, 1877-02-17
THE FLOODS IN ENGLAND.
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO RETAIN TIE
SURPLUS WATER HILL Herr is no
USE FOR IT,
from the Iimcs.)

The weather has ogain disappointed US.
Eight and-forty hours without any fall Of
rain had f"attered US into a belief that the
plague was over, and that Tie much need
ed change had at length set in Tor good
but the promise Of Friday and Saturday
was already broken before Saturday was
at an end. Our new confidence, a
tender plant, which won d have anguish
ed before a sudden gathering Of clouds on
the horizon or q threatening depression Of
the barometer, has died outright under
the much more severe trial it has been
subjected to. In future, our prophetic
forecast, if We venture on it at all, will
be made with a very safe reserve. We
have SO frequently hoped and so fir quentIy
been disappointed that we have learnt, at
lenyt, q sound mistrust in our own wea-
ther-wisdom, and have realized that just
now there is really no telling what the
next day, or even the next hour, may
bring forth. Meanwhile each day and
each hour that has done nothing to add to
the seasons foods has necessarily been
doing o good deal towards diminishing
them. All rivers, says the proyerb, 6ud
their way, sooner or later, to the sea-.
Our swollen, turbid, w%idespreading inland
streams. which now cover a great many
hundreds Of square miles which 90 not
belong to them, must be content to obey
the rule, to discharge by degrees their
volumes of superhuous water, and TO
shrink back TO their more humble and more
ordinary dimensions. 1t will be some time,
it is true, before the process can be OF much
apparent Use. Even if our rivers are not
fed by any further great downpOurs OF rain,
yet, as Sir PATRICK CoLQUuOUN pointed
out On Saturday, Il oy have still their vast
unseen subterrancan reservoirs to draw
upon, and it is only as these are emptied
that the rivers themselves viii begin
gradually to subside. The country has,
IN fact, been thoroughly saturated, and we
must not expect tha' a day or two OF fine
weather can have been sufficient to dry it.
In some districts, indeed, IN spite OF the
partial cessation Of rain, ii is quite posi-
bic that the worst results have not yet
shown then selves, and that the floods, fed
from points further up the country, will
rise yet higher before they will at length
begin to eubside. 1t is something ii
Nature, which has been so long fighting
against us, has shown signs at last OF turn
ing round and fighting on our side. Her
methods are not always rapid or regular,
but they are sure. We must give them
the time they will require. In due course
the tendency of water to run down-hill,
or to dry up under the influence of sun
and wind, will prove strong enough to do
all, and more than all, we are now asking
for. We are having our deluge now, and
before the year is over it is only too likely
we shall have our drought, and that we
shall be just as ill-prepared to guard
against the second visitation as we have
proved to be for the most part against the
former one.
1t seems certain that we have not now
quite the same general conditions OF wealth
er to deal with as those which were
known to our grandfathers. We will not,
indeed, make too much of a s~o-catled ex-
ceptional season. or argue overhastily from