I Boo. On the Floating of I and. 2^3 



TO THE CONDUCTORS OF THE FARMER's MAGAZINE. 

 On the Floating of Land. 



Gentlemen, 



Amongst the many pertinent and fenfible remarks in your 

 review of Mr Middleton's Survey of Middlefex, I was fur- 

 prifed to find that the reviewer fhould think Mr Middleton 

 fpeaks in rather too high terms on the fubjedl of irrigation, 

 when he ftates, * that forty acres of good water-meadow 

 will fupport, in the greateft luxuriance, 500 Wiltfhire ewes 

 and lambs for fix weeks, from the middle of March to the 

 firft of May. ' On this quotation from Mr Middleton, the 

 reviewer obferves, * that it exceeds any thing he has met 

 with refpe£ling the produce of grafs land ; for it is only the" 

 beft meadow that will feed five ewes and lambs per acre, 

 from the middle of March to the firft of May ; and the great- 

 eft part of the paftures in the kingdorn will not fupport near 

 fo many. ' 



As the produce of watei'ed meadows certainly very far ex- 

 ceeds the produce of the beft pafture land, or the beft un- 

 nuatered meadow in the kingdom ; and as the floating or wa- 

 tering of land is one of the greateft improvements that can be 

 introduced into any country, when the rearing or feeding of 

 ftock is an obje6l j I would beg leave to point out to che at- 

 tention of the reviewer, the following ftatements of the pro- 

 duce of watered meadows by different authors. 



Mr Davies, in his Agricultural Survey of Wiltfhire, on the 

 fubje6t of Watered Meadows, ftates, * that one acre of good 

 meadow will fupport 500 Wiltftiire ewes and lambs for one 

 day j ' confequently, forty acres will fupport the above ftock 

 for forty days, which is only two days lefs than in the ftate- 

 ment given by Mr Middleton. 



Mr Wright, in the fecond edition of his treatife on Water- 

 ed Meadows, gives the following inftance of the produce of 

 a meadow in the neighbourhood of Cirencefter. * It wz^ 

 one which had been watered longer than the oldeft perfon iu 

 the parifh could remember, but was by no means the beft 

 meadow upon the ftream, nor was the preceding Winter fa- 

 vourable for watering. It contains fix acres and a half. 

 The Spring food was let for feven guineas, and well fup- 



B b 4 ported 



