DRAINAGE. 121 



cation, in knowledge, in science, in accurate thought, in 

 experience in short, in everything which in complicated 

 operations conduces to success. If you wish to drain, we 

 recommend you to take advice. We have disposed of the 

 quack, but there is a faculty, not numerous but extending, 

 and whose extension appears to us to be indispensable to 

 the satisfactory progress of improvements by draining a 

 faculty of draining engineers. If we wanted a profession 

 for a lad who showed any congenial talent, we would bring 

 him up to be a draining engineer. 



What we preach we practise. After thirty-six years of 

 experience, we became tired of struggling with unskilful 

 workmen, bad tools, and worse supervision. A perusal of 

 one of Mr. Parkes's essays induced us to look carefully 

 into his works, and we then asked his assistance. Of 

 course we do not mention Mr. Parkes's name to the exclu- 

 sion of, or even in preference to, that of any other engineer 

 who may have equal abilities and attainments ; and if we 

 did, we should only lead the great majority of those who 

 wish to drain into error, for we believe that, except in cases 

 of considerable extent, it is hardly possible to secure his 

 services. We cannot disparage our own skill, and in truth 

 we called in Mr. Parkes as a measure of economy. A 

 short detail of our proceedings (similar, no doubt, to those 

 of other land-owners with other engineers) will best explain 

 how we have secured that advantage. We proceeded to- 

 gether to the ground, where we made trial- holes, and con- 

 certed outfalls, and directions, and depths, and frequency. 

 We have no doubt that Mr. Parkes would have been quite 

 as well satisfied to settle all these points without any con- 

 cert on our part. Then we began to differ. We were im- 

 patient, and wanted to begin, but Mr. Parkes would not 

 turn a sod till he saw pipes and tools and fifteen tolerable 

 spademen, with their ordinary spades and picks, on the 

 ground. He furnished us with a list of tools, which we 

 procured from Mr. A. Lyndon of Birmingham. They 

 appear to be of a very enduring sort, and are extremely 



