320 On the Benefit of Water Meadows. juiy 



not material what the fliape of a water meadow is, or that 

 the difporition of the trenches (proviiicially " the works of the 

 tneadoiv") Ihould be uniform. But, as very little land can 

 be entirely commanded by water, unlefs its inequalities are 

 reduced by nnmuil labour, it has been found convenient to 

 adopt two different kinds of water meadows ; one for land 

 lying on declivities, and which muft in general be watered 

 Irom fprings or fmall brooks •, and the other for low land 

 near iivers, to be watered from tbofe rivers. 



The firft kind is caiW, in Wiltfhire, •* catch-work meu' 

 dows" and the latter, " f owing meadoivsJ* The latter are 

 by far the moil: general in this diitritl:. 



It is impoflible to give any intelligible written defcription 

 the mode of making thefe meadows. This operation muft 

 be feen, to be properly underftood. 



Catch-work meadows defcribed. — But, to elucidate the dif- 

 tin£lion between the two kinds of meadow, and to give fome 

 idea what are the fituations in which they may be introduced, 

 it may be neceflary to remark, that the " catch-work mea- 

 dow " is made by turning a fpring, or fmall ftream, along the 

 fide of a hill, and thereby watering the land between the New 

 Cut, (or, as it is provincially called, the Main Carriage), and 

 the original water- courfe, which now becomes the " main 

 drain." This is for-ietimes done, in particular inftances, 

 merely by making the new cut level, and flopping it at the 

 end ; fo thst, when it is full, the water may run oat at the 

 fide, and flood the land below it. But, as the water would 

 foon ceafe to run equalh^ for any great length, and would 

 wafti the land out in gutters, it has been found neceffary to 

 cut fmall paiallel trenches or carriages, at diftances of twenty 

 or thirty feet, to catch the water again ; and each of thefe 

 being likewife flopped at its end, lets the water over its fide, 

 and diftributes it till it is caught by the next, and fo on over 

 all the intermediate beds, to the main drain at the bottom of 

 the meadow, which receives the water, and carries it on to 

 water another meadow below ; or, if it can be fo contrived, 

 another part of the fame meadow, on a lower level. 



To draw the water out of thefe parallel trenches or carria- 

 ges, and lay the intermediate beds dry, a narrow deep drain 

 crofles them at right angles, at about every nine or ten poles 

 length, and leads from the main carriage at top to the main 

 dfain at the bottom of the meadow. 



When this meadow is to be watered, the ends of the car- 

 riages adjoining the crofs drains are (lopped with turf, dug on 



the 



