THE HIGH TIDE OF NOVEMBER 29, 1897. 283
Mr. Dymond gives a table of analyses made with the assistance
of Mr. F. Hughes, F.C.S., of samples of soil obtained from six
of the flooded lands in Essex. These show that whereas
unflooded land contained about .01 per cent, of salt, the flooded
land contained on an average about .2 per cent in the surface
soil. Now, .2 per cent, in the top six inches of soil is equal to
40 cwts. per acre, which, if applied as a top dressing, would
undoubtedly be injurious to growing crops, but if diffused through-
out the first six inches a much larger quantity would have little
or no effect. It is not, therefore, the direct injury to the roots
of plants that has to be considered, so much as injury to the
condition of the soil. It is noticeable that upon land where
earth-worms were abundant, they entirely disappeared from the
flooded portions, and after the flood the worms were found
strewn upon the ground and were quickly picked up by gulls.
"The use of worms in heavy land," Mr. Dymond remarks, "in
assisting the drainage and thus promoting aeration of the soil
is universally recognised, and their extermination in the heavy
land is a most serious matter," Further, the chlorides of
magnesium and calcium contained in sea-water, by their power
of absorbing moisture from the air, would render the soil wet
and difficult to work. The only practical means of eliminating
the salt suggested, is to take advantage of the rainfall and by
encouraging rapid drainage. From an experiment made it was
found that 13/4 inches of rain-water when allowed to filter through
six inches of the soil from the flooded arable land at Wallasea,
was more than sufficient to remove almost every trace of salt.
Mr. Dymond's pamphlet is well deserving attention, and the
investigation is a note-worthy example of scientific method in
the examination of an interesting agricultural problem.
The great flood of November, 1897, will long leave traces
on our coast, and beyond the mere historic interest which it
possessed, the consideration of its effects is of some scientific
importance, inasmuch as it proved how readily changes in the
coast line may be produced, and that the work of man in
embanking and draining of land, which took years to accomplish,
may be destroyed in an afternoon. Changes in the maritime
and riparian fauna and flora of the flooded districts may have
also to be numbered with the permanent effects of this abnormal
tide, and it would be an interesting task to make researches in
this direction. Reference should be made to Mr. Clark's
article in the succeeding part of the Essex Naturalist.