276 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
A short Ordinary Meeting (the 265th) was held, Mr. X. S. Dymond,
President, in the chair.
New Member.—Mr. Alexander Graham, M.B., B.Sc., of 39, Claremont
Hood, Forest Gate was elected a member.
The President proposed a very hearty vote of thanks to Mr. and Mrs. John
Hepburn and to Mr. J. W. Hepburn for their great kindness and the practical
interest they had taken in the meeting. This was carried by acclamation, and
Mr. John Hepburn replied.
The Hector of Fowlness, the Rev. J. R. Brown, made some humorous
remarks, in which he cordially welcomed the members to the island.
In one of the fields adjoining the farm buildings Mr. John Hepburn had
kindly had a deep hole dug in order that the Club could examine the character
of the soil and subsoil. The first nine inches proved to be a somewhat strong
loam, which when wet, gets easily "poached" by the treading of horses, and
when dry bakes rather hard. The next four feet of "subsoil" were more or less
sandy, the upper portion apparently consisting of sand a good deal mixed with
finer particles and the lower portion of pure sand. Between the surface soil and
subsoil a harder layer was distinctly seen, this being the "pan" formed at the
bottom of the furrows by the treading of horses during a long period of years.
At a depth of about five feet brackish water was met with, and at the same
depth, i.e., where atmospheric oxidation must cease, the sand was black with
organic matter. That this part of Fowlness had at one time formed a part
of the Maplin Sands was thus rendered evident. The island had been enclosed
by sea walls, the water level reduced by drains and sluices to low tide level, and
then the air carried down by rain storms (the usual method by which subsoils
become aerated) had oxidized and destroyed the black organic matter down to the
water level. On the sands beyond the sea wall the surface is always sodden
with water, so that no oxidation below the surface occurs. Though the organic
matter in the subsoil on the farm has gone, the carbonate of lime remains, as was
shewn by the hydrochloric acid test, a fact of much importance to the farmer.
Mr. Dymond made some remarks on the cultivation if the land in view
of these interesting observations. He pointed out that the pan both prevented
the drainage of water into the subsoil in wet weather and also the rise of water
from the subsoil into the surface soil by capillary attraction in dry weather, for
there can be little doubt that the capillarity exerted by such a subsoil as they had
beneath them would be sufficiently great to raise water five feet. Both in times
of wet and drought, therefore, the pan was a great hindrance to successful
farming. Mr. John Hepburn replied that he had already cultivated two fields
sufficiently deeply to break the pan. In one of these fields it was as yet two
early to state the result with certainty, but in the other field there was no doubt
whatever that the breaking of the pan had resulted in a great improvement of
the crop. He afterwards showed the Club the magnificent crops growing on the
field referred to.
Mr. French called to mind the heavy crops of wheat that were grown on the
island some forty years ago, yielding from six to eight quarters per acre, and
which he thought were directly due to the breaking-up of that "pan" by heavy
steam ploughs.
A few words should be said of the population of the island. They retain
many of their old traits, and how old they are is quite a subject of legitimate
speculation. One great trait is that of unbounded hospitality, a tradition which