DRAINAGE. 79 



miles' distance below each other; so that frequently no 

 effectual drainage of the richest alluvial soil, composing 

 the meadows, can be made without forming embankments, 

 or by pumping, or by resort to other expensive means. 

 The greater number of corn and other water- mills through- 

 out England ought to be demolished for the advantage of 

 agriculture, and steam-power should be provided for the 

 millers. I believe that such an arrangement would in 

 most cases prove to be economical for both parties. 



" A striking example of the economical and beneficial 

 result arising from the destruction of mill-dams, and the 

 substitution of steam for water power, has recently been 

 exhibited under the operation of * The Rye and Derwent 

 Drainage Act,' resulting from the wise and friendly co- 

 operation of the Earls of Carlisle and Fitzwilliam (the 

 chief proprietors), with other landowners, to knock down 

 three mill-dams and give the millers steam, thereby re- 

 storing the river to its natural bed and proper function as 

 the great artery of drainage, and enabling thousands of 

 acres of land to be drained and reclaimed, or brought into 

 more profitable cultivation at a very moderate cost. This 

 excellent work has its termination at New Malton, in 

 Yorkshire. 



" If all the rivers of England were surveyed, from the 

 sea to their source, the mills upon them valued, the extent 

 of land injured or benefitted by such mill-dams ascertained, 

 and the whole question of advantage over injury done to 

 the landowners appreciated and appraised, I have little 

 doubt but that the injury done would be found so greatly 

 to exceed the rental of these mills, deduction being made 

 for the cost of maintaining them, that it would be a mea- 

 sure of national economy to buy up all the mills and give 

 the millers steam power." 



We wish our limits would permit us to follow the Captain 

 through the dissertation on over-ploughing, thick and thin 

 sowing, and various sorts of manures, and to extract a very 



