Drought Anomalies Though waterspouts descend we shall still in many
south English country places be enduring the drought for at least four months to come ; and we have no great confidence that February fill-dyke will deserve its name and reputation. Springs are quite dry along the river valleys in the lower Chilterns, but there are curious anomalies. A good many wells are not perceptibly lower, and local well-borers on the upper reaches fmd water almost- exactly at the depth that they prophesy. I saw one prophet justified almost to an inch. Now some rivers were shortened and others shrank some forty years ago, owing to the extra demands of London—or such was the allegation ; and many wells were deepened and bores sunk further. In some of these deepened wells and bores there has been little or no shrinkage since the drought—and the experience seems to be irreconcilable with the ceasing of the springs in the valleys. You see a more or less similar contrast in the streams. Though the springs beside them (many utilized for watercress beds) are stone dry, the main brook runs freely and is fed as freely as ever, so it seems, from the upper springs about the source. Since it takes only a week to bore down 220 feet through this chalk and the running cost of an electric pump is negligible (2s. 6d. a quarter for a household of eight or ten), there is little excuse for leaving any Chiltern village short of water.
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