218 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



which produces the richest vegetation I have ever seen 

 is from the oolite formation in the vale of Wardour : it 

 has been analyzed, and was found to be remarkable for 

 its purity ; its soluble contents were the chlorides of 

 sodium, calcium, and magnesium, in very small pro- 

 portions ; it presented no trace of any other metallic 

 salts, and was in all other respects an unusually fine 

 specimen of natural water ; its saline contents were 

 barely sufficient to give an opaline appearance to a so- 

 lution of soap, and it was singularly free from the 

 quality of hardness. The temperature of this water is 

 three degrees lower in the months of May and June 

 than the river water adjoining. Though both are used 

 for irrigation in the same meadow, their effects are 

 wonderfully different : the river water, although warmer, 

 does not produce half so much grass as the spring water, 

 and certain weeds which the land is subject to, such as 

 the cow-parsnip and others, are entirely destroyed on 

 the part watered by the spring, whilst on the part close 

 alongside, watered by the river water, these weeds grow 

 very luxuriantly. Where water of this description can 

 be obtained, it may be used much more sparingly, and 

 the meadow may have less gradients and wider beds 

 than a meadow watered by river water. But river 

 water, although not quite so forcing, will produce 

 good grass, and the land irrigated thereby will 

 be enriched by the alluvial matter contained in the 

 water, which, every time it becomes in a turbid 

 state, will, by the filtration by the grasses, leave a de- 

 posit of mud on the land, perhaps to the thickness of a 

 sheet of writing-paper : this, by repetition, will in the 

 course of time greatly enrich the soil, especially that which 

 is of a gravelly orpeaty nature. It is apity that thealluvium 

 in our rivers should be suffered to run into the sea, thereby 

 choking up our bays and harbours, when it would so 

 much enrich the land in the valleys through which the 

 rivers pass. I may here remark that all water is very 

 good for irrigation, wherein certain aquatic plants grow, 

 such as brooklime, watercresses, and the water-milfoil, 

 and where stones and other substances in the stream are 

 thickly covered with lichen. Some of the best descrip- 

 tion of grasses for water-meadows are — Anthoxanthum 

 odoratum, or sweet-scented vernal grass ; Festuca praten- 

 sis, or meadow fescue-grass; Phleumpratense, orjTimothy 

 grass ; Lolium perenne, or rye grass ; Agrostis stolonifera, 

 or florin grass. All these are found in the best of the 

 Wiltshire water-meadows, especially the Timothy and 

 florin grasses. I should recommend in all new water- 

 meadows a mixture of Italian rye grass. I will now 

 state what may be considered the average produce of the 

 water meadows in South Wilts. In doing so I will take 

 a meadow of twenty acres, depastured in spring by sheep, 

 The spring feed of this meadow as fed in April will keep 

 400 couples of sheep twenty-five days, during which 

 time these 400 couples will (old ten acres of arable laud, 

 and it will after this yield in the first and second cuttings 

 of grass about forty tons of hay. As I have said, this 

 may be considered the average produce of these water- 

 meadows. But in order to see the capabilities of some 

 of the best description, I will here state the annual ave- 

 rage produce of some of them. In showing this, I will 

 again take a twenty-acre meadow, the spring grass of 

 which, when fed by sheep from about the last week in 

 March till the middle of May, will keep 400 couples 

 seven weeks. During this time these couples will fold 

 in the arable land from fifteen to twenty acres. This 

 meadow will then in two cuttings give at least sixty tons 

 of hay. In this case there is "annually put on the arable 

 land fifteen acres of spring folding and sixty tons or more 

 of hay, thus enabling the farmers to dispense with the 

 growing of about twenty acres of turnips and about 

 twenty-five acres of field grass, or to increase the number 

 of his sheep stock on a farm of 400 to 500 acres at least 



twelve per cent. I have myself, on a meadow of 13a. 

 3r. 26p., kept on the spring grass, in April and May, 

 277 couples 33 days, and 11 cows 26 days, with a little 

 less then ten'ponnds of hay per day per cow ; after which 

 there was cut from the same meadow at least two tons 

 of hay per acre, the aftermath being fed by cows and 

 horses. I have also mown part of a water meadow 

 twenty-nine times in six consecutive years, the produce of 

 which averaged annually during the six years a little more 

 than forty tons of grass per acre — one year it produced 

 more than forty- seven tons. In some seasons, when 

 there is a failure of the turnip crop, the spring feed of 

 water-meadows is exceedingly valuable. I have known 

 it frequently let for £1 or £% per acre, and in one in- 

 stance I knew the spring feed of a water-meadow of 

 6^ acres let for £80, or a little more than £13 per acre." 

 Mr. Squarry then proceeded to observe that the 

 application of water-meadows to dairy purposes obtains 

 to a very large extent in the neighbourhood of Salis- 

 bury. There were, indeed, large areas specially ap- 

 plied to this purpose. He then pointed out that in the 

 meadows surrounding Salisbury, the cows, if they have 

 calved, are turned into the meadows about the last week 

 in March, or first week in April — at first, for a few 

 hours at a time only. The grass produces a plentiful 

 supply of milk, but it is necessary that cows should have 

 some hay at night to counteract the otherwise too pur- 

 gative effect of the grass. During the feeding of the 

 meadows by cows, butter and the fatting of calves are 

 the staple productions ; as the season advances, how- 

 ever, good cheese is manufactured from them. If there 

 is insufficient dry pasture to take the dairy cows on the 

 meadow during the growth of the hay crop, one of the 

 meadows is alternately fed instead of being mowed. It 

 is, in this neighbourhood, unusual for meadows to be 

 mowed more than once in the year, and for the most 

 part the grass, after the hay crop, is consumed by cows 

 and horses — a course generally considered compulsory, 

 in consequence of the almost certain production of the 

 rot, or flake, in the liver of sheep fed in any water- 

 meadow after Midsummer. The value of the meadows 

 in relation to arable land would be much increased if 

 this result could in any way be mitigated or avoided. 

 Mr. Combes' experience as to the frequent mowing of 

 water-meads during the spring, summer, and autumn, 

 teaches conclusively that where a plentiful supply of 

 water is obtainable no decrease in the future crop is ob- 

 served. The advantage may, however, be doubted where 

 the supply of water is insufficient. He next alluded to 

 the cost of cleansing the carriers, floaters, and drains, 

 and watering the meadows, which, he observed, 

 amounted to about 5s. per acre. The mode in which 

 water-meadows influence the system of arable farming 

 was next touched on, Mr. Squarry confining the atten- 

 tion of his hearers to the principles which govern the 

 management of farms upon the chalk. On this head he 

 observed : It would be a grave error to consider the 

 management of our arable lands] as devoted particularly 

 either to sheep and dairy purposes, on the one hand, 

 or, on the other, to corn farming ; and yet there are 

 periods of the year when both remarks would be fairly 

 applicable. It is the mixed judicious application of 

 sheep stock to the purposes of profitable feeding at the 

 one time, and their employment as " dung carriers" to 

 the distant fields at another, which constitutes what is 

 supposed to be the right management of the hill-lands. 

 To take, therefore, as illustrations, the two rotations of 

 four fields which most frequently occur, let us suppose 

 the first set of fields to be managed in the ordinary course 

 of wheat, turnips, barley, and grass. This course is so 

 identical with that which is current elsewhere, that it 

 needs no further observation than that a catch- 

 crop of rye, winter oats, or vetches, invari- 



