IV. 



A CONVERT, AND A HERETIC. 



WE have heard and a little oftener than is plea- 

 sant of victories gained in the field and lost in the 

 Cabinet. The civil war that has waged so long be- 

 tween the partisans of the deep and of the shallow 

 drain presents an experience the converse of this. 

 Long after peace had been proclaimed upon paper, 

 and most of the printed authorities had begun to 

 pull together in favour of the deep drain I say 

 most, for even to this day a parting shot is now and 

 then heard for the old system ; long after the shal- 

 low advocates had written themselves round to the 

 other side, the battle was still waging fiercely out- 

 of-doors. Truly may the Draining-tile be said to 

 have * fought its way downwards inch by inch.' 

 The benefit derived even from a drain eighteen or 

 twenty inches deep under the furrow, which was still 



