328 SKETCHES OF RUEAL AFFAIRS. 



fore, that the natural skill of Elkington brought him 

 into high repute. By making a few deep drains in the 

 most essential spots, he stopped the evil at its com- 

 mencement, and drained the land much more effectually 

 than he could have done by making a number of small 

 conduits near the surface. His method of drainage, 

 compared with the old system, has been aptly likened 

 to blood-letting with a lancet, which affects the general 

 constitution much more than the local application of 

 leeches. The principle on which Elkington worked has 

 been thus shortly stated: "It was to discover what may 

 be called the mother-spring, and to cut it off by one 

 deep drain passing across, but above the spot where it 

 breaks out. The boring at the bottom of this deep cut 

 had sometimes considerable effect, not only on the spring 

 immediately in contemplation, but on others also that 

 became visible at a distance, and even on the opposite 

 side of a hill more than a mile from the spot." Elk- 

 ington also found that, in cases where stagnant water 

 on the surface arose from sunken beds of clay, he could 

 sometimes get rid of it at a very little expense, by 

 perforating the clay with a long iron dibber, and thus 

 allowing the water to sink into the next bed of loose 

 earth beneath. 



At the request of the Board of Agriculture, Elkington 

 communicated the whole of his system to Mr. J. John- 

 stone, who prepared the published account. Through 

 the influence of the same Board also, the services of 

 Elkington were brought before the notice of Parliament, 

 who voted him a reward of one thousand pounds for the 

 benefit conferred upon the country. 



Since that time all our systems of deep draining have 

 been founded on Elkington' s, and have proved extremely 

 valuable where the wetness arises from below ; but where 

 rain and snow water accumulate on the surface, the nu- 

 merous channels afforded by surface draining are found 

 advantageous. The state of things indicating that sur- 

 face draining is needed, has been thus ably stated as it 



