WATtR MEADOWS. 309 



for the purposes of yegetation without the aid of water ; improvement 

 and also at the end of summer or autumn, when, if the of boggy land*, 

 meadows are fed with sheep, there may be some danger 

 of rotting them by using the water at this time of the 

 year. It will appear to those who are acquainted with 

 the management of Wiltshire water-meadows (by the ac- 

 count annexed, which I received from his Grace the Duke 

 of Bedford, and which states the quantity of grass cut 

 and the time of feeding the meadow), that the grass was 

 begun to be fed off before it war fit ; and, from the long 

 time that the sheep w^ere kept upon the ground during 

 the months of February, March, and April, there was 

 much of the water wasted, which should have hourly been 

 employed at that most prolific season. Experience proves, 

 that there is no danger of getting the grasses too strong 

 upon the ground at this early season, and that crops 

 which are six or seven inches high, and apparently too 

 coarse and high for a bullock to feed, are eaten with the 

 most eagerness by sheep in the spring ; and those parts 

 where the grass is the thickest and most luxuriant, are 

 always fed the closest, and sought after with the greatest 

 avidity. This being contrary to the common habits of 

 all animals which graze upon dry pastures, where they 

 give a decided preference to short and sweet herbage, may 

 lead many persons to think that the grass of a water mea- 

 dow may be too high and luxuriant for sheep ; but expe- 

 rience has proved, that such long grass is neither unfriend- 

 ly nor unsavoury to them ; and we know, that the grass 

 always grows the fastest when it has gained considerable 

 height and strength. It will also thicken at the bottom, 

 and the roots will get much stronger hold in the ground, 

 and consequently will not be subject to feel the want of 

 water so soon during the time of feeding, and be able to 

 make a much stronger shoot as soon as it is shut up again, 

 and the water restored to it. The greatest crop will also 

 be ©f the best quality both in grass and hay, and will 

 always be fed much closer and evener than in those places 

 where the floating has been any ways deficient. The 

 drowner, as he is generally called, or the man who has the 

 superintcndance of water-meadows, should therefore en- 

 deavour to make every part of the crop as uniform as 



possible ; 



