32 a On the Benefit of Water Meadows. July 



manage and temper the water on rivers, mud be much more 

 ex pen five th?.n thofe on fmall brooks. 



The expence, therefore, of the firft making of fuch a meadow 

 as this is, will be from 12I, to 20I. per acre, according to the 

 clifliculty of the ground, and the quantity of hatch- work re- 

 quired : but the improvement in the value of the land, by this 

 rperation, is aftonilhing, I'he ahJlraB value of a good mea- 

 dow of this kind, may fairly be called 3I. per acre ; but its va- 

 lue, when taken z^ part of a fanny and particularly of a fijeep- 

 breedwgfarmy is aUnoll beyond computation ; and when fuch 

 a meadow is once made, it may be faid to be made for ever ; 

 the whole expence of keeping up the works, and watering it 

 frequently, not exceeding 5s. per acre yearly, and the expence 

 of the hatches, if well done at firft, Being a mere trifle for a 

 number of years afterwards. 



Supposed quantity of water meadoivs in this district — The 

 number of acres of land in this dilUift, under this kind of 

 management, has been computed, and with a tolerable de- 

 gree of accuracy, to be between 15 and 20,000 acres. 



Indeed, it has been found fo very beneficial, that very few 

 fpots of land, capable of biMng watered, remain otherwife, 

 unlefs where fome ivatermill ftands in the way, or where 

 fome perfon, who has the command of the water above, re- 

 fufes to let it be taken out of its natural courfe to water the 

 lands below. 



Some new meadows might be made, and very great and be- 

 neficial alterations made in the old ones, if fome plan could be 

 adopted to get the command of water where necelTary for this 

 purpofe, and particularly in the cafe of water-mills. A reme- 

 dy for this will be afterwards propofed. 



Water meadoivs do not make a country unhealthy — It has 

 been alleged, by thofe who know very little of water mea- 

 dows, that they render the country unwholefome, by making 

 the water ftagnant — Daily obfervation proves the fa£l to be 

 otherwife in Wiltfhire; and the reafon is obvious. It has 

 been already faid, that a water-meadow is a *' hot-bed for 

 grafs :" The adlion of the water on the land excites zfermen-' 

 tation i that fermentation would certainly, in time, end in/«- 

 trefadlion ; but the moment putrefaction beginj, vegetation 

 eijds. Every farmer knows the commencement of this pu- 

 trefaction, by the fcum the water leaves on the land ; and if 

 the water is not then inftantly taken off, the grafs will rot, 

 and his m.eadow be fpoiled for the feafon. The very prin- 

 ciple of water-meadows, will not permit water to be ftag- 

 nant 



