50 THE GREAT WAR 



managers, from which it appeared that the 

 undertaking had been completed and was so 

 prosperous that it had been decided to raise the 

 selling price of the land that remained to 60 

 an acre. This rise in price seemed to be war- 

 ranted by the extraordinary productiveness of 

 soil when used for market gardening. 1 



HOLLAND 



" Better land drained than land lost " 



(Dutch proverb). 



Holland, perhaps, stands first among the 

 countries which have added to their territories 

 by land reclamation. Hundreds of thousands 

 of acres of fertile land have been reclaimed from 

 the sea and inland lakes. Mr. H. M. Jenkins, 

 one of the commissioners of the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Commission, in his report, December 31st, 

 1879, gives 9 million acres as the total area of 

 Holland. He describes the draining of the Lake 

 of Haarlem, and the small lakes adjoining, 

 by which 45,000 acres of land were reclaimed. 



1 For further particulars, estimates, methods of re- 

 clamation, cultivation, etc., see " Land Reform," Appen- 

 dix I. Mr. Jenkins evidently refers to North Holland. 



