168 CHRONICLES OF A CLAY FARM. 



" I 'm sure of it. But I thought you was all for 

 the deep drain? I heerd so, long afore I tried it." 



" And that 's why these were laid at three. This 

 lower part, up to yonder oak tree, is the first field 1 

 drained : and if you had seen the work I had, to 

 get down three feet " 



" Oh ! ay, ay ! I remember now you mention it. 

 Well, I like the four-foot. But not too wide, 

 mind ! I '11 allow any man to tell me how deep to 

 drain, if he '11 leave me, on my own sile, to say the 

 width. It 's a pity to spare a line or two of tiles, to 

 run a risk." 



"Well : this is three feet, by twenty-one in width : 

 down the old furrows, in fact. And the worst of it 

 is, it drains extremely well." 



" ' The best,' you mean ? " 



" The worst ! The good done by the shallow 

 drain has been, in practice, the longest enemy of the 

 deep one. A man who finds his field improved by 

 the shallow drain, holds that as a fact. When you 

 tell him that double the depth would have" more 

 than doubled the improvement, he treats that as a 

 - a theory. A DREADFUL thing, that Theory ! I 

 wonder how many who use the word ab-use it 

 rather know the meaning of it. But what say 

 you to the dibbing?" 



