IRRIGATION OF LAND. 147 



mer. Another farmer in the same State even fills his ice house in 

 winter, from the place -where he cuts large crops of hay in June, 

 and where his large herd of fattening cattle, by grazing upon the 

 after crop, receive their finishing touches for the New York butcher. 

 Under date of Aug. 22, 1858, he wrote thus: "I have, at this 

 time about seventy head of stock cattle, sixty of which arc nearly 

 ripe for the butcher, and have cut about 100 tons of hay on forty 

 acres." It may not be improper to observe that ten years before 

 this gentleman's meadow land was the poorest part of his farm, and 

 irrigation both by winter and summer, in connection with a few 

 underdrains, is almost the sole means of rendering it thus produc- 

 tive, while at the same time the fine rich sediment which ho annu- 

 ally takes from his irrigated ditches and ponds and applies to his 

 other lands, he considers equal in value to the interest on $G00, the 

 cost of two permanent stone drains made entirely for irrigating pur- 

 poses. 



On steep hill sides where the water fails to entirely prevent the 

 earth from freezing, there is danger of the water getting beneath 

 the frozen ground and cutting deep gullies ; in such locations due 

 caution is necessary in conducting winter irrigation. The fertility 

 which the soil receives during winter is probably adapted to every 

 growing plant, and it also greatly tends to destroy the larvae of nu- 

 merous insects and worms which prey upon plants while growing; 

 and while all vegetation otherwheres is suspended and the earth frozen 

 to the ligidity of a rock, the watered field is alive, and to a great 

 extent exempt from the rigors of winter, and is rapidly increas- 

 ing in fertility, while its vegetation in spring is usually far in ad- 

 vance of other fields, which often require weeks of sunny days to 

 expel the frost from beneath the surface and to give new vigor to 

 the soil ; and to have the grass of spring meet the foi*age of the past 

 winter at an early day is of great importance to many farmers. 



There is another method of applying water to land in winter, 

 Avhich is known as inundation or flooding. This is applicable to 

 tracts ot land which are adjacent to streams, and when an opportu- 

 nity is presented to construct dams sufficient to cause the water to 

 overflow and flood the adjoining land ; the effect is somewhat similar 

 to that of winter irrigation proper, and is alike applicable to the 

 promotion of any crop adapted to the land. The water after the 



