v] RAISING OF THE FERTILITY LIMIT 73 



waters, the last bank was cut through and the Mere 

 began to empty itself. There was a total fall of only 

 two feet from the bottom of the lake and accordingly 

 the stream was never rapid after the first twenty-four 

 hours and was still flowing sluggishly even after 

 three weeks. Fortunately a favourable wind pre- 

 vailed and assisted materially the movement of the 

 water. "Long before the last pools of water had 

 disappeared from off the bed of the Mere," wrote 

 Mr Wells, from whose description in the Journal of 

 the Royal Agricultural Society for 1860 this account 

 is taken, "large crowds of people from all the sur- 

 rounding neighbourhood had assembled. Some from 

 a desire to be present at the last moment of a 

 venerable friend whose fortunes were now reduced to 

 the lowest ebb : others perhaps with whom the love 

 of stewed eels preponderated over sentiment, from 

 the prospect of a ready and abundant gratification of 

 their taste.... Nine out of ten came provided with 

 sacks and baskets to carry off their share of the vast 

 number of fish, which, wherever the eye turned, were 

 floundering in the ever-decreasing water. Some 

 more ambitious speculators brought their carts, and 

 gathering the fish by the ton weight, despatched 

 them for sale to Birmingham and Manchester." 



A pumping engine was now installed to carry the 

 water table sufficiently below the surface for crop 

 production. During the summer of 1852 the great 



