BEDINGHAM, DITCHING HAM &- THE FARMS 31 



taken away by the thousand tons. In such a tide the fierce scour 

 from the north licks the sand cHff and hollows it out till the clay 

 stratum above it falls, and is washed into the ocean. Fortunately 

 for me, my house is protected by a sea-wall, and though the water 

 got behind the end of this, it did no further damage ; but with 

 property that was not so fortified the case was very different 

 — it has gone in mouthfuls. Old residents on the coast declare 

 that no such tide has been known within the present century, and 

 it is to be hoped that there will not be another for the next 

 century. But these phenomenal events have an unpleasant way 

 of repeating themselves, and if this happens, the loss and desolation 

 will be very great — greater even than that of the December gale. 



For generations the sea has been encroaching on this coast. 

 So long ago as the time of Queen Elizabeth it is said that three 

 churches went over the cliff at Dunwich in a single Sundayafternoon, 

 yet during all this time no concerted effort has been made for the 

 common protection. If we were Dutchmen the matter would have 

 been different, but here in rural England, unless they are forced 

 to it by Act of Parliament, it is almost impossible to oblige people 

 to combine to win future profits or ward off future dangers. It is 

 chiefly for this reason that I do not believe that creameries and 

 butter factories will be successfully established in our time — at any 

 rate in this part of East Anglia — for to secure success I imagine 

 that common effort and mutual support would be necessary, and 

 to such things our farmers are not accustomed. Many of them, 

 to all appearance, would prefer individual failure to the achieve- 

 ment of a corporate victory. 



The great tide of the December gale was followed by other 

 high tides, luckily unaccompanied by north winds of unusual 

 strength, and therefore not so destructive ; but the effect of these 

 tides does not reach so far as Bungay. Here our floods result from 

 rain only, and of rain we have had little to speak of since the 

 beginning of last spring. 



Although there is a proportion of heavy soil on it, but none so 

 heavy that it cannot be drained with pipes, the land which I culti- 



