FARMS. 83 



of a thorough disintegration of the soil in the mechanical 

 preparation of it for the seed ; the importance, also, of an early 

 planting of those crops which require a long season for their 

 maturity ; and the use of ashes, guano, or a rich compost, as a 

 stimulant in the corn hill and on the grain field. 



Irrigation is a method of fertilizing grass lands of which the 

 intelligent cultivator, in favorable situations, may avail himself 

 with great advantage and at comparatively little cost. It is 

 not common in this section ; but wherever introduced and 

 judiciously managed, it has been attended with satisfactory 

 results. A distinguished American agriculturist, who had 

 observed much of it in Europe, remarks, that, in his opinion, 

 "there is not a cultivated portion of the Union, the productive- 

 ness of which might not be increased one-fifth by irrigation." 

 A farmer in the State of New York, who had practised it 

 for four years upon a farm favorably situated with a stream 

 running through it, says : " The lands irrigated were formerly 

 the most difficult I had to keep in grass or meadow, being 

 mostly of a gravelly loam soil, and requiring constant applica- 

 tions of manure, and ploughing every three or four years, to 

 keep it in tolerable condition. I now take a heavy crop of the 

 best quality of fine, early made hay, without any return of 

 manure but the simple water of the stream. 



" I close these grounds from my stock the first of April. 

 They are then fit to mow early in June, and will be ready, a 

 few days after mowing, for pasturage ; and will carry more 

 stock at grazing than any other lands on the farm. In the 

 most gravelly portions, the increase of the value for grass is 

 more than five hundred fold ; and the whole of it, I consider, 

 has more than doubled, if not trebled, in intrinsic value. 



" The water of the brook passing through t>he farm is 

 dammed, so as to secure a sufficient head to carry the water in 

 ditches on each side of the stream below the dam, and is spread 

 from the main conduits over the land, where it remains as Ions: 

 as necessary, and is then shut off. I flow the grounds at inter- 

 vals, at all seasons of the year ; but when the grass is becoming 

 fit for mowing, the intervals are longer. * * * The ani- 

 malcule in the brook water are also a great source of fertility." 



It will be readily seen that irrigation can be practiced only 

 in certain localities, and that the methods of conductinsr it 



