In hilly districts, where there was not much water, the farmhouse was situate on the slope, or perhaps on the plateau above, and in summer very likely every drop of water used had to be drawn up there from a distance in tanks.
The whole of rural England, in short, wanted rearranging upon mathematical principles.

To begin at the smallest divisions, the fields should be mapped out like the squares of a chessboard; next, the parishes; and, lastly, the counties.

You ought to be able to work steam-ploughing tackle across a whole parish, if the rope could be made strong enough.

If you talked with a farmer, you found him somehow or other quite incapable of following a logical sequence of argument.

He got on very well for a few sentences, but, just as one was going to come to the conclusion, his mind seized on some little paltry detail, and refused to move any farther.