130 



Rye and Derwent Drainage. 



tliorougli drainage a sufficient outfall. The farmer may design 

 deep drainage — the sanitary reformer attempt to remove mias- 

 mata — the machine may pour out its countless pipes and tiles— 

 and national loans may contribute to putting them into the 

 ground, but all is of little use unless you previously procure a 

 sufficient outfall. 



The rivers, and their tributary streams, are the natural drainage 

 of a country, and it is to the condition and improvement of these, 

 — the great arteries of drainage, — that I am anxious to draw 

 public attention, even in districts where it is supposed, at first 

 sight, that no improvement in outfall is required. In fenny dis- 

 tricts, the difficulty of drainage has long since stimulated the 

 attention of the owners of land in these districts, and art has 

 accomplished with much success what nature, in the greater 

 number of valley formations, will herself perform if unfettered by 

 those artificial obstructions which the necessities of former times, 

 and varied circumstances, have interposed. Generally speaking 

 a river or stream will preserve for itself, if left intact, a sufficient 

 fall for the discharge of its waters, and carry on an efficient 

 drainage of a district or valley, just in proportion to the tenacity 

 of the soil and the elevation of the basin of the valley above the 

 high-tide level of the sea. But, unfortunately, in long settled 

 and densely populated countries like " Old England," there are 

 few rivers, or even streams, that retain at this day their natural 

 features, but, either for the sake of water-power for mills, or head- 

 water for navigation, they have been dammed up above their 

 primitive levels, and the natural drainage of the district inter- 

 rupted or entirely destroyed. 



When our Saxon forefathers founded our villages, and the 

 feudal mill rose upon the banks of our rivers, the plough required 

 but little scope for its industry, and the flat and fertile water 

 valleys were depastured by their cattle,— the forest supplied the 

 fuel of their hearth, and the domestic quern or the rude water- 

 mill prepared their grain, — the want of roads localized their 

 wants and limited their sympathies. But the spirit of the nine- 

 teenth century has other requirements. A redundant population 

 cannot spare one acre of land suitable for human industry, and 

 " unrestricted competition" cannot affiDrd to neglect the combined 

 advantages of nature and art ; — the earth yields her " black 

 diamonds " alike for the furnace and the domestic fire, and steam 

 and the rail, with impartial energy, distribute them far and wide ; 

 the rude mill has given place to wonderful and infinitely appli- 

 cable machinery, and water-power is well nigh superseded by that 

 of steam. It is time, therefore, that the landed proprietor and 

 the farmer should turn their attention to the condition of their 

 rivers and streams, with the view of restoring to them their natural 



