428 LAND REFORM 



actuated by the principle of public spirit, did in the sixth 

 year of King Charles the First, undertake the great and 

 public work of draining the same . . . that, the said Earl 

 and his adventurers made a good progress therein with the 

 expense of vast sums of money." The Petition goes on to 

 show that William, Duke of Bedford (son of Francis), in 1649 

 continued the work, and prays for further parliamentary 

 powers in order to complete it. According to evidence given 

 before a Committee of the House of Commons (1821), some 

 crops of oats were the only grain produced in the fens before 

 this great enterprise was carried out. It is impossible to 

 estimate the value of the splendid corn crops which these 

 districts have since produced and added to the wealth of the 

 county.^ 



Many reclamations of different kinds have been made in 

 continental countries. In 1856 a company was formed to 

 reclaim from the sea a large area of land on the Channel 

 coast of Normandy, near Pontorson, in France. In 1896 I 

 visited the land under reclamation, provided with a letter of 

 introduction to the manager of the works, kindly given me 

 by the late Sir Edward Blount, who was Chairman of the 

 Company. The manager, M. Deval, most courteously placed 

 at my disposal the plans, estimates of cost, and all other par- 

 ticulars of the undertaking. The concession to the Company 

 granted by the French Government was for the reclamation 

 of 3800 hectares (about 9500 acres) of land in the Bays of 

 Mont St. Michel and Des Veys. At the time of my visit 

 the work was being carried on with the greatest activity. As 

 fast as the land was reclaimed it was divided into small 

 farms and small holdings, and either sold or let and put im- 

 mediately under cultivation. Much of it had been sold at an 

 average price (reckoning 25 francs to the pound sterling) of 

 ;^48 an acre, and a great deal had been let on nine and 



^ The above particulars are from an old volume (167 pp.), dated February, 

 1777, which I met with accidentally in an old bookseller's shop. It was evidently 

 published by the promoters of the work, and contains, in addition to the petition, 

 a most interesting history of the great undertaking. Some idea is given of the 

 extent of the work by one statement to the effect that the length of the banks 

 within the middle and south levels alone was upv/ards of 170 miles. In some 

 places the bed of the river was four feet above the level of the adjacent land. 



