolnshire and part cf Norfolk, a line of at least 1 30 miles, consists of marsh lands lower than the tides, and is protected by barrier banks, besides which there are hun dreds of miles of river embankments. When this does not provide such a drainage as to admit of cultivation, the water is lifted mechanically by wind or steam mills into the main aqueducts. The first use of steam-engines for the purpose of drain ing was in Deeping fen, where, in 1824-5, two, of 80 and 60 horse-power respectively, were erected. By means of these two engines upwards of 20,000 acres have now a good drainage, whereas formerly forty-four wind-mills, with an aggregate power of 400 horses, failed to keep them sufficiently dry. The scoop-wheel of the larger engine is 28 feet in diameter, and the float-boards are 5 feet wide. It was intended to have a &quot; dip &quot; of 5 feet, but the land has subsided so much in consequence of the draining that it seldom has a dip of more than 2 feet 9 inches. The water is lifted on an average 7 feet high. When both engines are at work they raise 300 tona weight of water per minute. The soil of the fens consists for the most part of dark- coloured peat, from 1 to 8 or 10 feet in depth. The surface in general is not pure peat, but is mixed with silt or other soil. Under this there is in general a stratum of brown spongy peat, which sometimes rests upon gravel, but for the most part upon clay, which usually contains a portion of calcareous matter. The removal of the water has of course been the primary improvement ; but subsidiary to this the rapid amelioration and great fertility of the fen lands are largely due to this fortunate conjunction of clay and peat. The early practice ot the fen farmers was to pare and burn the surface, grow repeated crops of rape, oats, wheat, etc., and burn again. The subsidence of the soil subsequent to the draining and repeated paring and burning, brought the surface nearer to the subjacentclay, which the cultivators by and by began to dig up and spread over the surface. This practice is now universal, and its continued use, together with careful cultivation and liberal manuring, has changed a not very productive peat into one of the most fertile soils in the kingdom. Nowhere in our country has the industry and skill of man effected greater changes than in the fens. What was once a dismal morass, presenting to the view in summer a wilderness of reeds, sedges, and pools of water, among which the cattle waded, and in winter almost an unbroken expanse of water, is now a fertile corn land. The fen men, who formerly lived upon the adjacent high lands, and occupied themselves with fishing, fowling, and attending to their cattle, have now erected homesteads upon the fen lands, divided them by thorn hedges, and brought them into the highest state of cultivation. We referred at the outset to the distinction betwixt fen land and marsh land. The following pertinent observa tions on the reclamation of marsh land are extracted from Mr David Stevenson s paper in the Highland and Agricul tural Society s Transactions, vol. iii., 1871. First, In order to insure success, the space to be reclaimed must be within the influence of water containing much alluvial matter, and not on the shores of an open sandy estuary. Secondly, The spaces to be reclaimed should be allowed to receive the deposit left by the tide for as long a period as possible, and no attempt should be made entirely to exclude the water from them, until they have by gradual accretion attained the level of at least ordinary spring tides. The first case to which I shall refer is Loch Foyle, a situation where the amount of salt water greatly preponderates over the fresh. Extensive reclamations have been made there, and I have received from Mr G. Henry Wiggins, of Londonderry, some notes regarding them, from which I extract the following interesting information: &quot;After the salt water had been excluded, shallow surface drains were made with spades or forks, and in about two years ryegrass grew pretty freely : exceptional spots remained barren for some time. The grass was followed by oats, which improved as the salt left the soil. Deeper draining allowed the cultivation of flax and clover ; afterwards, on deeper draining, all ordinary crops began to grow well wheat, beans, turnips, mangold, and carrots but all requirin&quot; fully as much manure as any old upper land. These sloblands? says Mr &quot;Wiggins, yield a great return for manure, but must have manure on the lower and damper portions. Feorin grass grows well without manure. &quot;Whenever the ditches have so far drained the soil as to allow of its becoming cracked and open to the air, the crops begin to increase in produce, but the full value of the soil is never known until thoroughly under-drained with tile or stone ; it then mostly yields excellent crops of almost any produce, clover and ryegrass for hay being perhaps the most profitable. Grazing the land does not answer, _except from the beginning of May to the end of September; after this the soil is too cold and damp for the beasts to lie down, and they begin to fail.&quot; The expense of these intakes on the Foyle may be taken at about 20 an acre to get them from the sea ; the expense of bring ing the land when got into cultivation will come to at least 10 more ; making a total of 30 per acre. The best lands are worth 50s. to 40s. the Cunningham or Scotch acre, and the lowest and wettest parts perhaps not more than 10s. say 80s. round as a fair average. To this has to be added the expense of keeping up the banks and pumping water ; so that I believe Mr Wiggins is right when he says that no great profit can be expected, and that tliese matters are generally undertaken by hopeful and energetic enthu siasts, who seldom realise their expectations, and afterwards fall into the hands of other parties, who are perhaps rather more successful. The reclamations made by the Diversion and Lancaster Railway in Morecambe Bay were rapidly formed by the embankment for carrying the railway, which was made in pretty deep water. Like the Foyle, there is also predominance of sea- water. Mr G. Drewry, of Holker in Lancashire, has favoured me with the following informa tion : &quot;A portion of the land enclosed by the railway in 1856 was grassed over, and the remainder was sand without any vegetation on it. After it was levelled it was divided into fields by open ditches and wire fences ; the ditches had to be made very wide at the top, in order to get them to stand. The land was then drained with 3-inch pipes, each drain opening into the ditch at each side of the field. The tiles were all covered round with peat moss, to act as a filter to prevent the sand from running into them. The sand is so fine that without this precaution the drains would have filled up very quickly. The drainage is the great difficulty, as they are very apt to fill up after every precaution has been taken. &quot;On the portion which was grassed over, two crops of oats were first taken, and then it was green-cropped. It grew for a few years