IRRIGATION. 143 



and spreading the water over the soil, and, where not too rapidly 

 applied, may be done with safety at any period of the crop. 

 This, however, can only apply to pure water. The application 

 of turbid water, where a considerable amount of mud and earthy 

 matters is held in suspension, or the application of sewerage 

 water to a growing crop, would be liable to the same objections 

 as inundation. I am referring, as must be obvious, to fields in 

 grass, to which irrigation is applied ; and not to fields under 

 arable culture, to which it may be, bat to which I have never seen 

 it applied. What are called catch-meadow &amp;gt;s, is a form of irriga 

 tion upon side hills, where the water, after passing over a certain 

 portion of the land, is caught in a trench, and again used for the 

 irrigation of other portions of land. In a plan of irrigation, the 

 first thing to be considered is the command of an adequate sup 

 ply of water, and this, of course, at a level above the land to be 

 irrigated. This may be obtained from a brook, whose course 

 may be turned, or a portion of whose waters may be diverted 

 for that purpose ; or, as it is here sometimes obtained, by the col 

 lection of the water of springs bursting out upon the high lands 

 into a common receptacle or reservoir, which may be tapped 

 for the purpose of letting out the water, as it may be required. 

 I recollect at Canterbury, in New Hampshire, at the establish 

 ment of the United Brethren, or Shaking Quakers, certainly 

 among the best farmers in the world, that these industrious 

 people, for the sake of establishing a mill power, much needed 

 among them, had, by an embankment or dam between two high 

 clay hills, formed a large basin or reservoir, which the melting of 

 the snows in the spring, the rains, and some springs on the sides 

 of these hills, would completely fill with water, furnishing a 

 supply for the season ; and which, passing into successive basins 

 as it descended the hill, was used five times for mill purposes ; 

 such as a flouring mill, a threshing mill, a mill for sawing wood, 

 a mill for grinding bark, and a mill for the dressing of leather. 

 I could not help admiring the ingenuity of these people in 

 creating a mill power where none existed before ; and it is per 

 fectly plain that, by such an arrangement, they might have exe 

 cuted an extensive system of irrigation, had it been thought 

 proper so to apply the water. In some situations, where fuel 

 and labor are not expensive, steam power might be employed 

 with advantage to force water, and to form a reservoir at the 



