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when lake Fucino again commenced to invade its shores, werecompleted. It would be a mistake, no doubt, to attribute thisremarkable increase in the wealth of the country solely toPrince Torlonia’s work. The opening of the Sora and otherroads have incontestably contributed their share, but it wouldbe injust not to acknowledge that the works connected withthe draining and the draining itself, have played a great part inbringing about this economical development.

The belt of land laid dry by the first draining of thedraining of the waters of Fucino , formed part of the privateproperties situated on the shores of the lake. This belt and theone immediately above it, were those most exposed to the actionof the of inundations; their extent was about 3000 hectares(7410 acres). The effect of the first draining was to securethese lands against future inundations, long before the estate,granted by the concession was freed from water. The consequencewas that as soon as the inhabitants felt themselves in securepossession of their fields, they commenced cultivating themwith much more care than they had done till then ; thisfact alone quadrupled their value. Before the draining, the landsnearest the basin of the lake could hardly find buyers at 425francs per hectare (172 frcs per acre) soon after the drainingthe average price rose to 1700 francs (688 frs per acre); if wecalculate this increase in value, for the 3000 hectares (7410 acres)formerly more or less liable to inundations, we find that thedraining of lake Fucino has added 3.825.000 francs to thewealth of the proprietors along its shores. But we must notomit to point out that this increase is still underrated, for theprice of 1700 francs per hectare, is only momentaneous andcorresponds to the transitory state of those lands , but withevery year that passes by, the prices will not fail to rise conside-rably ; Those shore lands are now indeed the least valuable,because it is just they that have suffered most from the inun-dations. It was upon them that the full destructive force ofthe water acted, which by its incessant change of position andby the agitation of its surface, continually shifted its banks