72 



MARSH RECIvAMATlON ABROAD. 



The tide marshes in New Jersey offer no such difficulties as 

 have been encountered in similar work in Holland and Belgium. 

 Our marshes are already above the level even of normal high 

 tide, whereas many of the reclaimed lands in the Netherlands 

 are from 5 to 30 feet below. As I have previously stated, the 

 drainage and utilization of such lands has been practiced too 

 long in the Netherlands and in parts of England and Italy to 

 be considered an innovation. You have no doubt, all of - you, 

 read of the heroic stand made by the Belgians along the river 

 Yser from Ypres to Nieuport and the sea. You know how 

 finally they resorted, as the Netherlands have so often in their 

 time of trial, to opening the sluices and drowning the whole 

 country to keep back the enemy. A larg'e area was inundated, 

 but the Germans never got beyond the barrier. It may not have 

 been brought to your attention, however, that the reclamation 

 of these lands dates back more than .700 years. In fact the 

 great works which protect them from' the sea are referred to 

 by the poet Dante in his "Infernos" A large area in western 

 Flanders, reaching from the sea back nearly to Bruges, is em- 

 banked and sluiced polder land. For hundreds of years it has 

 been a hive of industry. The works in Holland are frequently 

 referred to, but those along the coast of Belgium, at Ostend, 

 Blankenburgh and elsewhere will well repay a visit when the 

 time comes that they are again accessible. Of course, Holland 

 has accomplished wonders. She has wrested from the sea an area 

 almost as large as our entire State. She has found it very profit- 

 able to convert inundated swamps and shallow lakes into gar- 

 dens and pastures which are the delight of every beholder. Nor 

 has she finished with this great work. Just now she is launched 

 upon that great undertaking, the reclamation of the Zuider Zee. 

 This she does after 70 years of careful study and consideration. 

 The Royal Commission estimates that it will require nine years 

 to build the embankments and thirty-three years to carry out 

 the entire work. An enormous embankment will be built across 

 from Wieringen in North Holland to Makkum in Friesland, a 



