larly to the works of Aristotle and Galen, and is said to have been the first Englishman who made himself master of those writers in the original Greek. He also translated several of Galen's treatises into elegant Latin, and with Groeyn and William Latymer undertook a translation of Aristotle, which was never completed. On his return to England he was incorporated M.D at Oxford, which degree he had taken at Padua, and gave temporary lectures in physic, and taught the Greek language at Oxford. His reputation became so high that King Henry VII. called him to court, and entrusted him with the care both of the health and education of Prince Arthur. In the reign of Henry VIII. Linacre stood at the head of his profession, and showed his attachment to its interests by founding two lectures on physic in the university of Oxford, and one in that of Cambridge. He may also be considered the founder of the College of Physicians in London; for in 1518 he obtained letters-patent from King Henry VIII, constituting a corporate body of regularly bred physicians in London, in whom was vested the sole right of examining and admitting persons to practise within the city and seven miles round it; and also of licensing practitioners throughout the whole kingdom, except such as were graduates of Oxford or Cambridge, who by virtue of their degrees were independent of the college, except within London and its precincts. The college had likewise authority given to it to examine prescriptions and drugs in apothecaries' shops. Linacre was the first president of the new college, and at his death he bequeathed to it his house in Knight Rider-street, in which the meetings of the members had been held. Before this time medicine had been practised without control by pretenders of all kinds, but chiefly by monks, who were licensed by the bishops; and this charter was the first measure by which the well-educated physician was afforded the least advantage, beyond that which his own character would give him, over the most ignorant empiric. Highly as Linacre was esteemed in his profession, he became desirous to change it for that of divinity, or rather to combine the two pursuits. In 1509 we find him in possession of the rectory of Mersham, which he resigned in the latter part of the same year, and was installed into the prebend of Eaton in the church of Wells; and afterwards, in 1518, he became possessed of a prebend in the cathedral of York, where he was also for a short time precentor. He had other preferments in the church, some of which he received from Archbishop Warham, as he gratefully acknowledges in a letter to that prelate. Dr. Knight informs us that he held a prebend in St. Stephen's chapel, Westminster; and Bishop Tanner, that he had the rectory of Wigan in Lancashire. He died of the stone, after great suffering, Oct. 20, 1524, and was buried in St. Paul's cathedral, where Dr. Caius erected a monument to his memory. In his literary character Linacre holds a high rank among the men of learning in this country. He was one of the first, in conjunction with Colet, Lily, Grocyn, and Laty mer, who revived or rather introduced classical learning into England; and he conferred a benefit on his profession by translating into Latin several of the best pieces of Galen. These were, the treatises De Sanitate tuenda,' fol, Par. 1517; Methodus Medendi,' fol., Par. 1519; 'De Temperamentis, 4to. Cambr. 1521;* De Pulsuum Usu,' 4to. Lond. 1522; De Naturalibus Facultatibus,' 4to. Lond. 1523; De Symptomatum Differentiis liber unus. Ejusdem de Symptomatum Causis liber tres,' 4to. Lond. 1524. In these versions Linac:e's style was excellent. 6 help of Linacre, speaking better Latin than they ever before spoke Greek.' There are two copies of Linacre's 'Methodus Medendi, upon vellum, in the British Museum: one a presentation copy to King Henry VIII., the other to Cardinal Wolsey; and a dedicatory letter, in manuscript, to Wolsey, precedes, in his copy, the dedication to Henry VIII. The Museum also contains the treatise De Sanitate tuenda,' upon vellum, This was Wolsey's copy, and has the cardinal's hat illuminated in the title, and a similar dedicatory letter similarly placed. (Biogr. Brit.; Herbert's edit. of Ames's Topogr. Antiq.; LINCOLN COLLEGE, Oxford, was founded in 1427, by Richard Flemming, or Flemmynge, bishop of Lincoln, for a rector and seven fellows; it was afterwards greatly augmented by Thomas Rotherham, bishop of Lincoln, subsequently archbishop of York, and lord high chancellor of England, who added five fellowships, and gave a body of statutes to the foundation, in which he limited the election of the fellows to the old dioceses of Lincoln and York, with the exception of one to the diocese of Wells. This was in 1479. Lord Crewe, bishop of Durham, and sometime rector of this College, in 1717 made an addition to the emoluments of the rector and fellows, and in 1718 endowed twelve exhibitions of 207. a year a-piece. The scholarships and exhibitions received a further augmentation at a later time, by the will of Richard Hutchins, D.D., rector from 1755 to 1781. The present foundation consists of a rector, twelve fellows, eight scholars, twelve exhibitioners, and one bibleclerk. The total number of members upon the books on December 31, 1837, was 132. The patronage consists of the rectories of Cublington and Twyford in Bucks, of Winterborne Abbots with Winterton Stapleton in Dorsetshire, of Hadleigh and Leighs Magna in Essex, and of Waddington in Lincolnshire; with the curacies of All Saints and St. Michael's in Oxford, and of Forest Hill and Combe-Longa in Oxfordshire. The buildings of Lincoln College retain much of their original character. They consist of two quadrangles, besides six sets of rooms erected at a later period. The largest quadrangle includes the rector's lodgings, library, and hall, built in the fifteenth century; the library was originally the chapel. The smaller court was in part built about 1612 by Sir Thomas Rotherham. The present chapel, upon its south side, was built in 1631, by archbishop Williams. The windows are rich in painted glass procured by the archbishop from Italy in 1629. In 1818 the whole front of the college was repaired, and much improved in its appearance by the addition of battlements and the introduction of appropriate Gothic windows. Among the more eminent members of this college were Dr. Robert Sanderson, bishop of Lincoln, archbishop Potter, Sir William Davenant the poet, Dr. George Hickes, Sir George Wheler, Hervey, the author of the Meditations,' and the celebrated John Wesley. (Gutch's and Chalmers's Colleges and Halls of Oxford; and the Univ. Calendar for 1838.) LINCOLNSHIRE, an English county bounded on the north by the æstuary of the Humber, which separates it from Yorkshire; on the north-west by the county of York; on the west by the county of Nottingham, from which it is partly separated by the Trent; on the south-west by the counties of Leicester and Rutland; on the south by Northamptonshire; on the south-east by the counties of CamLinacre's translation of Proclus, De Sphæra,' was printed bridge and Norfolk, from the last of which it is separated in the Astronomi Veteres of 1499. His translation of by the Cross Keys Wash; and on the east by the North Paulus Ægineta, 'De Crisi et Diebus decretoriis, eorumque Sea or German Ocean. Its form is irregular, having its signis, Fragmentum,' 8vo. Bas. 1529. He also wrote a greatest length from north to south, 75 or 76 miles, from small book upon the Rudiments of Latin Grammar, in the bank of the Humber near the town of Barton to the English, for the use of the Princess Mary, first printed by bank of the Welland in the neighbourhood of Market Pynson without date, and afterwards translated into Latin Deeping; and its greatest breadth, 51 or 52 miles, from the by Buchanan. But his most learned work was his treatise junction of the three counties of York, Nottingham, and 'De Emendata Structura Latini Sermonis libri sex,' printed Lincoln, to the sea at Saltfleet. The area is estimated at at London immediately after his death in 1524, and fre- 2611 square miles; and the population, in 1831, was quently reprinted in later years in the sixteenth century. 317,465, giving 122 inhabitants to a square mile. In size Of Linacre's talents as a physician no testimony remains it is the second English county, Yorkshire alone exceeding except the high repute which he enjoyed. For the excel- it; in population the fourteenth, being rather less populous lence of his translations from Galen it may be sufficient than Essex, and rather more so than Hampshire; and in to quote the praise of Erasmus, who, writing to a friend, density of population inferior to all other counties except says, I present you with the works of Galen, now, by the Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland. It is This was the first book printed in England in which Greek types were incomprehended between 52° 39′ and 53° 45′ N. lat., and between 6° 22′ E. and 0° 57′ or 0° 58′ W. long. Lincoln, troduced. the county town, is 121 miles north by west from London in a straight line, or 134 miles by the mail-road. Coast-line.-The coast, from the Welland to the Humber, forms a tolerably regular curve convex to the sea, and is low and marshy, except about Clea Ness, near Grimsby, where the coast rises into cliffs. A belt of sand skirts the land, of varying breadth; and the forest which once occupied the fen country, where the trunks of trees are found under the soil, extended over a considerable space now covered by the sea. From the mouth of the Welland to that of the Nene the coast is so low as to require the protection of a sea-wall or bank. The present bank is more advanced toward the ocean than what is termed the old or Roman bank, so as to gain a considerable extent of land. The estuary of the Wash is occupied for the most part by sand-banks, dry at low water. Between these banks the streams which flow into the æstuary have their channels. Two wide spaces, or pools of deeper water, between the banks, afford anchorage to vessels. The opening near the Norfolk coast is termed Lynn Well or Lynn Deeps, though in some maps the name of Lynn Deeps is given to the eastern channel of the Ouse. The opening near the Lincolnshire coast is called Boston Deeps: it forms a long narrow anchorage, sheltered to seaward by Long Sand, Dog's Head, and Outer Knock, a range of sand-banks which run parallel to the coast to Skegness, north of Wainfleet. The water in Boston Deeps is usually from three to six, but in some places seven or eight fathoms deep. The coast between Boston and Wainfleet is occupied by a line of salt-marshes. There are other salt-marshes along the æstuary of the Humber. (Arrowsmith's Map of England; Greenough's Geological Map.) Surface and Geological Character-A considerable part of Lincolnshire consists of alluvium, constituting a vast extent of flat or marsh land, from the border of which the subjacent strata rise and form comparatively elevated tracts. The alluvial soil occupies the whole of the coast, with the exception of the small insulated spot about Clea Ness. It skirts the bank of the Humber, and that of the Trent, as far up as Gainsborough. West of the Trent it spreads over Thorne Waste, or Thorne Level, from the midst of which rises the Isle of Axholme. This level was antiently occupied by a vast forest; the trunks of the trees are still found in great abundance beneath the present surface, rooted in the firm ground in which they grew. [AxHOLME, ISLE OF] West of the Wash the alluvium extends inland from Wainfleet, by Spilsby, to the river Witham, up the bank of which it extends far above Lincoln. It spreads in breadth to a considerable distance (three or four miles) from each bank nearly up to Lincoln, where it is contracted to a narrow strip. Southward from the Witham the alluvium occupies half the breadth of the county, being bounded westward by a line drawn from Heckington, between Sleaford and Boston, to Uffington on the Welland, between Stamford and Deeping, and extending beyond the Welland and the Nene into Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire. The alluvial country, from Wainfleet and Spilsby southward, forms part of the great fen country of England. The alluvium between Louth and the sea consists principally of unstratified clay mixed with sand and various marine deposits. The Wolds have their steepest escarpment towards the west, on which side the green-sand crops out and forms a narrow belt, skirting the chalk from Barton to Burgh, This formation is supposed to be thin. At the south point of its extension the green-sand sinks under the alluvium of the fen district. The iron-sand occupies a narrow belt of land west of the greet.-sand. These two formations constitute a range of hills extending from north-west, near Market Raisin, to south-east, near Spilsby, running nearly parallel to the Wolds, to which they adjoin at their northwestern end, forming an inferior terrace, while in other parts they are separated from them by the valleys of the Bain and the Steeping. Westward of the iron-sand extends a wide flat, watered toward the north by the Ancholme, and toward the south by the Witham, occupied, except where overspread by alluvium or by chalk rubble, by the Oxford or clunch clay. The district occupied by this formation is very narrow in the north, and becomes wider as it proceeds southward, until it disappears beneath the fens. Its breadth near the Humber is about three miles, east of Lincoln about fifteen miles, and between Sleaford and Spilsby twenty-five miles; but in this part it is partially covered by the marshes of the Witham. The elevation of this stratum scarcely exceeds that of the adjacent fens. It has been penetrated to the depth of nearly 500 feet, and its breadth may be probably estimated at 700. The low district of the Oxford clay forms a large central valley separating the Wolds, with the adjacent hills, from the higher grounds formed of the oolitic strata, which extend southward through the county from the marshes which line the Humber. They are bounded on the east by a line drawn by Lincoln (where the oolites subside, forming a narrow gap of a mile or two wide, occupied by the Witham and the adjacent marshes), Sleaford, and Bourne to Uffington. This range of high land forms part of what have been termed the stonebrash hills, and separates the valleys of the Ancholme and the Lower Witham from those of the Trent and the Upper Witham: they have their steepest escarpment on the western side, which is called, south of Lincoln, Cliffe Row. This western escarpment runs southward from Lincoln to the neighbourhood of Grantham, and then westward into Leicestershire. From the Humber to Lincoln these formations occupy a very narrow strip, varying from one or two to four miles wide; between Folkingham and Grantham they extend eight or nine miles in width; and between Bourne and Ab-Kettleby in Leicestershire, twenty-five miles. The eastern side of this range of hills consists, from Barton to Lincoln, chiefly of the great oolite; and south of Lincoln of the cornbrash and great oolite, separated by a thick bed of clay. The west side is occupied by the inferior division of the oolitic formations. Several stone-quarries are opened between Sleaford and Grantham. There are one or two outlying masses of oolite about Grantham, and between Grantham and Newark, separated from the principal oolitic range by intervening valleys occupied by the subjacent strata of lias. This last-named formation occupies nearly all the rest of the county. Commencing at the Humber, where the district From Barton-upon-Humber to Burgh near Wainfleet a occupied by it is not more than two or three miles wide, it line of chalk downs extends, called the Wolds of Lincoln- proceeds due south to Lincoln, southward of which it pershire. These downs sink on the north and east beneath vades all the western side of the county, except one small the alluvium described above. They form part of the great spot extending over the border into Nottinghamshire and chalk formation which, though occasionally interrupted or Leicestershire. It is conterminous on its eastern side with covered by other beds, extends through England from the oolitic formations, from beneath which it crops out. Flamborough Head in Yorkshire to the coast of Dorset- The north-western corner of the county is occupied by the shire. The length of the Lincolnshire Wolds is about forty-new red sandstone or red marl, which extends along the seven or forty-eight miles, their average breadth six or banks of the Trent, and from them westward into Nottingseven, their greatest breadth twelve or thirteen. The chalk hamshire and Yorkshire. It is covered all round the Isle is of two colours, red and white, disposed in regular strata, of Axholme (which is composed of red marl) by the alluthe red commonly undermost: in the white chalk seams of vium of the Thorne Level, Hatfield Chase, and the conflint, two to six inches thick, frequently occur. The chalk tiguous marsh-lands. Gypsum occurs plentifully in this is found extending under the alluvium in the marshes formation in the Isle of Axholme and on the border of the round the Wolds: water is obtained from it by boring Trent; and there are mineral springs containing sea-salt through the superincumbent soil; and along the coast and other purging salts in the neighbourhood of Gainsnorth and south of Saltfleet are natural outlets of water borough. called provincially blow wells' (flow wells' in Greenough's map), deep circular pits, which furnish a continual flow of water, and are vulgarly reputed to be unfathomable; they are presumed to communicate with the chalk. The chalk has been pierced by well-diggers 300 feet; but it is not mentioned whether the wells were sunk wholly in the chalk or through it. Hydrography and Communications.-The Trent touches the border of the county nearly midway between Newark and Gainsborough, and for about fifteen or sixteen miles separates the counties of Lincoln and Nottingham; from below Gainsborough to its junction with the Yorkshire Ouse its course of nineteen miles is almost entirely within the border of Lincolnshire. This river is navigable throughout that part which belongs to this county; and vessels of 150 tons can ascend to Gainsborough, where the river is crossed by a bridge. The Idle, which comes from Nottinghamshire, or rather the Bykerdike or Vicardyke, a cut from the Idle, skirts the southern boundary of the Isle of Axholme, and falls into the Trent a little below Gainsborough on the left bank. The Bykerdyke and the Idle are navigable from East Retford. The old river Torne, another affluent of the Trent, skirts the Isle of Axholme on the north-west, and cuts (not navigable), distinguished as the New river Idle and the New Torne, pass from the rivers after which they are respectively named, through Axholme Isle into the Trent. The Ancholme rises near the village of Spridlington between Lincoln and Market Rasen, and flows north-east six or seven miles to Bishop Briggs, when it is joined by a little river Rase from near Market Rasen. Here the navigation commences, and the stream is carried in an almost direct line by an artificial cut, about twenty miles long, into the Humber, a short distance west of Barton. The old channel of the river winds much more than the navigable cut, but coincides with it in the general direction of its course. This river serves to drain the marshes through which it flows. The Ancholme carries off the drainage of the valley between the Wolds and the oolite or stonebrash hills. The streams which fall into it are all small. The Tetney river rises from two springs, one near Normanby and the other at Thorpe-le-Mire, near the south western escarpment of the Wolds, between Binbrook and Market Rasen; the streams from these springs unite and flow by Binbrook and Tetney into the German Ocean be tween Grimsby and Saltfleet. The length of the river is about twenty-two miles. The mouth has been made navigable, the Louth navigation entering the sea there. The Ludd rises near the south-west escarpment of the chalk range. It is formed by the junction of two or three brooks which unite above Louth and flow north-east into the German Ocean by several arms, one of which enters the sea by Grainthorpe sluice between Tetney and Saltfleet, another near North Somercoats, and the third at Saltfleet. The length of the Ludd is about eighteen miles. The Louth navigation consists partly of this river and partly of an artificial eut from the village of Alvingham to the mouth of the Tetney river: the navigation is about fourteen miles long. The Withern or Withern Eau rises near Ashby Puerorum, and flows north east into the sea at Saltfleet, where its æstuary receives one of the arms of the Ludd: its length is about twenty four miles. In the upper part of its course it is called the Calceby Berk. The Steeping rises near Ashby Puerorum, and flows south-east, not far from Spilsby, twenty miles into the sea. Wainfleet stands on a small feeder of this river, about three or four miles from the sea: small craft can get up to the town. This river was formerly navigable for larger vessels, but the water has been drawn off by the dykes cut for the purpose of draining the adjacent fen. South of Wainfleet the fen district commences: and from the extensive system of draining that has been carried on, the hydrography of the county becomes very complicated. The rivers have in several places been diverted from their natural beds, and now flow in artificial channels in direct lines; and are connected with artificial cuts, which open a communication between rivers naturally unconnected. We must therefore comprehend the natural and artificial hydrography in one view, from the impossibility of drawing exactly the line of demarcation between them. hood of Tattershall, where it receives, on the left bank, the river Bain; and on the right bank the Sleaford river, or Kyme Eau. The Bain rises in the chalk hills at Ludford, between Market Rasen and Louth, and flows southward by Horncastle and Tattershall. Its length is about twenty-six miles: it receives the Waring, Scrivelsby, and Enderby Becks. There is a navigation eleven miles long, partly artificial, partly natural, from the Witham up to Horncastle. The Sleaford river rises near Ancaster, and flows north-east by Sleaford and South Kyme into the Witham; its course is about twenty-two miles: there is a navigable channel thirteen and a half miles long, partly natural, partly artificial, from the Witham up to Sleaford. From the junction of these streams, the Witham flows by an artificial cut to Boston, below which town it flows in its natural bed into the Wash. The whole length of the Witham may be estimated at from seventy-five to eighty miles, for about half of which it is navigable. In the upper part of its course to Beckingham, just above which it divides Nottinghamshire from Lincolnshire, its banks are diversified with rising grounds and picturesque objects. From Beckingham to Lincoln it flows in a wide sandy valley; at Lincoln it passes through a depression in the oolite or stonebrash hills; and soon after enters the fens, through which it has the rest of its course. At Lincoln it communicates with the Foss Dyke, and below that with the Horncastle and Sleaford navigation; there are also numerous cuts connected with it for the purpose of draining the fens. It is supposed that before the Conquest the Witham had a tideway navigation for large vessels up to Lincoln; but its navigation has been liable to frequent impediments, and has required much attention. The Welland rises in Northamptonshire, and flows along the border of that county, which it divides successively from Leicestershire, Rutlandshire, and Lincolnshire. It first touches the border of Lincolnshire just above Stamford, from whence it flows to Deeping and Crowland, where what is termed the Old Welland runs northward to Spalding, while another arm called the Shire Drain proceeds along the border of the county, into the Wash at the mouth of the Nene. From Spalding the Old Welland is conveyed in a direct line by an artificial channel into the Wash. There is a navigation up to Stamford. Between that town and Deeping there is a canal by the side of the natural stream: below Deeping the natural channel is employed for about two miles; and then there is a navigable cut to Spalding. The navigation is about twenty-eight miles long from Stamford to the Wash. The Glen rises between Grantham and Folkingham, and flows south by Corby to Barholm not far from Stamford; in this part of its course it crosses a projecting corner of the county of Rutland. Just below Barholm it receive a stream which rises near the Glen and has a course almost parallel to it. From the junction of this stream at Wilsthorpe the Glen flows north-east into the Wash at the mouth of the Welland. Its whole length is about thirty-six miles. A small rivulet which joins the Glen has been made navigable for three miles and a half, up to the town of Bourn; and below the junction of this rivulet the Glen is navigable for about twelve miles into the Welland between Spalding and the Wash. A general account of the great fen district of England, and of the changes which it has undergone, is given elsewhere. [BEDFORD LEVEL.] The limits of the Lincolnshire fens have been already given, and it is only requisite to The Witham, the most important river in the county, notice some of the principal cuts and drains. The Car rises near the village of Thistleton, just within the border Dyke, which skirts the western border of the fens, comof Rutlandshire; but almost immediately enters Lincoln- mences in the Welland between Stamford and Deeping, and shire, flowing northward to the town of Grantham, and receiv-runs northward nearly thirty-five miles into the fens of the ang by the way several brooks. Below Granthat the river | Witham, with the drainage of which it is connected. Some flows first north, then west, then north, and north by east authors state that the Car Dyke runs into the Witham, but to Lincoln; two or three miles of its course in this part are this appears not to be the case at present, though it may have on the border of the county, which it separates from Not- originally been so. This canal is supposed to be of Roman tinghamshire; the rest within the county. A few miles origin: it is sixty feet wide, and has on each side a wide flat above Line in it receives, on the right bank, the little river bank. Brant, nearly fifteen miles long, from Brandon, north of Grantham At Lincoln the river turns eastward, and flow, to the neighbourhood of Bardney Abbey, where it receives the united stream of the Langworth river and the South Beck. The principal source of this stream (the Langworth) is in the chaik hills between Market Rasen and Louth, and its whole The North Forty-Foot runs ten miles from the Kyme, or course is about eighteen miles. From the junction of the Sleaford river, near its junction with the Witham, parallel Langworth, the Witham flows south-east to the neighbour-to the Witham, into the South Forty-Foot, near Boatu The South Forty-Foot is cut from the Glen by a circuitous course to the Witham at Boston: its length is about twenty-two miles: it receives a number of small streats flowing from the hills that form the western boundary of the fen country. The West Fen Catch-water Drain, and the East Fen Catchwater Drain bound the fen district on the north side, and extend about ten and seven miles respectively; they do not immediately communicate. The Old and New Hammond Beck runs by a circuitous course from the Welland near Spalding to the South Forty-Foot near Boston. Its length is about twenty miles. The other cuts, provincially termed 'Leams,'' Droves,'' Drains,' 'Becks,' 'Eaus,' and 'Dykes,' are two numerous to admit of distinct notice. In the fens between the Glen and that arm of the Welland called the Shire Drain they are particularly numerous. The drainage of the northern fens is noticed elsewhere. [AXHOLME.] Of navigable canals, beside the Ancholme, Louth, Horncastle, Sleaford, Bourn, and other navigations already noticed, there are only two. One of them, the Foss Dyke, is probably a Roman work, and appears to have been used for navigation previous to the Conquest. Henry I. had it cleaned out and the navigation improved. Some have supposed him to be the author of it. It extends from the Trent at Torksey, once a place of some consequence, above Gainsborough, to the Witham at Lincoln; its length is eleven miles; it is level throughout, but its waters are four or five feet above those of the Trent. It is supposed to have been a continuation of the Car Dyke, which, though now used only for draining, is supposed to have been formed for the purpose of navigation: but there is no need to assume any connection between the Car Dyke and the Foss Dyke, if, as is likely, the Witham was antiently navigable for ships up to Lincoln. The other canal is the Stainforth and Keadby Canal, which opens a communication between the Don or Dun navigation at Stainforth near Thorne in Yorkshire, and the Trent at Keadby in Lincolnshire. This canal, which is fifteen miles long, has a part of its course in the Isle of Axholme in Lincolnshire. Among the projected railways the Northern and Eastern was designed to pass through this county. It was to run from London by Cambridge to York. It was to enter Lincolnshire a little to the east of Market Deeping, and was designed to run nearly parallel to the present coach-road to Lincoln; and from thence first on the left, then on the right of the Foss Dyke to the Trent above Gainsborough. The execution of this railroad, except of the part from London to Cambridge, has been given up for the present, Upon the whole the majority of the lands in Lincolnshire may be said to possess a soil of more than medium fertility, compared with the average of Great Britain, and the produce of the county, both in grain and cattle, is very considerable. The temperature of Lincolnshire is nearly the same as that of the centre of England. The flatness of the surface allows the winds to blow uninterruptedly over it, and of these the western are the most violent. Near the coast the sea tempers the cold easterly winds in winter, and the snow seldom lies long. The climate in the lower parts, where, in spite of extensive drainings, much marshy ground still remains, is not very healthy, and intermittent fevers are prevalent; but they are becoming much less frequent since the draining and improvement of the soil. The water in the lower parts is bad and brackish, being procured only from wells and ponds; there is no such thing as a spring of pure water in the fens. The lands which have been reclaimed from the sea by banking and draining are mostly laid in large farms, which require a considerable capital. In other parts of the county there are many small properties, cultivated by the owners and kept with great neatness. There were formerly many more of these than there are now. Lincolnshire exhibits great neatness in the care with which the land is weeded and manured, especially the light sands. The introduction of bones for manure has made many poor light sands in Lincolnshire vie with the best in production, and nowhere have ground bones been used so long and so abundantly, The turnips, which are raised by means of this manure on the poorest sands, being fed off with sheep, lay the foundation of a productive course without any other manure. Among the different manures which are used for the arable land in Lincolnshire, we must not pass over that of fish, especially that small fish which abounds in shallow waters, and is named the stickleback. It is very soon putrid, and greatly assists the natural juices of the earth in producing vegetation. On the richest fen lands the most profitable rotation consists of the following crops:-1. Cole, fed off with sheep; 2, oats; 3, beans; 4, wheat; 5, clover; 6, wheat. If wheat were sown immediately after the cole, it would be rank, and probably lodged. The oats and beans reduce it to a proper state, by exhausting a portion of the manure and preparing the soil better for wheat. The oats are always fine and abundant, seldom less than 8 quarters per acre, and often 10 and even 12 quarters. The principal coach-road is the Hull, Barton, and Lincoln mail-road. This enters the county at Market Deeping, 90 miles from London, and runs north by west by Bourne (97 miles), Folkingham (106 miles), and Sleaford (1154 miles) to Lincoln (134 miles). From Lincoln the road runs due north in a direct line along an old Roman road for many miles: and then turning north by east, runs by Brigg, or Glanford Bridge (156 miles) to Barton (167 miles), on the south bank of the Humber, opposite Hull. The Louth and Boston mail road branches off from the above just before it enters Lincolnshire, and passing through the opposite extremity of the town of Deeping, runs by Spalding (101 miles), Boston (116 miles), and Spilsby (133 miles), to Louth (148 miles); from whence a road runs onward to Great Grimsby (165 miles) on the Sea. The great north road (travelled by the Thurso, Edinburgh, and York nail, and by the Glasgow and Carlisle mail) enters the county at In some heavy soils the Essex rotation is adopted :Stamford (89 miles), and runs north-north-west by Gran-1, fallow; 2, barley; 3, beans; 4, wheat; and this, altertham (110 miles) into Nottinghamshire. Roads lead from nated with the other, answers well on rich lands. A Lincoln by Wragby to Louth, and on to Saltfleet; by Market fallow once in ten years is almost indispensable, to keep Rasen to Grimsby; and by Newark to Nottingham. A road the land free from root-weeds. The clover also recurs less from Nottingham by Bingham falls into the high north road often, and is consequently less apt to fail than when it is at Grantham; and a road from Yarmouth and Norwich, by sown every sixth year on the same land. Those who have Lynn and Wisbeach, falls into the Louth and Boston road been induced by some eminent agricultural writers, such at Spalding. The other roads do not require specific notice. as Arthur Young, and others, to attempt to cultivate heavy Agriculture.-The agriculture of Lincolnshire is inte- and wet soils without an occasional fallow, have soon resting on many accounts. The soil varies greatly in been obliged to return to this effective mode of cleaning different districts. In some places it is as rich and produc- land: the hoeing of beans or other green crops can never tive as the greediest farmer could desire, and in others so be executed so perfectly as to keep the land entirely free poor as to weary the patience and industry of the most from those destructive weeds which have perennial roots. persevering. The grazing land in this county cannot be For the poor sands there is no system so advantageous as surpassed in its capabilities for fattening cattle; and some that of raising turnips, and feeding sheep with them on the of the drained fens and warp lands along the rivers possess land where they grew. The tread and urine of the sheep a high degree of fertility when cultivated. From these cir- give consistency to the loose sand, and, for a time, impart to cumstances it follows that every variety of cultivation which it the properties of a good loam, so that it will retain water this island presents may be observed in this county. There sufficiently to supply the roots of the growing corn. If are still some lands which are under the old course of two marl can be put on the surface at the same time, the nature crops and a fallow, while others are cultivated with all the of the soil will be greatly improved; and that which would care which an improved system of husbandry recommends. only bear a crop of oats, will now become capable of giving To give a general idea of the various kinds of soil, we a good return of wheat. Manure alone cannot effect this; it would only cause the wheat to run to straw and lodge, and give no grain. To manure poor lands highly, without first consolidating them, is absolute loss of both dung and labour. From the returns of forty different farms, A. Young has given the average produce in Lincolnshire as follows:Wheat-seed. 3 bushels; average crop, 34 quarters. Barley-seed, 3 bushels; average crop, 44 quarters. Oats -seed, 6 bushels; average crop, 64 quarters. Beans-seed, 31 bushels; average crop, 3 quarters. It is probable that the general adoption of the drill in sowing, and the improvement of the cultivation since the report of A. Young, have increased the proportion of the crop compared with the seed about one-eighth. The crops usually raised on the arable land are mostly the same as in other counties on similar soils. There is some woad cultivated in the neighbourhood of Boston on rich warp land; some sainfoin grown on the chalky soils, and lucern on the richer; but not to the extent to which this useful plant ought to be cultivated as green food for horses and cattle. Cabbages and carrots are cultivated to a considerable extent; the former on the heavy clays, and the latter on the 1, ht and deep sands. The grass-lands of Lincolnshire and of the neighbouring county of Leicester are some of the best feeding lands in the kingdom. The average number of beasts of a moderate size, about 70 or 80 stone of 14lb., which can be kept on an acre, taken from twenty-six places, is stated by A. Young to be as follows:-sheep in summer, per acre, 34; sheep in winter, per acre, 2; acres to feed a bullock in summer with the sheep. 14. So that 14 acres of grass-land will feed-in summer, 1 bullock and about 6 sheep; and in winter, 3 sheep, which is a high average: some of these lands will feed a bullock and 6 sheep per acre all the summer. Some of the finest pastures are fed off by horses which are fatted for the markets; but horses soon deteriorate the grass, while sheep improve it. and manuring cannot imitate. The basis of the soil is fine clay and sand, the latter minutely divided and intimately mixed with the former, with a considerable portion of fine calcareous earth. Very little vegetable matter can be extracted by analysis, but there is no doubt a very considerable portion of it in an insoluble state, probably combined with lime or argilla. Sufficient experiments have not yet been made to show this combination, as likewise the galvanic effects of the intimate mixture of the different earths. It is to be hoped that the attention of agricultural chemists will be turned to this subject. Considerable light may thus be thrown on the causes of fertility in soils. The atmospheric air seems to act powerfully on the newly deposited warp: for before a fresh layer is deposited, which is within twelve hours, such an alteration has already taken place on the surface, that the new deposit does not unite in one mass with the last, but a regular stratification can be observed, which shows the quantity deposited in each tide. The new warp also requires to be stirred and exposed to the air for some time before it acquires its great fertility. It is therefore probable that the insoluble vegetable earth requires to be oxygenated and rendered soluble. The richest crops of beans, wheat, oats, and rape are raised without manure on the warp lands. It is not so well adapted for barley or turnips on account of its slimy nature. It has added much to the produce of Lincolnshire, that the crops raised on the warp lands have enabled the farmer to employ all the manure made by the abundance of straw which these lands produce to improve the lands that lie above the reach of the waters. As long as the level of the warp lands allows a fresh addition of warp, this system is highly advantageous; but as soon as the surface rises to high-water mark, this system must cease, or the warp lands will be exhausted in time, like the Dutch and Flemish polders, and require manure like other lands. The best mode of treating warp lands which are too high to adinit of being warped over again is to lay them down to Graziers are not fond of mowing grass for hay. It renders grass in a state of great fertility. The pasture upon them the pasture coarse, and the hay is not of so rich a quality as will soon equal the best old grass, carrying a bullock per might be expected, owing, probably, to a want of care in acre, besides several sheep during the whole of the summer. making it. Grass-land is occasionally broken up to grow In a county which contains so rich pastures it is of great woad or flax on it. When this is done very judiciously, it importance that the breed of cattle and sheep be of the may be laid down with grass seeds and soon be good pasture most profitable kind; accordingly we find that no county again: but, in general, it is a long time before the newly-possesses finer breeds of horses, oxen, and sheep. The sown herbage is so fattening as the old grass. When grass- Lincolnshire horses are celebrated for their size and power. land is broken up it gives such rich crops, that the tempta- Horncastle fair is the great resort of all the London dealers, tion to overcrop it is too strong to be resisted; and once who purchase hunters and carriage-horses at very high exhausted to a certain degree, it cannot be restored to its prices. The horses which are bred in the fens are apt to richness for a long time. When arable land is laid down have rather too flat and broad feet, from the softness of the to permanent grass in a rich, clean, and unexhausted state, pastures there. This is a great defect when they are inthe success is invariable; but it is often done without atten- tended for speed on hard roads; but for farm purposes tion, and a failure is the consequence. they answer as well as those bred on drier soils. The best hunters are bred on the higher and drier lands; but they are generally turned out for a time in the richer pastures to give them flesh before they are sold. One of the most effectual improvements on land, by the side of some rivers in which the tide flows rapidly, is that of warping; or, in other words, retaining the water on the land so long as to let it deposit a layer of sand and mud. Thus a new soil is created over an old one; and this deposited soil is always very fertile. Such is the benefit produced by warping, that expensive works have been raised for the purpose, and extensive tracts of poor land have been covered in a short time with a new soil of the finest quality, as the crops raised upon it will clearly show. The warping is effected by letting in the water of the rivers, which have a muddy current, by artificial channels and skures, and retaining it there till low water. The river Humber carries off, in its course over various soils, all the finer particles which are too light to be immediately deposited. These consist of every kind of earth and portions of vegetable and animal matter. The tides, which are continually changing the direction of the current, keep this ear h in suspetision by the agitation which is produced; and when the water charged with earth is let in on the low grounds by the side of the river by means of canals and sluices, the earth is soon deposited and forms a coat of mud of a highly ferthe nature. Such is the quantity of earth contained in the water, that a laver one tenth of an inch in thickness is often deposited between one tide and the next Tuus in a very short time a new soil is formed of any depth which may be desired, provided the land hes below the level of the river at high tides. Besides creating a sod, the warping fills up all inequa lites, and a perfectly level surface is produced. Warp land possesses a natural power of production, winch cultivation The oxen which are preferred for grazing are the shorthorns, and some crosses of long-horns. Mr. Collins's Durham breed has been introduced and kept up with considerable success. Some rich proprietors and farmers are very careful in maintaining the reputation of their stock; and fine bulls are reared without regard to expense, which is well repaid by the superiority of their produce. The most judicious graziers are of opinion that middle-sized oxen are more profitable for grazing than the larger: an ox of about 50 stones of 14 lb. is thought to fatten more rapidly in proportion than either larger or smaller, provided the breed be good. There are not many dairies in Lincolnshire: breeding and fatting are considered more profitable and less troublesome. There is however some excellent cheese made of the Sulton kind. A. Young mentions Mr. Grundy, of Heath Hail, near Grantham, as an eminent cheese-maker. A descendant of his is now residing at Old Windsor, in Berkshire, where he makes the famous Forest cheese, which still goes by the name of Grundy cheese, and is the best cheesØ of the Stilton kind made in England. He was brought from Lincolnshire by George IV., and established in a royal da.ry in Windsor Forest. The sheep which are bred in this county are principally of the long-woolled, commonly called Leicesters. But the two counties differ only in the great proportion of fen lands to be found in Lincolnsh re. The rich upland pastures are similar in both counties. The old Lincoln sheep are larger than the improved Lexes.er |