422 THE FUTURE OF OUR AGRICULTURE. 



is also proceeding independently in this matter of settle- 

 ment. Realising the importance of the work, the Ministry 

 of Agriculture has appointed a special Ufflzio dell' Agro 

 Romano, having power to expropriate upon the report of 

 expert officers, " such land as being suitable for reclama- 

 tion, is not being reclaimed by its owner." Lord Selborne 

 might well wish for such power as this. However, if we 

 are to proceed in the matter, under our peculiar circum- 

 stances, we may require something equally drastic. We 

 ought not to be made to wait for improvement as long as 

 Italy has done. 



In passing it may be mentioned that in Burma, as in 

 Italy, the work of reclamation is now being undertaken by 

 co-operative societies. The United States, busy as they 

 are with irrigation, give us no lead whatever under our 

 present aspect. For, although they contain an almost 

 immeasurable extent of what they term " Swamp-land," 

 which has by the Federation been handed over to the 

 several states, under the impression that the States would 

 more readily make it cultivable, all this potentially fertile 

 land has thus far been left, in the main, in its original state of 

 swamp. " States," like County Councils, do little unpushed. 



But we must deal with our bogland. There are some mil- 

 lions of acres of it in the kingdom, looking bleak and bare, or 

 else sloppy and waterlogged. Nevertheless there are splendid 

 examples to show that that waterlogged, Sodom-like desert 

 might become richly yielding wheat land, like the best of 

 loams. And without excessive trouble or expense too, in 

 some cases — such as have occurred in Prussia — ^repaying 

 the outlay for the improvement by the very first harvest. 



We naturally look to Holland for an example how to 

 effect the work. And Mr. Robertson Scott's book, " A 

 Free Farmer in a Free Country," has told us in the most 

 lucid way how the Dutch proceed in the matter. They 

 drive a canal into the bog, dig off the peat, remove it by 

 boat, dig side canals, go on in the same way and, when the 

 peat is cleared off, they begin to cultivate, section by sec- 

 tion, planting new villages on the reclaimed bit, which soon 

 becomes flourishing and prosperous. That is a method 



