380 HORTUS GRAMINEUS WOBURNENSIS. 



styled Jiowing meadows. The last requires the most art and labour 

 in its formation, on account of the difficulty that sometimes occurs 

 in getting a command of the water. This is generally effected by 

 throwing up the land in high ridges, with deep drains between 

 them. A main carriage is then taken out of the river, at a level 

 sufficiently high to command the tops of the ridges. Along the 

 top of each ridge an open drain or trench is made to communicate 

 with the main water-carriage. These little water-carriages being- 

 furnished with moveable stops of earth, disperse the water on each 

 side of the ridge, and is received below by the drains, which con- 

 duct it to other parts of the same meadow. The point of import- 

 ance next to that of having a perfect command of water, at least 

 as far as the growth and prosperity of the superior grasses is con- 

 cerned, is the size of the ridges. Where there is a plentiful sup- 

 ply of water, as from a river, the ridges may be from forty to fifty 

 feet broad, and seventy in length ; but when the supply of water 

 depends upon a small brook, or upon a reservoir formed by land- 

 drains, thirty feet in width and fifty in length are supposed to be 

 the best dimensions. The height of the ridges seems to be a point 

 of considerable importance. I have invariably observed, that all 

 the superior grasses inhabit the crowns of the ridges, extending 

 generally to eight feet on each side of the water-carriage, and the 

 inferior grasses occupying the lower extremities of the ridges. 

 When the ridges are nearly level, much less water is required 

 to irrigate the land ; but unless the subsoil is porous, the produce 

 will be found much inferior to what it would have been had the 

 ridges been raised to a proper height. In all the observations I 

 have made while examining different water-meadows at various 

 periods of the season, the most productive in the superior grasses 

 were those where the ridges were formed thirty-three feet in width 

 and two feet and a half in height, that is, from the level of the 

 furrow to the crown of the ridge. But when the situation is very 

 low and moist, and the soil deep, as in the instance of a peat-bog, 

 or where the subsoil is tenacious, the height of the ridge should 

 be from two to three feet. 



From numerous statements published by gentlemen who have 

 made these improvements, the expenses of forming land into 

 water-meadows appear to be from four to twenty pounds per acre, 

 — varying thus according to the local circumstances under which 

 the improvement is made. The yearly expenses for repairs appear 

 likewise to be from three to nine shillings per acre. The value of 



