552 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tance of 24.8 miles, the cost $16,000,000 and to require nine years to 

 build. 



This route was selected because it would be possible to construct the 

 locks in the solid ground of the island and, though not the shortest line 

 that could be selected, it would be in the shallowest water and so far 

 south that some of the streams flowing into the sea would have their 

 outlets outside of the district to be drained. Along the top of this dyke 

 it is intended to have a railroad, thereby shortening the distance by rail 

 from North Holland to Groningen by 35 miles — a matter of consider- 

 able importance in a country where no distances are great. 



By shutting out the North Sea, the water left in the Zuider Sea 

 would be fresh, and it was feared that this change would cause the 

 death of the vegetation along the shores and that sickness would result 

 from its decay. But the freshening process would be so gradual that 

 there would be abundant opportunity for an adaptation of vegetation to 

 the changing conditions. The entire scheme contemplates a step-by- 

 step process. That is, after completing the sea dyke, so that the 

 inflow of water can be stopped and the outflow regulated by the use of 

 the sluice gates, it is proposed to surround in the northwest corner of 

 the imprisoned sea about 52,620 acres and from this pump out the 

 water. As fast as the land within this dyke should become free from 

 water it would be subdivided by ditches like the rest of Holland and 

 placed under cultivation at the earliest possible moment. It is believed 

 that this can be done in five years and that the cost would be about 

 $5,000,000. 



The portion of the sea to be included in this, as well as in other 

 polders, the name given to drained areas, has been determined from 

 many thousand borings, and also from the desire to avoid stopping up 

 or diverting any of the larger streams that now empty into the sea. 



After putting this polder in good shape, the southeast corner will 

 be dyked in and the water pumped out, yielding ultimately 249,000 

 acres. This will require ten years and the cost is estimated at $24,740,- 

 000. After this shall have been completed 77,800 acres will be enclosed 

 in the southwestern section of the sea. The work of converting this 

 into arable land will require four years, and cost $9,140,000. The last 

 section to be drained will be in the northeast, where $125,649 acres will 

 be added to the domain after five years' work at an estimated cost of 

 $14,000,000. 



The polders have been selected so as to leave undisturbed every 

 important city now on the sea, and also to allow all the rivers to empty 

 into the part of the sea not included. The plan also contemplates the 

 deepening of the mouth of the Ysel, the broadening of the entrance to 

 Amsterdam, and the improving of the outlets of all the rivers now 

 emptying into the Zuider Sea, in this way bettering the condition of 



