The dwelling house / by George Vivian Poore.

  • George Vivian Poore
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The dwelling house / by George Vivian Poore. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the work begun by artificial drainage. The soil is dried and aérated by tillage, and the organic matter, when the humus is no longer drowned, is oxidised, and goes to nourish plants and trees, which effect an upward drainage no less important than the downward drainage, while the oxygen exhaled by the green leaves cannot but benefit the air of the locality. If we wish to keep clear of malaria in this country we must till the soil and so nourish the humus that its produce may be sufficiently valuable to bear the expense of any artificial drainage which it may be necessary to maintain. If the land of this country goes out of cultivation, as in places it seems to be doing, I see no reason why we or our successors should not witness a re- crudescence of malarious disease in localities which are prone to develop it. It will not be unprofitable in this connection to consider the history of the Roman Campagna. It is generally admitted that the Roman Campagna was not always the desolate waste which it ultimately became. It was prone to malaria, doubtless, but this was kept in check by the large farming population. It is not conceivable that in days when locomotion was slow a city could have attained the proportions and importance of Rome if it had been situated in the middle of a sterile and malarious plain. The neglect of agriculture began in the Augustan age, when Rome was at the zenith of her power, and it is worthy of note that Mexcenas is credited with having incited Virgil to write the ‘ Georgics ’ in order to direct, by this fascinating method, the attention of the Roman people to the neglected joys of agriculture. With the acquisition of fertile districts in Africa and elsewhere, not only did the need for home- grown commodities decrease, but it is probable that the profits of home farming decreased also. Corn was im- ported in enormous quantities, while the expenses connected
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