70 THE FERTILITY OF THE SOIL [ch. 



not reach this point, perhaps the abiding influences 

 were still worse, a stolen buck could readily be 

 disposed of; the amount paid for such plunder 

 frequently amounted to £2 or £3, but as ill-gotten 

 booty is seldom well spent, the beer-shops too often 

 absorbed the greater part of the proceeds. There 

 was squandered in dissipation, what had been dis- 

 honestly obtained, a deserted home, a neglected wife, 

 and children left to their own devices, fill up the 

 background of this sad picture." 



In this particular instance clearing only was 

 carried out, but in many other cases further opera- 

 tions have been performed. Chief among these is 

 drainage, which has been resorted to in all parts of 

 England owing to the circumstance that the wetness 

 of many soils more than anything else set the fertility 

 limits and often in fact rendered them absolutely 

 sterile. The old method in this country consisted in 

 throwing the land into high ridges with deep furrows 

 between, such as can still be traced in almost any clay 

 district. Considerable waste of land was thus entailed : 

 the furrows were often so wet that they lay bare of 

 crop, whilst only the higher parts of the land were 

 productive. No advance seems to have been possible 

 in the common arable lands, as nothing could be done 

 without the consent of all the owners ; but on the 

 enclosed fields better methods could be adopted. 



A special drainage problem had, from time 



