284 



TJic Country Geutleinaiis Magazine 



followed by close moist weather. I, there- 

 fore, regard drainage as imperative ; and the 

 drier the surface can be kept, and the more 

 air and light that can be admitted, so much 

 the better. 



My object in penning these remarks is not 

 to attempt teaching farmers a lesson as to 

 planting and after culture, as they are think- 

 ing men. I appeal more to cottagers and 

 small growers, who have but limited ground ; 

 and to these I would say, add to your potato 

 grounds every year all that you can get hold 

 of in parings from the road side, and from 

 hedges, and any sods of good soil you can 

 obtam hold of. Burn all your coarse 

 weeds, clippings of hedges, rough bits of 

 turf; in fact any waste material you can 

 get hold of and apply the ashes to your 

 land. You cannot go wrong in this ; or the 

 addition of any wood ashes ; and fires in 

 some out-of-the-way place can be kept going. 

 It is far better to burn your weeds before 

 they seed than to allow them to seed, as you 

 gain in vital power to your land, as well as in 

 a saving of labour to yourselves. Do this : 

 store your seed carefully, plant early and not 

 too close, and if very wet weather sets in and 

 produces disease, thin out a good bit of the 



haulm to admit light and air. Keep the 

 ground hoed and clear of weeds, and I think 

 you will do much towards arresting the 

 violence of the disease. One more hint, and 

 it is this : as soon as the potatoes are dug, 

 let the ground be instantly thrown up in high 

 ridges, and let this operation be frequently 

 repeated during the winter. By this means 

 the ground will become sweeter, and more 

 fitting for the reception of the crops by the 

 action of the frost and air on the soil. 



Profitable cottage gardening is a subject 

 which the clergymen of this country should 

 take in hand and teach their parishioners. 

 The cottage gardens of the country districts 

 are too often plots of neglected ground, and 

 by means of pamphlets containing hints, and 

 by advice, a great deal of good can be done. 

 Profitable cottage cookery is another subject 

 I would suggest should also be taken in hand, 

 by the clergy and their wives teaching our 

 poorer cottagers how to utilize vegetables in 

 the form of nutritious soups and broths, as 

 they do in Scotland and on the Continent, 

 where vegetables are of more importance than 

 meat. We are lamentably ignorant in this 

 country of the multitudinous uses to which 

 vegetables can be adapted. 



IRRIGATING PASTURE LAND. 



By Dr Hopkins. 



ARTIFICIAL irrigation consists in con- 

 ducting water from some natural 

 source of supply, such as rivers, springs, 

 lakes, orrivuletsbymeansof channels or ducts, 

 to the cultivated land which it is desired to 

 irrigate. In some places this is done by 

 throwing dams across rivers so as to raise 

 their levels, and by forcing the water into a 

 canal, cut from the river at some point above 

 the dam ; the canal is then carried along the 

 highest grounds consistent with giving a suffi- 

 cient slope to its bed to insure a regular flow 



* Read before the Carmarthenshire Farmers' Chib, 



of water, for which minor channels are led 

 off for the purpose of distributing the water 

 to the various fields or divisions of lands. 

 Where existing lakes are found, the process 

 of leading off the water in canals is simple 

 enough, but artificial reservoirs are often con- 

 structed by damming up a gorge in a range 

 of hills, in which is collected and stored all 

 the rainfall draining into it ; and where rock 

 abounds, a practice prevails in some parts 

 of excavating a subterraneous passage, 

 having the usual slope of an irrigation canal, 

 in the direction where water is supposed to 

 exist. Time will not permit me to enter 



