422 
TJie Water Economy of France 
but ratlior from the scenes most familiar to me, and the in- 
formation at my command, to select such points of view as by 
comparison and illustration may best throw a light on the English 
aspect of this important subject. Until last year the statutes 
of England almost ignored the subject of water-supply — the 
regulation of the ingress and egress of water— and it will hardly 
be antici])ated that a single enactment will have exhausted this 
large question. France, on the other hand, enjoys on this head 
the most complete, well-defined, and equitable code of any 
country in Europe ; but, unhappily, few nations have made 
fewer efforts to turn these advantages to good account. 
Whilst in England the water-meadows of the south-western 
counties, and the great enterprises for reclaiming the Fens in the 
east (effected by special enactments), and the general rapid deve- 
lopment of field-drainage, attest the practical energy of the 
country, in France the voice of lamentation is constantly heard, — 
either from the southern and central provinces, complaining of 
drought which not unfrequently assumes the proportions of a 
scourge, — or, on the other hand, from the valleys of many streams, 
and the whole of the mountain districts, where inundations spread 
disaster and devastation along the wide and shifting channels of 
the rivers. 
To an agriculturist travelling in France it is, then, painfully 
evident that no adequate efforts are made in arid districts to 
husband the moisture ; or again, wliei'e the rain is at times 
excessive, to provide sufficient outlet for the floods, or form 
reservoirs where the water may be kept for irrigation against the 
day of scorching heat. And yet, as will presently appear, the 
laws of France singularly facilitate the management of water, 
whilst the Government offers the gratuitous services of an able 
staff of engineers, scattered over the whole country, to assist the 
owners of the soil in controlling this most powerful agent for 
good or evil. 
I. The Runniitf/ TVaters of France. 
Of the rain that falls, that portion which is neither retained 
by the soil, directly evaporated, or absorbed by the functions of 
vegetable life, either flows over the surface, or bursts out in 
spi'ings, taking a direction which varies according to the contour 
or lie of the country, and then, through a succession of rills, 
rivulets, streams, and rivers, makes its passage to the sea. There 
is no more convenient or instructive method of subdividing a 
country than into water-basins, or areas within which these 
channels converge ; many most interesting topographical and 
geological features will thus be brought to view, the varieties of 
climate and natural productions defined, and even the difference 
