excavation (B) already described. The question was now whether such a
theory of drainage would "hold water." If it would, the hole I had dug
must not, and I waited to see. It promised well. Quite a steady stream
poured into it and disappeared. By and by there came a heavy March
storm. When I went out in the morning, everything was afloat. The big
canal and the well at its lower end were full to overflowing. The
stubborn acre was a quagmire, and alas! the excavation which I had
hoped would save so much trouble and expense was also full. I plodded
back under my umbrella with a brow as lowering as the sky. There
seemed nothing for it but to cut a "Dutch gap" that would make a like
chasm in my bank account. By noon it cleared off, and I went down to
take a melancholy survey of the huge amount of work that now seemed
necessary, when, to my great joy, the oblong cut, in which so many
hopes had seemingly been swamped, was entirely empty. From the box-
drain a large stream poured into it and went down--to China, for all
that I knew. I went in haste to the big canal and found it empty, and
the well lowered to the mouth of the drain. The stubborn acre was now
under my thumb, and I have kept it there ever since. During the past
summer, I had upon its wettest and stiffest portion two beds of
Jucunda strawberries that yielded at the rate of one hundred and
ninety bushels to the acre. The Jucunda strawberry is especially
adapted to heavy land requiring drainage, and I think an enterprising
man in the vicinity of New York might so unite them as to make a
fortune. The hole was filled with stones and now forms a part of my
garden, and the canal answers for a road-bed as at first intended. In
the fortuitous well I have placed a force-pump, around which are
grown and watered my potted plants. The theory of carrying drains into
gravel does hold water, and sometimes holes can be dug at a slight
expense, that practically have no bottom. I have no doubt that in this
instance tile would have been better and cheaper than the small stone