IRRIGATION OF LAND, 149 



Such, certainly, is not always the case. Careful analyses go far to 

 show that the hay of watered meadows may be worth more than 

 that of others. It is asserted, too, by other farmers, who have had 

 practical experience, that both cattle and sheep"will fatten on irrigated 

 hay alone, and it has often been observed that cattle, and in fact all 

 other stock, so prefer watered portions of* a field, that such part is 

 fed much closer, indeed the exact limits of the water are frequently 

 very curiously marked in this way by the cattle, and so distinctly 

 that it may be seen at a considerable distance. 



A prominent reason why irrigation merits the attention of farm- 

 ers, may be found in the fact that it is so remarkably adapted to the 

 promotion of the grass and hay crop, this being the most valuable 

 one grown, and admitting that a given area of watered meadow or 

 pasture yields only double the quantity produced on a like area of 

 dry or unwatered land, it will be seen that the farmer obtains a 

 like increase of this valuable crop to the extent of his watered lands, 

 and may market his hay or increase his stock to the same extent, 

 while at the same time the watered meadow is self-fertilizinfz;, while 

 the dry meadow nearly every year requires an expenditure to keep 

 up its fertility. The irrigated tract, while demanding no manure, 

 may contribute largely in furnishiog the necessary manure for other 

 portions of the farm. Whenever it is desired to suspend irrigation 

 for the culture of other crops, the soil in most cases will be found 

 greatly improved, the character changed, and apparently con- 

 structed anew, and in a very finely pulverized and permeable state, 

 well adapted to all farm crops. In thousands of instances irriga- 

 tion may be the cheapest method of enriching soils, whether natu- 

 rally barren or rendered so by cropping. 



An important feature in relation to irrigation is, that whatever 

 its utility may be, its benefits are of the most reliable and durable 

 nature, and whatever its effects may be during one year, they will 

 at least be no less the next and all succeeding years. Probably the 

 most conclusive evidence of this may be seen in Egypt, which has 

 been pronounced the most fertile country in the world, and this fer- 

 tility is derived from the waters of the Nile, by both natural and 

 artificial irrigation and inundation, and this wonderful and stupen- 

 dous system of fertilizing the soil, compared with which, all the 

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