STORM DAMAGE 119 



the enormous fields, the soils in this country are 

 much subject to washing down the hillsides in heavy 

 rains ; on occasion a thunderstorm accompanied by 

 intense rain will strip off the soil down to the bare 

 chalk over whole fields near the head of these upland 

 valleys. It was indeed in this very district that so 

 much damage was done by a cloudburst in the spring 

 of 1910, when over a considerable district north of 

 Driffield men lost crops and soil together, and damage 

 was done to the land which centuries alone can repair. 

 It would certainly seem desirable in some of these 

 combes and valleys making smooth gulleys to divide 

 the land up by hedges so as to break the flow of the 

 storm water and prevent it getting up that velocity 

 which gives it so potent an excavating power. We 

 visited one farmer who occupies an extensive farm 

 in the very heart of the Wolds, much of it at a very 

 considerable elevation, and were, to begin with, 

 impressed by the amplitude, solidity, and fine state 

 of repair of his house and buildings, largely constructed 

 of stone which must have been brought from some 

 considerable distance. But, speaking generally, north 

 of the Trent neither labour nor expense has been 

 spared in providing substantial farm buildings. 

 Almost as striking was the architecture of the ricks, 

 some of which were still standing unthreshed in the 

 yard ; built on a circular base, about 20 feet in diameter, 

 they grew wider as they ascended, and then at about 

 1 6 feet were capped with a neat cupola of straw running 

 up to a central point a masterpiece of the thatcher's 

 art. 



The land was mostly under ara-ble cultivation ; 

 there was very little true down to be found, though 

 on most farms are some fields which had been laid 

 down to grass for a considerable time. The farming, 



