HAARLEM LAKE (Dutch Haarlemmer Meer), a commune of the province of North Holland, constituted by the law of July 16, 1855. It has an area of about 46,000 ac., and its population increased frcm 7,237 in 1860 to 16,621 in 1900. The commune was formerly a lake, which is said to have been a relic of a northern arm of the Rhine which passed through the district in the time of the Romans. In 1531 the Haarlemmer Meer and three smaller sheets of water in its vicinity had a united area of about 14,00o acres. The four lakes were formed into one by successive inundations and by 1647 the new Haarlem Lake had an area of about 37,000 acres, which a century later had increased to over 42,000 acres. As early as 1643 Jan Adriaanszoon Leegh water proposed to endike and drain the lake ; and similar schemes were brought forward from time to time. A furious hurricane in Nov. 1836 drove the waters as far as the gates of Amsterdam, and another on Christmas Day sent them in the opposite direc tion to submerge the streets of Leiden. In Aug. 1837 the king appointed a royal commission of inquiry ; the scheme proposed by the commission received the sanction of the Second Chamber in March 1839, and in the following May the work was begun. A canal was first dug round the lake for the reception of the water and the accommodation of the traffic which had previously been carried on. As the water from the lake had no natural outf all pumping by steam-engines began in 1848, and the lake was dry by July 1852. The whole area of 42,096 ac. recovered from the waters brought in about £780,000, exactly covering the cost of the enterprise; so that the actual cost to the nation was only the amount of the interest on the capital. The soil is of various kinds, loam, clay, sand and peat ; most of it is fertile, though in the lower portions there are barren patches where the scanty vege tation is covered with an ochreous deposit. Mineral springs occur containing a very high percentage of common salt; and a corn pany was formed for working them. Corn, seeds, cattle, butter and cheese are the principal produce. Hoofddorp, Venneperdorp or Nieuw Vennep, Abbenes and the vicinities of the pumping stations are the spots where the population has clustered most thickly.