IRRIGATION OF LAND. 143 



matted together by the roots of the grass." In all locations u)hcre 

 standh'ig water in the soil prevents' sitrf ace water from settling 

 down through the soil to the depth of three feet or 7nore, irriga- 

 tion is not beneficial^ but in nearly all cases where grass lands nat- 

 urally wet, have been reclaimed by underdrains, irrigation has been 

 found to produce great results. 



While it must be admitted that the localities where irrigation can 

 be applied, especially by the natural gravitation of water, are but 

 small portions of any country, yet those localities often occur, and 

 more frequently than might be supposed. On the Blackstone river 

 and its tributaries, in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island it has 

 been long, and perhaps more extensively practiced, than in any 

 other section of New England. In the interior of New York a land 

 holder irrigates 125 acres, and it is also practiced in that and other 

 States on parcels of land of various areas down to a single acre, and 

 when it is considered that the waters of nearly all streams, from 

 the largest to the smallest, are adapted to the purpose, whether they 

 be what are termed hard or soft water, warm or cold, and that level 

 lands are adapted to one method and sloping lands to another, and 

 when it is also considered that all streams flow with a greater or 

 less inclination or fall, and that their waters may be conducted oflf 

 in channels for irrigation to a great distance upon a still less fall, 

 it may be inferred that the locations are very numerous where it 

 may be profitably and in many cases extensively applied. There 

 are but few farms probably in the northern or eastern States but 

 what have streams of a greater or less volume passing through them, 

 and even the small streams which flow but a single month in spring 

 are quite eCective, when their waters can be spread over the adja- 

 cent surface as far as they will reach. 



In all cases where the least doubt exists with regard to the prac- 

 ticability of conducting water to any field from a stream, the eye 

 alone should never be relied upon to decide the matter. A mason's 

 or carpenter's spirit level may be used to ascertain the practicabil- 

 ity, but in locating and laying out the main ditch or canal, furrows, 

 laterals, (fee, the span or plumb level is pi-eferable, which is easily made 

 of two narrow strips of board and a cross piece, in the form of the cap- 

 ital letter A, the plumb line, being suspended from the apex, will 

 show by marks on the cross piece (corresponding to inches and 



