4055. But the principal efforts in watering lands have been made during the latter end of the last, and beginning of the present century, in consequence of a treatise on the subject by George Boswell, published in 1780; and various others by the Rev. Thomas Wright, of Auld, in Northamptonshire, which appeared from 1789 to 1810. The practice, however, has been chiefly confined to England, there being a sort of national prejudice, as Loch has observed (Improvements on the Stafford Estates, &c.), against the practice in Scotland, though its beneficial effects may be seen as far north as Sutherland, where rills on the sides of brown heathy mountains, never fail to destroy the heath plants within their reach, which are succeeded by a verdant surface of grasses. A valuable treatise on the subject of irrigation in Scotland, by Dr. Singer, will be found in The General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 610. In England the best examples of watering are to be found in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. In our view of this subject, we shall first consider the soils and situations suitable for irrigation, and next the different modes of effecting it, known as flooding, irrigating, warping, irrigation on arable lands, and subterraneous irrigation.

SUBSECT. 1. Of the Soils and Situations suitable for the purposes of Watering Lands. 4056. The theory of the operation of water on lands we have already developed. It appears to act as a medium of conveying food, as a stimulus, as a consolidation of mossy soils, as a destroyer of some descriptions of weeds or useless plants, and as the cause of warmth at one season, and of a refreshing coolness at another. From these circumstances, and also from what we observe in nature, there appears to be no soil or situation, nor any climate, in which watering grass-lands may not be of service; since the banks of streams between mountains of every description of rock, and in every temperature from that of Lapland to the equator, are found to produce the richest grass. One circumstance alone seems common to all situations, which is, that the lands must be drained either naturally or by art. The flat surfaces on every brook or river, after being covered with water during floods, are speedily dried when they subside, by the retiring of the waters to their channel.

4057. The most proper soils for being watered are all those which are of a sandy or gravelly friable nature, as the improvement is not only immediate, but the effects more powerful than on other descriptions of land. There are also some strong adhesive sour wet lands, such as are common in the vicinity of large rivers, which are also capable of being improved by watering, but the beneficial effects are not in such cases so soon produced as on those of the first sorts, nor is the process so advantageous to the farmer, on account of the very great expense to which he must, in many cases, be put to by previous draining. There are some other lands, as those which contain coarse vegetable produce tions, as heath, ling, rushes, &c. which may likewise be much improved by watering. It must be kept constantly in mind in attempting this sort of improvement, that the more tenacious the soil is the greater the command of water ought to be for effecting the purpose, as a stream capable of watering fifteen or twenty acres of light dry land, would be found to be beneficial in but a small degree when applied to watering half the same quantity of cold clayey ground such as in their natural state abound with coarse plants. On all soils of the last kind a considerable body of water is requisite for the purpose of floating them in order to produce much benefit, and where that cannot be procured, this mode of improvement will seldom answer the farmer's intention or be advantageous in the result.

4058. Smith, an experienced irrigator, supposes that "there are only a few soils to which irrigation may not be advantageously applied: his experience, he says, has determined, that the wettest land may be greatly improved by it, and also that it is equally beneficial to that which is dry." (Obs. on Irrigation, &c.) But that as many persons unacquainted with the nature of irrigation may be more inclined to the latter supposition than the former, he explains the reason of wet land being as capable of improvement from flooding as that which is completely dry before. It is that in the construction of all water meadows, particular care must be taken to render them perfectly dry when the business of floating shall terminate; and that the season for floating is in the winter and not the summer, which those who are unacquainted with the process have too generally supposed. All peat bogs are certainly of vegetable origin, and those vegetables are all aquatic. It follows that the same water which has produced the vegetables of the bog would, under due management upon the surface, produce such grasses, or other vegetables, as are usually grown by the farmer; and he has hitherto had reason to think, that this may be considered as a general rule for determining the situation of any experiments with water. The lands that permit of this sort of improvement with the most success are such as lie in low situations on the borders of brooks, streams, or rivers, or in sloping directions on the sides of hills.

4059. The quality of the water, like that of marl or other manures, is supposed by some to be a matter of the first importance; but it is now fully proved, by the accurate

experiments of an able chymist, and by the extraordinary growth of grasses in Pristley meadow, in Bedfordshire, that ferruginous waters are friendly to vegetation, when properly applied. (Smith's Observations on Irrigation, p. 28.) Lead or copper never does good, and it is well known, that waters of that description, after they have been brought into fields, by levels cut at a considerable expense, have again been diverted, and suffered to flow in their original channels. Waters that are impregnated with the juices that flow from peat-mosses, are considered by many not worth applying to the soil. It is objected to them, that they are soon frozen; that they convey no material nutriment; and that they are commonly loaded with such antiseptic substances, as will retard, instead of promoting vegetation. (Dr. Singer's Treatise, p. 579.) It is urged, on the other hand, that a want of sufficient slope in the meadow, or of proper management in regard to the water, may have occasioned the disappointments experienced in some cases, when bogwaters have been applied. (Derbyshire Report, vol. ii. p. 463.)

4060. The advantages of watering lands must, in a material degree, depend on the climate. It is evident that the benefit to be derived from this process in Sweden for example, where the summers are short, must be greatly inferior to what it is in Lombardy where grass grows all the year; and much less in Perthshire, where grass ceases to grow for at least three, and often four months in the year, than in Gloucestershire or Ireland, where its growth is not interrupted above a month or six weeks, and sometimes not at all: most grasses vegetating in a temperature of 33 or 34 degrees. Still, however, as the most luxuriant pastures are found on lands naturally watered, both in Sweden and Perthshire, it would appear worth while to imitate nature in cold as well as warm countries. According to many writers on the subject, the benefits attending watering in England, are immense. In Davis's Survey of Wiltshire, it is calculated that 2000 acres of water meadow will, on a moderate estimate, produce in four or five years, 10,000 tons of manure, and will keep in permanent fertility 400 acres per annum of arable land.

it.

4061. Watering poor land, especially if of a gravelly nature, is stated in The Code of Agriculture to be by far the easiest, cheapest, and most certain mode of improving "Land, when once improved by irrigation, is put in a state of perpetual fertility, without any occasion for manure, or trouble of weeding, or any other material expense. It becomes so productive, as to yield the largest bulk of hay, besides abundance of the very best support for ewes and lambs in the spring, and for cows and other cattle in the autumn of every year. In favorable situations, it produces very early grass in the spring, when it is doubly valuable; and, not only is the land thus rendered fertile, without having any occasion for manure, but it produces food for animals, which is converted into manure, to be used on other lands, thus augmenting, in a compound proportion, that great source of fertility." Were these advantages more generally known, or more fully appreciated, a large proportion of the kingdom might become like South Cerney, in Gloucestershire, where every spring, or rivulet, however insignificant, is made subservient to the purpose of irrigation, fertilizing, in proportion to its size, either a small quantity, or a large tract of land. (Gloucestershire Report, p. 280.) SUBSECT. 2. Of the Implements made Use of in Watering Lands; and of the Terms of Art peculiar to Works of that kind.

4062. The principal instrument made use of in the preparation of lands for watering, is the level, different descriptions of which have already been given. The level is necessarily employed to take the level of the land at a distance, compared with the part of the river, &c. whence it is intended to take the water, to know whether it can or cannot be made to float the part intended to be watered. It is found very useful in undertakings of this nature, especially when on a large scale, though the workmen too frequently dispense with the use of it, bringing the water after them to work by. In drawing a main they begin at the head, and work deep enough to have the water to follow them; and in drawing a tail drain they begin at the lower end of it, and work upwards to let the water come after them. The level should, however, be made use of as being more certain and correct. Brown, an experienced irrigator in the west of England, recommends a level (fig. 522 a), which when not in use may be closed (6) like a walking stick. There is also a compass level (fig. 523.), which may be used in the same way.

522

4063. A line and reel, and a breast-plough, or turf spade (fig. 250., are likewise absolutely necessary. The use of the two former are well known; but as the line is mostly used in the wet, it should for this purpose be larger and stronger than those employed in gardening. The turf spade should be of the best description, being principally employed in cutting turfs for the sides of the channels.

523

4064. The spades made use of in this sort
of work (fig. 524 a), should have the stems
considerably more crooked than those of
any other sort; the bit being of iron, about
a foot wide in the middle, terminating in a
point; a thick ridge running perpendicu- a
larly down the middle, from the stem almost
to the point; the edges on both sides should
be drawn very thin, and as they are obliged
to be kept very sharp, they should be often
ground and whetted. This necessarily wears
them away, and they soon become narrow;
they are then used for the narrow trenches

and drains, whilst new ones are used for the wider.

524

From the stems being made

crooked, the workmen, standing in the working position in the bottom of the trench

or drain, are enabled to make them quite smooth and even. (fig. 525 a, b), and a scoop for lifting water (c), are also requisite.

526

4065. The crescent (fig. 524 b) is another tool made like the gardener's edging iron, only much larger, having a the form of a crescent, being very thin, and well steeled, with a stem about three feet long, and a cross handle to bear upon. is used for tracing out the sides of the mains, trenches, drains, &c.

a

It

4066. The turf knife (fig. 526.) has a scymiter-like blade, with a tread for the foot (a) and a bent handle (b); it is used for the same purpose as the crescent, and by some preferred.

Shovels of different forms

525

b

4067. Wheelbarrows also become necessary to remove the clods to flat places; which may be open, without sides or hinder parts.

4068. Handbarrows are likewise sometimes made use of where the ground is too soft to admit of the wheelbarrows, and where clods require to be removed during the time the meadow is in water.

4069. Three-wheel carts, &c. are, however, necessary, when large quantities of earth are to be removed, particularly when it is carried to some distance.

4070. Scythes, of different sorts, (fig. 527 a, b), are required to mow the weeds and grass, when the water is running in the trenches, drains, &c.

4071. Besides these, forks (c), and long four or five tined hacks, are requisite to pull

527

a

out the roots of the sedge, rushes, reed, &c. which grow in the large mains and drains. The crooks should be made light, and have long stems, to reach wherever the water is so deep that the workmen cannot work in it.

4072. And stout large water-proof boots, having tops so as to draw up half the length of the thigh, are indispensable; they must be large enough to admit a quantity of hay to be stuffed down all round the legs, and be kept well tallowed, to resist the running water for a length of time.

4073. The terms made use of are very different.

4074. A ware is an erection across a river, brook, rivulet, main, &c. made often of timber only, sometimes of bricks, or stones and timber, with from two to eight, or ten thoroughs (openings) to let the water through, according to the breadth of the stream. Its height is always equal to the depth of the stream compared with the adjacent land. Its use is, when the hatches are all in their proper places, to stop the whole current, that the water may rise high enough to overflow the banks, and spread over the adjoining U u

land; or, by stopping the water in its natural course, turn it through mains, cut to convey it another way, to some distant lands, to water them.

4075. A sluice (fig. 528 a, b) is made exactly as a ware, only it has but one thorough; for if there are more than one, it becomes a ware.

4076. A trunk is a covered sluice, being constructed in all cases where two streams of water are to cross each other at the point of discharge, to serve as a bridge.

4077. A carriage is a sort of small wooden or brick aqueduct, built open, for the purpose of carrying one stream over another, and is the most expensive conveyance belonging to the business of watering.

4078. A drain sluice, or drain trunk, signifies such as are placed in the lowest part of a main, as near to the head as a drain can be formed, and situated low enough to drain the main, &c. It is placed with the mouth at the bottom of the main, being let down into the bank; and from its other end a drain is cut to communicate with some trenchdrain that is nearest. It is a contrivance used to carry off the leakage through the hatches when they are shut down, to convey the water to other grounds, or to repair the main, &c.

4079. Hatches, (fig. 528 c) are floodgates, variously constructed. A particular kind, which have about a foot, to take off, so as to permit the water to flow over that much of the hatch where it appears to be useful in irrigation has been in use, but is not found to answer. They are best when made whole; they may be made of any timber, but oak and elm are the best.

4080. The term head main is used to signify a ditch drawn from the river, rivulet, &c. to convey the water out of its usual current to water the lands laid out for that purpose, through the means of lesser mains and trenches. The head main is drawn of various breadths and depths, according to the quantity of land to be watered; to the length, or to the fall or descent of the land it is cut through. And it often happens that smaller mains are taken out of the head main; the only difference between them is, the one being much less than the other, and are mostly cut at, or nearly at, right angles with the other, though sometimes many degrees less. The use of both the large and small mains is to feed the various trenches with water, which branch out into all parts of the meadow, and convey the water to float the land. These smaller mains are by some called carriages, but improperly, for it is confounding them with the open trunk, called by that name, as seen above. 4081. The trench is a narrow shallow ditch, made to take the water out of the mains to float the land with. It ought always to be drawn in a straight line from angle to angle, with as few turnings as possible. It is never made deep, but the width is in proportion to the length it runs, and the breadth of the pane, between that and the trench drain. It is always cut gradually narrower and narrower to the lower end.

4082. The trench drain is cut parallel to the trench, and as deep as the tail drain water will admit when necessary. It ought always to be cut, if possible, so as to come down to a firm stratum of sand, gravel, or clay. If the latter, a spade's depth into it will be of great advantage; its use is to carry away the water immediately after it has run over the panes from the trench. It need not be drawn up to the head of the land, by five, six, or more yards, according to the nature of the soil. Its form is the reverse of the trench, being narrower at the head, or upper part, and gradually wider and wider, till it comes to the lower end and empties itself into the tail drain, which is a receptacle for all the water that runs out of the other drains, that are so situated as not to empty themselves into the river; and therefore it should run nearly at right angles with the trenches, but, in general, the preference is given to draw it in the lowest part of the ground, and to use it to convey the water out of the meadow where there is the greatest descent; this is generally found in one of the fence ditches: for which reason a fence ditch is mostly used for that purpose, answering two purposes, fencing the meadow, and draining it at the same time.

4083. A pane of ground is that part of the meadow which lies between the trench and the trench drain, and is the part on which the grass grows that is mown for hay; it is wa

tered by the trenches and drained by the trench drains, consequently there is one on each side of every trench. And a way pane is that part of the ground which lies in a properly watered meadow, on that side of a main where no trenches are taken out, but is watered the whole length of the main over its banks; a drain runs parallel with the main to drain the way pane; its use is for a road to convey the hay upon out of the meadows, instead of the teams crossing all the trenches.

4084. The term bend is applied to a stoppage made in various parts of those trenches which have a quick descent, to obstruct the water. It is made by leaving a narrow slip of greensward across the trench, where the bend is intended to be left, cutting occasionally a piece, wedge fashion, out of the middle of it. Its use is to check the water, and force

it over the trench into the panes ; which, if it were not for those bends, would run rapidly on in the trench, and not flow over the land, as it passes along. The great art of watering meadows consists in giving to every part of each pane an equal quantity of water.

4085. A gutter is a small groove cut out from the tails of those trenches, where the panes run longer at one corner than the other. Its use is to carry the water to the extreme point of the pane. Those panes which are intersected by the trench and tail drains meeting in an obtuse angle, want the assistance of these gutters to convey the water to the longest side. Another use of them is, when the land has not been so well levelled but some parts of the panes lie higher than they ought, a gutter is then drawn from the trench over that high ground, which otherwise would not be overflowed. Without this

precaution, unless the flats were filled up (which ought always to be done when materials can be had to do it), the water will not rise upon it: and after the watering season is past, those places would appear rusty and brown, whilst a rich verdure would overspread the others; and at hay-time the grass in those places would be scarce high enough for the scythe to touch it, whilst that around them, which has been properly watered, will from its luxuriancy lie down. Though this method of treating those places is mentioned, it ought always to be reprobated; for every inequality in water meadows should either be levelled down or filled up. Here the irrigator's skill is shown, in bringing the water over those places where it could not rise of itself, and in carrying it off from others where it would otherwise stagnate.

4086. The term catch drain is sometimes applied to another method made use of to water the land when the water is scarce, and it is this: when a meadow is pretty long and has a quick descent, the water runs swiftly down those drains, one or more of them are, at a proper place, close stopped, till the water flowing thither rises higher and higher, either till it strikes back into the tail drains, so high as to rise upon the sides of the panes (in that case it will not succeed, and must be cut open again to let the water free), or till it flows over the banks of the drain, and waters the ground below; then the design succeeds, and (in proportion to the quantity of water thus collected) it is to be conveyed upon the land, either in a small main, out of which trenches are to be drawn with their proper drains, or by trenches taken immediately out of it. But a catch drain is by no means recommended; and it is proper to remark, that even when this method succeeds, the water having been so lately strained over the ground, it is supposed by the watermen to be not so enriching as it was before it was used, and therefore nothing but absolute necessity can justify its adoption.

4087. The bed of a river, main, trench, &c. is the bottom of them.

4088. The term pond means water standing upon the land, or in the tail drain, trench drains, &c. so as to injure the ground near them; and is occasioned sometimes by the flats not having been properly filled up; and at other times, when a ware being shut close, to water some high ground above it, the water is thrown back upon the ground contiguous. In this case the lesser evil, whichever it is, must be borne with.

4089. And a turn of water means so much land in a meadow as can be watered at one time. It is done by shutting down the hatches in all those wares where the water is intended to be kept out, and opening those that are to let the water through them. The quantity of land to be watered by one turn, must vary with the size of the river, main, &c. as well as with the plenty or scarcity of water.

4090. The head of a meadow is that part into which the river, main, &c. first enters; and the tail of a meadow is that part out of which the river, &c. last passes.

4091. The upper side of a main, or trench, is that side which (when the main or trench is drawn at, or nearly at, right angles with the river, &c.) fronts the part from whence the river entered. Consequently the lower side is the reverse.

4092. And the upper pane in a meadow is that pane which lies upon the upper side of the main, or trench, that is drawn at right angles with the river: that is, when the river, &c. runs north and south, entering at the north, and the mains and trenches are drawn east and west, all those panes, which lie on the north side of the main, &c. are called the upper panes, those on the south side are called the lower. But it may be noticed, that where the mains, trenches, &c. run parallel with the river, the panes on either side are not distinguished from each other.