THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



255 



shire, Wiltshiic, Berkshire, llampsliirc, besides Surn^y, 

 Middlesex, Kent, and Essex ; fringed with peaty or 

 more solid wet lands. The Severn, stretching inland 

 through I he counties of Gloucester, Worcester, and 

 Salop, into Warwickshire, Staffordshire, and Mont- 

 gomeryshire, Willi the Wye and other tributaries rami- 

 fying through the counties of Monmouth, Hereford, 

 Radnor, and Brecknock, bring down the rapid floods 

 from the Welsh mountains, and frequently deluge large 

 tracts of the wide-spreading plains. In addition to 

 these chief drains of the central counties, we have 

 streams from the lake district, the Welsh high lands, 

 and the southern, eastern, and northern provinces ; 

 aggregating into considerable estuaries round the coast- 

 line, such as the Eden, Lune, Ribble, Mersey, Dte, 

 Conway, Towy, Taff, Usk, Avon, Parret, Taw, Tamar. 

 Dart, Exe, Test, Aruu, Rother, Stour, Mcdway, 

 Crouch, Blackwater, Colne, Orwell, Yar, Tecs, Wear, 

 Tyne, and Tweed ; not including an innumerable suc- 

 cession of outlets of more or less ioiportanco. These, 

 with an immense network of channels branching from 

 them, together with all the mill-streams and other ac- 

 cessories of the main arteries already named, form our 

 natural drains for the whole of England and Wales. 

 Now, Solomon says, " All the rivers run into the sea. " 

 But the grievance is that they don't ; for whether or 

 not the oriental streams with which the wise king was 

 frtmiliar may have all overflowed at intervals like the 

 Nile and Jordan, it is certain that English fresh waters 

 at the present day seem inclined to linger in the valleys 

 and repose on the meadows, or wander anywhere rather 

 than roll straight down to the ocean. In some cases 

 the outfalls, or river- mouths, are iu a defective state; 

 but, generally speaking, the exigencies of their alluvial 

 deltas or estuary marshes have caused them to be to a 

 considerable extent opened, ernbiinkcd, and watchfully 

 preserved. Thus, great outfall w^orks have been exe- 

 cuted on the river Dee, below Chester ; in Somerset- 

 shire, at the mouth of the Parret and its connected 

 rivers ; in several harbours and estuaries along the 

 shingly coast of the Channel ; in East Norfolk ; in the 

 estuaries of the Ouse, Neae, and other Wash rivers ; 

 and in the streams converging to the Ilurnber : while 

 in Scotland we have the example of the Clyde improve- 

 ments ; and, again, the similar dredging of a deep 

 channel for the Tay. But many great alterations and 

 improvements yet remain to be carried out. However, 

 it is the inland course of the streams that principally 

 calls for amelioration. These natural arteries are em- 

 ployed for every purpose that water is good for, 

 and the water is thus detained for such uses, in 

 spite of drainage necessities, instead of being con- 

 ducted speedily to the sea. They are dammed into re- 

 servoirs, intercepted for canals, especially in the cen- 

 tral, northern, and western counties ; and besides 

 being neglected and choked wiih weeds or with osiers, 

 or obstructed by strangulating bridges, innumerable 

 brooks and rivulets are suffering from the diphtheria of a 

 water-mill, or a succession of mill-wheels appropriating 

 the whole descent of the stream. Sometimes, hundreds 

 of acres of meadow are ruined by the picturesque 

 dilapidations of a mill mentioned in Domesday, or by 



the pounding of the water for the sake of a few baskets of 

 fish. Not that there is any objection to the employment of 

 running water as a motive power, or a means of trans- 

 port, or a supply for towns, as an ornament in a park, 

 or for the refreshing of a meadow; provided that damage 

 of greater consequence is not inflicted upon any interest, 

 and that there is an amply capacious channel for the 

 outlet of the heaviest downfall, without overflow and 

 without injury to lands by the prevention of the best 

 husbandry. How many among the myriad water- 

 courses of our country are all that can be desired in this 

 respect, I cannot undertake to say ; but the following 

 record of actual disaster — to say nothing at present of 

 the still greater mischief of good culture prevented — 

 shows the prevalence of defective and ill-managed rivers. 

 Take a few cases of violent inundation from the precipi- 

 tous western districts. In 1845, Cumberland and 

 Westmoreland, where every yesT heavy losses are 

 suffered from the suddenly descending mountain- 

 streams, experienced a scries of terrific floods. From 

 only two days of a tremendous rain in October (the be- 

 ginning of the wet season), all the rivers were swollen 

 and overflowed. The Eden, Lowther, Eamont, Lune, 

 and Petteril d' stroyed a large amount of property : 

 thousands of pounds value of railway-bridge scaffolding, 

 timber, and materials were carried away ; hundreds of 

 stooks of corn were swept out of the fields ; the 

 uncut crops washed flat upon the ground, and the 

 corn-mills on the rivers stopped by the flood. Again, 

 in July 1852, the river in Kendal swelled from a 

 tlunderstorm, overflowed the streets, washing out the 

 tan-pit^, bearing away everything loose in its current. 

 In the neighbourhood, brid.jes were swept away, the soil 

 was completely washed away from the potato-plots, and 

 " a whole fleet of hay-cocks was seen sailing down the 

 Kent," and the rushing of numerous gills and becks in- 

 flicted similar damages in many towns and valleys. In 

 December of the same year the floods were severely felt 

 throughout North Wales. At Carnarvon the Cadnant 

 river, bursting its banks, destroyed much property ; and 

 the estuaries of the Seiont and Gwysfai, which flow from 

 the Llanberis and Cwellyn lakes, overflowed, de- 

 molishing a bridge, and covering a considerable 

 breadth of flat Lmd with water. In South Wales the 

 valley of the Towy and vicinity of Carmarlhen suf- 

 fered from an extraordinary inundation in the winter of 

 1847-8. Again, in 1852, great disasters occurred in 

 various counties, particularly to railway and other 

 bridges ; but the storm floods of July, 1353, wrought 

 an immense amount of destruction. At Cwm Neath no 

 less than seven biidges were swept away. The TafF 

 ravaged the upper part of Brecknockshire, and the ad- 

 joining vale of Neath. Brecon town was flooded and 

 filled with mud, and many of the houses completely 

 gutted. A villa near Builth, with five inmates, was car- 

 ried away, and the whole district was swept clear of hay, 

 potatoes, and all moveable articles. The rivers Nedd 

 Vechan and Mellte bore away their bridges, and de- 

 vastated corn fields and meadows. The Neath inundated 

 various fdrms, clearing off" the hay and drowning the 

 cattle, while the farmers barely escaped with their lives. 

 At Lougharne, wheat as well as hay crops weie greatly 



