44 
MIDDLE LIAS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 
Feb., 1889. 
5. —The land would be rendered much more valuable for 
grazing purposes , for the herbage would be improved; the 
period during which it could be stocked lengthened by perhaps 
two or three months ; and diseases of cattle, and rot in sheep 
in particular, would be much less likely to occur. It is not 
uncommon, under the present condition of things, for fields 
to be covered with water continuously for 12 or 13 weeks in 
the year. 
6. —The climate would be locally improved. At some periods 
of the year, when there is little wind, it is very noticeable how 
a bright warm morning brings a dull or even wet afternoon 
and evening, followed again by a clear night. This is very 
harassing to farmers, and from observation of such occurrences 
I have been led to infer that in these circumstances the clouds 
are locally formed, by the rapid evaporation from large 
surfaces of flood water, or wet lands. With dryer lands and 
less surface water this would be less likely to occur. It is a 
fairly common belief that the moon has some particular 
power to disperse clouds, because a fine night will often follow 
a dull day ; there is very little doubt that just the opposite is 
the case, the night is fine because of the impotency of the 
moon to cause evaporation and produce clouds. 
The effect on the health of human beings and cattle would 
be decidedly beneficial. A malarious atmosphere is created 
not by water, but by the action of the sun on decaying 
vegetable matter, and such there will very frequently be 
where land cannot be drained. Ague, once so common in the 
Fen districts, has now nearly disappeared through drainage; 
only droughts in autumn now are likely to occasion it. 
Conclusion. 
The water scheme that has been described in these pages 
embraces a small district only, and proposes to deal with a 
comparatively small quantity of water, but the principle 
admits of very general application, and there are signs that it 
is receiving attention from water engineers. 
Water is not manufactured in the ground, neither is there 
an inexhaustible supply there, but it all gets in from the 
surface somewhere; it follows, therefore, that the continuance 
of underground sources is a matter of rainfall and percolation. 
The rainfall of this country varies from something like 
1G5 inches in the Lake district to 20 inches in the East 
Midlands, and the average for the whole country is rather over 
than under 30 inches, an amount quite sufficient for all 
purposes of human consumption, manufactures, and main¬ 
tenance of rivers and canals; yet water is scarce, and all 
