A 'MATUTINAL HOUR.' 147 



' Oh the Drain not you ; and as for me, I 

 was deep enough ! You thought the drop o' rain 

 had stopped me : no, no ! I like a rainy day, to see 

 this sort o' land. These are laid at three foot ! 

 Four's better.' 



* You really think so ?' 



* 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 I 

 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'll allow any man to tell me how deep to drain, if 

 he'll leave me, on my own sile, to say the width. 

 It's a pity to spare a row or two o' 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 



L 2 



