JULY 171 



rod and all if there remains one so successful as 

 Mullins was.' 1 



Well, that was written two-and-twenty years ago, 

 and in that interval I have been in straits to find 

 water and I have employed, not a professional, but an 

 amateur dowser, with thoroughly satisfactory result. 

 Our County Council having condemned open springs 

 for the domestic supply of water and called upon land- 

 owners to provide covered wells, I found myself under 

 the necessity of sinking no fewer than ninety-five wells. 

 In ninety-three cases water was found without diffi- 

 culty; wells were sunk and equipped at an average cost 

 of 25, or 2,375 in all. But on two farms we 

 were defeated ; we failed utterly to hit upon a supply. 



Hearing of our dilemma, Mr. Howson, a gentleman 

 of Lancashire, most kindly offered his assistance as an 

 amateur dowser. He had never been on the ground 

 before, 2 but he came, he saw, he conquered. He 

 walked at high speed over the fields, quartering the 

 ground as a well-trained pointer might do, and carry- 

 ing before him, not the traditional forked hazel rod, 

 but a piece of stout, twisted wire, bent to form an acute 

 angle, with an end held in either hand. On both farms 

 he indicated a spot where we should sink a well ; we 

 did so and found an ample supply in each place, which 

 has never failed in the ten years that have gone by since. 



Some years previously, desiring to sink a well in the 

 garden, I had availed myself of the power of a lady 



1 Memories of the Months, first series, pp. 84-7. 



2 The geological formation is Lower Silurian rock, overlaid with 

 glacial drift, the surface soil or tilth being rather light gravelly loam. 

 The land lies in a series of low ridges, and is under arable rotation. 



