Our Waterlogged Land
IT is not generally known how much agricultural land in England and Wales cannot be cultivated, or drops far below its proper level of fertility, because it is insuffi- ciently- drained. The Ministry of Agriculture has stated that there are 1,785,000 acres of such land and that more than two-thirds of it are subject to actual flooding. Ifa Belgian, Dutch, or Danish farmer who had never visited England before were shown this land he would hardly believe his eyes. A Dutchman, for example, who by Patience and intense labour has turned a sandy waste into a -profitable bulb farm is astounded by the discovery that in England farm land can be hired very cheaply and that hundreds of thousands of acres which could be reclaimed by engineering science remain derelict because it is not Worth while to pay for the reclamation.
The English farmer has many sorrows and grievances, but no foreigner would admit that high rent is one of them. A typical Dutchman Who came to live in this country Would hardly be 'able to keep his hands off alluvial land which is now used for no purpose because the water has never been drained or pumped away. There is a saying that the best manure for a field is a high rent. The small farmer of the Continent demonstrates the sense of that saying ; he makes his land fertile because he is compelled fordo go by the lieceSsity of paying his way. Manure by derivation, after all, means hand-labour.
It Would probably be quite uneconomic to -drain by , eXpensive works some of the permanently waterlogged lands. in England, but there remains the problem of the lands which are being farmed and yet are injured in vary- ing .degrees by insufficient draining or by flooding. On this stibject the Royal Coichnission presided over by Lord Bledisloe has just issued a valuable and extremely interest.- ing Report. There are no fewer than 365 independent authorities in England and 'Wales responsible for arterial drainage—one for every day in the year ! Some of these authorities are zealous and well informed, others are iginiraiit and idle. But even if they were all models of intelligence and .energy, think what such a multiplicity Of reontrol mist mean. When Bastiat, the economist, Wijotehis description of how two men at opposite ends of a degert island were brought by their necessities into eeoriarnie'relations and discovered that Simple barter must giVe.:Place tO,a currency and so forth, he did not introduce theeiimplication of a river running across the island. Although the recognition that a river belongs equally to all through whose territory it runs is exacted of peoples who Call themselves civilized, the administrative problems of running water• which Nature has imposed upon us have never been fully solved. - Here we live at the centre of ciVilitaticiii and yet there are 365 administrative authori- tiei in our small island, excluding. Scotland. River- planning. or watershed-planning is almost worse than town-planning. Many of the 365 authorities are at war with lone another trying to control the water that falls from the watersheds to the sea. The people near the source–of a drainage area cannot see why theY should pay, Veil indirectly, for drainage schemes which benefit people living in the Middle Of the area, and still less for those who hve.at.the furthest end. Yet the problem affects them all - _ - If the. .People near the source neglect their works they may ruin the people lower down. Still More difficult is it - . for people to understand that their lands may be ruined ."as. Uq. or a hintel ir .ni i4niiiy Which they
Oloy....hive never seen. , • ,
'The-Commission reeonimend that the whole law govern- inland- drainage- should be amended and consolidated. They say that there can be no remedy for the present confusion short of setting up a central authority in each Catchment area. As regards the rule of " benefit," the Commissioners say that under the existing law rates cannot be charged on ally person who does not " benefit " from, or escape danger by, the drainage works for which the rates are levied.- The only cure in their opinion is a large extension of the rating areas. The moving water in each catchment area is, in brief, the concern of every land-holder who lives in that area. The Conunissioners provide that where. a catchment area authority is un- necessary the County Council or County Borough Council shall act in the place of such authority. If the schemes of various catchment areas should conflict there would be an appeal to the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries.
The Commissioners are quite aware of the risk that enthusiastic central authorities might embark upon schemes which would cripple, instead of helping, the farmers. They therefore suggest that no schemes should be undertaken where the cost of drainage would exceed the consequential increase in the value of land. They point out that in many Continental countries it is accepted as an axiom that if land lies waterlogged and cold and germination therefore fails or growth is delayed, a national asset is being wasted. The States contribute to the rates. Even if the principle-of State contributions for ordinary farm land were not accepted here, there would still be a case for a State contribution towards the effective clearance of detritus and seaborne silt at the mouths of estuaries and the larger rivers and towards the preservation of sea- walls. Unless the channels in estuaries are kept clear the inland waters cannot freely escape.
In spite of the notorious agricultural depression it is just conceivable that we are at the threshold of a new era of prosperity resulting from new methods. Experiments are being widely tried in intensive grass-farming. The method is never to allow the grass to grow higher than three inches, since the proteins almost exclusively reside in the lower part of the stem, and to treat it liberally with fertilizers. Farmers of great experience have been amazed at finding that they are able to fatten their cattle with a very small amount of cake if they arrange a regular rotation of grazing and of letting the fertilized grass grow again for about. thirty days. The natural inclination of the British farmer is towards grass-farming ; he dreads the risks of grain-growing. What a solution it would be of our agricultural ills if it proved that grass- farming brought wealth instead of being a way of just rubbing along and avoiding disaster, and if it employed as many hands on the land as are usually employed in arable farming ! It is much too soon to be optimistic, but men who know what they are talking about are dreaming dreams. One thing is certain, however-- intensive . grass-farming will not be possible on water- logged land.
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