306 WATER MEADOWS. 



Improvement In some meadows, after they have had a compFctc soak- 

 of boggy lands, ing, which has saturated the soil, and the grass has 

 ^ '^ ' thickened npon the surface, vegetation will not be retard- 

 ed for sometime for want of water, and those parts which 

 were forced the most in the autumn, will require the 

 least in the spring. It will therefore be always advisable 

 on account of the water and a succession of grass, to get 

 somepart of the water-meadow as forward as possible in 

 the autumn, that that part may be dried and fed the first 

 in the spring, while all the water is employed in forcing 

 on those other parts of the meadow which were neglected 

 in the autumn. 



By a prudent management of the water in uniting its 

 vegetative powers upon those pieces of meadow which 

 are disposed to produce the earliest vegetation in the 

 ^ spring, and so on in succession, from the earliest to the 

 latest pieces of ground, or those which can be made so ; 

 a regular succession of grasses might be obtained, which 

 would be much better than trying to get the whole alike, 

 especially, if the quantity in one person's possession be 

 very considerable, and his quantity of water likely to fail 

 or barely to sujSice for the purpose. 



This method of using the water in succession upon por- 

 tions of the meadow, wliich practice shall prove it capa- 

 ble of covering at one time, will be applicable to most 

 meadows ; for there are few, that are well formed, that 

 have too much water, especially in the winter, or where 

 there are any mills or navigations ; I have generally ob^ 

 perved tliat the best meadows upon the large streams, are 

 . those which have the most water and the best falls. 



Account of the Nine Acres of Water Meadozv, on Prism 

 leij Farm near Fletwick^ IVestoning^ and Tingrith in 

 Bedfordshire^, 



As the quantity of water is sometimes insufficient tq 

 iloat the whole of this meadow at once, it has been con- 



* A map of this meadow, but without any account of the me- 

 thod of forming it, may be seen in the Communications of the 

 Board of Agriculture, Vol. IV. page 341. 



trived 



