Underdraining in France during the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

Underdraining, although neglected as a subject for study by French agriculturalists and economic historians, held a significant place in nineteenth-century land improvement. This paper, based on manuscript materials and government statistics, attempts to assess the importance of underdraining in France during the second half of the nineteenth century. The need for draining within the country about I850 is discussed at the departement level, and the efforts of the government, landowners, and agricultural associations in establishing the improvement are described. The spread of draining is seen to be related to the introduction in England of a series of new draining techniques, which were quickly adopted in France. The distribution of the improvement is examined in terms of soil, value of crop production per cultivated hectare, farm size and land use. An examination of the extent of draining reveals that only a small part of France was so treated. A paradox presents itself: draining was a successful agricultural improvement, yet little land was drained. A discussion of the possible reasons for failure is provided, based on the opinions of contemporary nineteenth-century agriculturalists. The paper suggests future lines of research in the subject of underdraining, and points out that the tenets of the French agricultural revolution need revaluation. UNDERDRAINING has been regarded as one of the fundamental bases of agricultural improvement. It is that process by which excess water in soils is removed to provide good cultivable land in areas that otherwise would have been waterlogged. Its adoption offers possibilities not only of increased crop yields, but also of increasing the variety of crops grown and of permitting savings in both time and money in working land. Nineteenth-century English agriculturalists viewed underdraining as the foundation of all agricultural improvement on clay soils; and their French counterparts did not lag in its praise.' In spite of the value that contemporary agriculturalists placed on this improvement, no comprehensive or critical study has been made of its position in nineteenth-century French agriculture. French economic historians and regional geographers have ignored the subject. C. P. Kindleberger has assumed that a period of agricultural expansion and prosperity occurred in France between I840 and I870, in which underdraining played a part; but he neither qualifies nor quantifies this statement.2 A study of draining during the second half of the nineteenth century, therefore, has value at several levels. First, there is the analysis of a technical development of the 'agricultural revolution'. In order to test its importance in France and during the 'agricultural revolution', the first necessity is to discover the extent, date and location of land drained. Second, underdraining was a capital improvement and the rate of its adoption may be taken as an index of agricultural progress.