THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



2r.o 



actual damages by deluge — the prevention of agricul- 

 tural improvement in the immediate vicinity of the 

 streams — the injuries sustained by tlie lands situated 

 above the reach of floods, but siifFering from obstruc- 

 tions to their drainage — and the calamitous influence of 

 the reeking and pestilential valleys upon the lives of 

 a great proportion of our population, \Vi re I to enter 

 upon a consideration of tlie various obstacles causing 

 the damage, the nature of the new vporks or enhirgements 

 required, and the means by which opposing interests 

 may be reconciled or compensated, and the burden of 

 the improvement equitably apportioned according to ad- 

 vantages conferred, my paper would be prolonged far 

 beyond any reasonable limits. One of the most general 

 imiiediments is the utilization of a stream for water- 

 power; and, as Captain Blithe said two centuries ago, 

 " mills drown and boggify more gallant land than them- 

 selves are worth to the commonwealth." Thus, the upper 

 valley of the Nene has thirty-three millsinalengthof sixty 

 miles ; the river Welland, between Market Deeping and 

 Market Harborough, is much obstructed by flour-mills ; 

 and upon a small stream in Dorsetshire there are no 

 fewer than five mills within a total distance of four miles. 

 The escdpe-weirs are generally inadequate to the dis- 

 charge of the excess of downfall, which iherefore over- 

 spreads the low lands ; and, besides this, the water-level 

 is often held up for (he purpose of navigation. As I 

 have before said, no single method of improvement will 

 apply to all districts : in one case, a small breadth of 

 land injured may not be half so valuable as the mill or 

 factory causing the mischief; in another, it may be pos- 

 sible to purchase and abolish a long line of mills, and 

 set the waters free. In one valley you may accomplish 

 the same end cheaply by substituting steam for water 

 power, with a compensation for the greater expensive- 

 ness of this motive-power, or by building windmil's 

 instead ; in another, you may have the assistance of the 

 millers, and provide their wheels with a more copious 

 and regular supply. la one case there may be a canal 

 company to treat with for total removal ; iu another, 

 you may unite a better navigation with securer draimige. 

 In one instance there may not be a sufficient area of 

 land to warrant a complete measure, and you must be 

 satisfied with an improved regulation of the irrigating 

 waters ; in another, half measures would defeat the 

 object in view, and there may be ample means in the 

 town and country interests combined, to relieve from all 

 possibility of flood and give a deep outfall to the hitherto 

 soaked and hurtful lands. As a fine example of what a 

 district may accomplish in arterial drainage, I may refer 

 you to a description of the " Rye and Derwent Drain- 

 age" in Yorkshire, given in the Royal Agricxdtiiral 

 Society's Journal of 1853. In this case, under a local 

 act of parliament, 27,000 acres were charged for the im- 

 provement ; and ^20,000, out of the i'30,000 raised, 

 was paid to the three mills for their adoption of steam 

 instead of water power. The pecuniary advantages of 

 the works are apparent, from the fact that i\ single 

 flood, surh as fipquently ovciftjv.-rd '.he laud, has been 

 knov\u to do more damage, if fairly valued in money, 

 than the whole sum expended under the act. For de- 



tails of the present Nene Valley improvement— now, 

 unfortunately, in a stagnant plight, the causes of which 

 may be traced to great errors committed in times gone 

 by— I may refer you to an " Essay on Trunk Drain- 

 age," written by myself, in the Society's "Journal" 

 for 1851. In this case only one out of a long succes- 

 sion of mills is to be removed, and the water-power of 

 the remainder increased; the navigation is to be bene- 

 fited, 20,000 acres made secure from their present fre- 

 quent floods, 7,000 acres more provided with a better 

 dutfall, and Wisbech harbour improved. As long as Eng- 

 lish communities will permit typhus, and cholera, and 

 all sorts of virulent diseases to decimate them at will, 

 without taking resolute measures in town sewerage and 

 Welter supply, they can scarcely be expected to awake 

 from their aj)athy with respect to river devastation 

 and injury ; and, in all |irol)ability, we shall reiterate in 

 vain liie statements of calamity and needless disadvantage 

 to which they passively submit, as if the condition of 

 things they were born to admitted of no progress or 

 relief. But it is certain that the question of arterial 

 drainage is slowly advancing : ihe rivers grow worse 

 and worse ; the imjjroving drainage of the upper country 

 sends down incieasing volumes of water ; and even the 

 millers are complaining, not because the more water the 

 more power, but bepausc it comes down so quickly (a 

 heavy downfall raising the level of brooks and rivers in 

 half the time foimerly taken), and passing by them ovtr 

 their weirs', is thus lost; instead of remaining stored up in 

 the districts above, to be forwarded by convenient instal- 

 ments, like the waters of streams legulated and equalized 

 by lakes out of which they flow. From Mr. Bailey 

 Denton's admirable and reliable estimate of the propor- 

 tion of drainable land in England, which has yet been 

 drained, we learn that, after all' these years of preach- 

 ing and practice, of Government laws and land-drainage 

 companies, pipe and tile-machines, and the steam 

 draining-plough, not two-thirds or three-quarters, no, 

 07ily one-sixteenth has been permanently subsoil- 

 drained. Add to this, if you like, a similar extent of 

 temporary drainage, and still there is only a fractional 

 part of our drainable lands thus improved. And if 

 subsoil-drainage has already affected the main arteries 

 to such an extent, what will be the consequence to them 

 of drainage carried on to five or ten times the present 

 amount ? Then consider what a large proportion of ihe 

 heavy winter rainfalls, absorbed in undrained soil as in 

 a sponge, and evaporated during the summer months, 

 is at once carried away and discharged by under-drains. 

 For instance, on the Hinxworlh estate, in January and 

 February, a thousand gallons per acre per diem were 

 discharged, which without under-drains, would have re- 

 mained to be dissipated by the dry winds and warming 

 sun of spring; and you will thus have an idea of the 

 additional quantity of water that has yet to be sent 

 down into the natural watercourses of the country. As 

 agricultural improvement extends — and drainage is sure 

 to proceed vigorously as a resort against low prices — 

 it is clear that the river-valleys will feel a greater pres- 

 sure every year ; and there is therefore more hope of 

 all parties joining to open a commensurate passage for 

 our drain- water, and to guard against both the in- 

 sidious injury and sudden catastrophes of floods. Now 

 comes the question. By whom are the desired im- 

 provements to be effected? "Well, the cost ought of 

 course to be defrayed by the district benefited; and 

 thosp. who pay their money should, according to Eng- 

 lish usage, have the conttol of it. But by what organiza- 

 tion or under what authority are the works to be under- 

 taken and maintained? That a universal issuing of 

 Sewers commissions under the Great Seal would au- 



