84 THE AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE HIGH TIDE.
it was got rid of, while, where the sea walls were very seriously
damaged, several weeks, and even months, elapsed before this
could be done. So difficult did it prove to repair the breaches in
the sea walls in New England and Pewit Island, and in part of
the parish of Fambridge, that the attempt was abandoned, and
many hundreds of acres of land have now reverted to the condi-
tion of "saltings."1 The injurious effect of salt water on crops
is variously stated by different authorities to last from five to
twenty years. This inquiry was undertaken by the authors
with a view to advising as to the best means of cultivating the
land, and also to determine the amount of salt deposited, the
time required for its removal by drainage, and its chemical and
physical effects upon the soil constituents ; knowledge which
must be of value in the event of future inundations, an event
not unlikely to happen while the sea-walls on many parts of our
coast remain in their present insecure condition.
To ascertain how far the presence of Common Salt was
injurious to the crops, a determination was made in samples of
soil taken in January, 1898, from different localities and at
different depths. Tables are given showing the per-centages.
The average of the top soil was '25 per cent., or about 25 times
more than the average amount in the soil from unflooded land,2
and equal to about 21/2 tons per acre. In all probability, a quan-
tity of this weight applied as a top dressing would injure most
crops, but the writers state that there is evidence of a much
larger per-centage of salt being present without directly affecting
plant growth : but in this case it is diffused through the soil, and
consequently does not concentrate its action upon the roots or
stems of the plants. Wheat and turnips—the former newly
sown and not yet germinated at the time of the flooding—grew
on land containing .3 per cent, of salt ; while mustard, turnips,
mangolds, beet, cabbage, peas, creeping-bent grass, and red
fescue, sown in flower pots filled with soil from two of the
flooded districts, all germinated well and were apparently abso-
lutely uninjured, even at the most critical period of growth, by
the salt left in the soil. It would thus appear that, although the
1 For details the reader is referred, not only to the original Report, but also to Mr. Percy
Clark's papers on "The Encroaching Sea on the East Coast" (E. N.. vol x., pp. 297--299),
and "Some Further Notes on the Effects of the Great Tide of November, 1897 ; "also to the
note, "Disastrous Effects of the High Tide of November, 1897, at North Fambridge" (pp. 375-
6), and the extracts, "Truly Derelict : a Curious Corner of Essex," printed on pp. 397-399, in
the same volume.
a The authors estimate the water of the North Sea to contain 2.7 per cent. of common
salt, and about .5 per cent. of other chlorides and sulphates. The common salt would be
sufficient in quantity to produce serious injury to plants by plasmolysis of the root-hairs.