126 AN AMERICAN FARMER IN ENGLAND. 



single winter s flooding will increase the growth of grass equal 

 to a top-dressing of thirty (thirty bushel) loads of dung. 



We may judge somewhat from these facts and opinions of 

 practical men, whether, in any given ^circumstances, we can 

 afford to construct the dam, channels, gates, sluices, &c., by 

 which we may use this method of fertilizing our meadows. 

 There are millions of acres in the United States that could be 

 most readily made subject to the system. The outlay for 

 permanent works might often be very inconsiderable, and the 

 labour of making use of them, after construction, would be 

 almost nothing. The cost of conveying manure, and its dis 

 tribution by carts and manual labour, is a very important item 

 in the expenditure of most of our eastern farms ; and, though 

 this is felt much less here, where labour is so much cheaper, we 

 may obtain many economical hints with regard to it from Brit 

 ish practice. Fields distant from the farmstead, and hill-lands 

 not easily accessible, should nearly always be enriched by 

 bone, guano, and other concentrated manures ; of which a man 

 may carry more on his back than will be of equal value with 

 many cart-loads of dung, or by some other means which will 

 dispense with long and heavy transportation. I have obtained 

 increased crops, with a saving of some hundred dollars a-year 

 of expenditure, in this way. 



Different streams vary in their value for irrigation. The 

 muddiest streams are the best, as they generally carry sus 

 pended a great deal of the fertile matter of the land through 

 which they have flowed ; often, too, road-washings, and other 

 valuable drainings, have been taken along with them, and 

 these are caused to be deposited upon the meadow. A per 

 fectly transparent fluid will often, however, have most valuable 

 salts in solution ; and I noticed that most of the Wiltshire 

 streams were peculiarly clear, reminding me of the White 

 Mountain trout-brooks. It is said that streams abounding in 



