l8oo. On the Benefit of Water Meadows. ^it 



the fpot, and the water if thrown ever as much of the mea- 

 dow as It will cover nvili at a time^ which the watermen call 

 a ^^ pitch cf ivorh ;" and, when it is neceflary to lay this pitch 

 dry, they take out the turves, and let the water into the drains, 

 and proceed to water another pitch. 



This kind of water meadow is feldom expenfive : The 

 ftream of water being ufually fmnll and manageable, few 

 hatches are neceflary : and the land lyln^ on a declivity, much 

 lefs manual labour is required to throw the water over it re- 

 gularly, and particularly to get it off again, than in the flowing 

 meadows. The expence of maknig fuch a meadow, is ufually 

 from 3I. to 5I. per acre; the improvement frequently from 

 15s. an acre to at leaft 40s. The annual expence of keeping 

 up the works, and watering the meadow, which is ufually 

 done by the acre, feldom fo high as 7s. 6d. per acre. 



Flowing meadontis described — The other kind of water mea-=> 

 dows, viz. thofe ufually called " Jlowing meadows,^'' require 

 much more labour and fyftem in their formation. The land 

 applicable to this purpofe being frequenily a flat morafs, the 

 firft obje<Sl to be confidered is, how the water is to be got 

 c^when once brought on ; and, in fuch fituations, this can 

 feldom be done, without throwing up the land in high ridges, 

 with deep drains between them. A main carriage being theil 

 taken out of the river at a higher level, fo as to command the 

 tops of thefe ridges, -the water is carried by fmall trenches or 

 carriages along the top of each ridge, and, by means of move^ 

 able fteps of earth, is thrown over on each fide, and received 

 in drains below, from whence it is colle6lcd into a main drain, 

 and carried on to water other meadows, ot other parts of the 

 fame meadovy below. One tier of thefe ridges being ufually 

 watered at once, is ufuaiiy called " a pitch of work ;" and it 

 is ufual to make the ridges thirty or forty feet wide, or, if 

 water is abundant, perhaps fixty feet, and nine or ten poles 

 in length, or longer, according to the ilrength and plenty of 

 the water. 



It is obvious from this defcription, that as the water in 

 this kind of meadov/ is not ufed again and again, in one pitchy 

 as in the catch-meadows, that this method is only applicable 

 10 large flreams, or to vallies fubjecl to floods ; atld as thefe 

 ridges mufl: be formed by manual iahoury the expence of this 

 kind of meadow mud necefl'arily exceed the more (imple 

 method firft defcribed ; and t])e hatches that are necefl'ary to 



?0L: Ti NO, iH. F f manage 



