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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



liood of such rich land ; and in course of 

 time, bridges, mills, and a canal navigation 

 communicating with the sea, or with some 

 centre of commerce, have become indispen- 

 sable. Bridges, very generally, are scarcely 

 half high enough, or wide enough in the 

 arch, to admit an increase above an ordinary 

 flood of heavy rain ; therefore, bridges which 

 impede the water in its way to the plane of 

 the sea by its natural channel, the river, are 

 obstructions. 



Mills and a canal navigation are the other 

 obstructions ; for as the gradual fall of water 

 in a river sufficient to turn a mill is made 

 available at one spot, by making a dam — 

 and as the river is turned into a canal by 

 dissecting the general fall of the water into 

 levels supported by locks — so, in both cases 

 the desired effect is produced by creating 

 an obstruction to the flow of water. Hence, 

 then, when a great fall of rain occurs, such 

 as that at Lewes a few weeks since, the 

 damage inflicted is often immense. 



The damage from a flood is palpable. One 

 sees gardens and fields laid waste, dwellings 

 on the ground-floor inundated, stock swept 

 away, and sometimes human life destroyed. 

 But no one can calculate the annual loss to 

 the country, in a variety of other ways than 

 from floods arising from obstructions in 

 rivers. 



The prime loss arises, from the rich marsh 

 land adjoining the rivers being constantly 

 saturated with water ; and therefore never 

 able to give forth its increase, except when 

 the atmosphere is in such a state as to cause 

 immense evaporation. Even in spring and 

 summer, the quality of the grass is inferior, 

 as it is deficient in quality to what it would 

 be were the water away. Let any one ob- 

 serve the Thames and the Lea rivers in their 

 whole course,where badly-constructed bridges, 

 numerous mills, and a canal navigation in- 

 terfere with the outflow of their waters ; and 

 he will see thousands of acres of the finest 

 land in England condemned to comparative 

 sterility from this cause alone. 



The next loss to the community, is the 

 deterioration of climate wherever the dam- 

 ming up large bodies of water occurs. The 

 river, being full to the banks, needs but a 

 heavy fall of rain to cause a flood over all 

 the adjacent level land. The soil, being 

 naturally retentive, only loses this surplus 

 water by evaporation ; hence malaria and its 

 consequences. It is well known, that tho- 

 rough drainage has in many parts of Eng- 

 land materially altered the climate for the 

 better. This is of consequence to stock of 

 all kinds, and particularly to human life, 

 where the bridge, or the mill, or some inci- 

 dental crossing of a road and a canal have 

 brought a population to a centre. The Stour 

 River, at Canterbury, is a good instance of 



this ; where it is obvious that the mill-dams, 

 and the locks of the navigation, keep up a 

 head of water entirely preventing the natu- 

 ral drainage of the lower parts of the city 

 and the rich marsh land of the adjoining 

 country. The Board of Health might spend 

 thousands in the most ingeniously contrived 

 drains and traps ; and yet not effect a tithe of 

 the good that the buying up the mill and 

 navigation rights (with a view to throwing 

 down the dams and locks), would do like a 

 touch of magic. Canterbury is only one of 

 hundreds of towns to which the same remark 

 applies. 



The third loss, is the misapplication of the 

 rivers. Now, they are applied to mill and 

 navigation purposes; when coals and railways 

 produce the same effect away from river 

 banks in a far cheaper and more expeditious 

 manner. Under these altered circumstances, 

 they should be applied to the supply of 

 water to neighborhoods below the level of 

 certain spots convenient for putting the 

 water into pipes for distribution — either by 

 gravity or by steam-pumping, and to what has 

 been almost entirely neglected in this country, 

 irrigation. The Thames, the Lea, Colne, the 

 Wandle,and other streams adjacent to London, 

 would amply supply the whole city and neigh- 

 borhood with water. The Stour would supply 

 Canterbury; the Itchen, Winchester and 

 Southampton ; and so on with half the towns 

 in the kingdom. Besides this draught upon 

 the volume of water contained in each valley, 

 there would still be sufficient vis a tergo to 

 irrigate all available land for such a purpose. 

 The loss to the country in the valley of the 

 Thames alone, in its present state — and what 

 it would produce if thoroughly drained and 

 irrigated, might be estimated at millions. 

 Any one who has seen the Duke of Port- 

 land's Clipstone meadows, Mr. Pusey's at 

 Pusey, and the Hon. Francis Baring's at 

 Buckenham — would only wonder at our 

 having so long neglected such sources of 

 wealth ; when those of a similar nature were 

 mainly instrumental in raising the Moorish 

 empire in Spain to its palmy state of magnifi- 

 cence. 



To effect such benefits, an arrangement of 

 interests is requisite. On the one hand, -are 

 water companies within towns or deriving 

 their supply other than from a high level, 

 the trustees of river navigations, and mill- 

 owners. On the other, are the owners of 

 land affected by water ; and all populations 

 suffering from inefficient drainage and ma- 

 laria arising from pent-up water. 



" Tis a consummation devoutly to be 

 wished ;" and he would deserve well of his 

 generation who could forward it. A. 



Time obliterates the fictions of speculative 

 opinions, and confirms the decisions of nature. 



