The high ridges and deep furrows, to be seen on the heavy arable lands of the Vale of Evesham, are a source of wonderment to people who come from light land districts, and who do not recognize how impervious is the subsoil to the penetration of water.  The origin of these highly banked ridges dates from far-away days before land drain pipes were obtainable, and it was the only possible arrangement to prevent the perishing of crops from standing water in the winter.  The rain quickly found its way into the furrows from the ridges, and, as they always sloped in the direction of the lowest part of the field, the superfluous water soon disappeared.  Even now, when drain pipes are laid in the furrows, it is not advisable to level the ridges, because the water would take much longer to find the drains, and the growing crop would be endangered.  It is not safe to drain this land deeper than about 2-1/2 feet, and many thousands of pounds have been misapplied where draining has been done on money borrowed from companies who insist upon 3 feet as the minimum depth for any portion of the drain, which would mean much more than that where the drain occasionally passes through a stretch of rising ground.  As proving my statement that 2-1/2 feet is quite deep enough, I have seen great pools of water after a heavy rain standing exactly over the drain in the furrows, and we had sometimes to pierce the soil to the depth of the pipes, with an iron rod made for the purpose, before the water could get away.

On light land, the subsoil of which is often full of water, the case is quite different, and the pipes must be laid much deeper to relieve its water-logged condition; but on our stiff clay the subsoil was comparatively dry, and we had to provide only for the discharge of the surface water as quickly as possible, where the solid clay beneath prevented its sinking into the lower layers.

In the subsoil of the lias clay there are large numbers of a fossil shell, Gryphea incurva, known locally as “devils claws”; they certainly have a demoniac claw-like appearance, and worry the drainers by catching on the blade of the draining tool, and preventing its penetration into the clay.

I have heard the suggestion that our highly banked ridges were intended to increase the surface of the land available for the crops, just as it takes more cloth to cover a hump back than a normal one, but of course the rounded ridge does not provide any more vertical position for the crop, and the theory cannot be maintained.  Some of these ridges, “lands” as they are called, are so wide and so elevated that it was said that two teams could pass each other in the furrows, on either side of a single “land,” so hidden by the high ridge that they could not see one another; and I myself have noticed them on abandoned arable land that has been in grass from time immemorial, so high as nearly to answer the description.  Though the blue clay in the Vale of Evesham is so tenacious, it works beautifully after a few sharp frosts, splitting up into laminations that form a splendidly mouldy seed bed, so that frost has been eloquently called “God’s plough.”