146 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



and the water remains three or four days on the land. If the 

 supply is sufficient, it should be renewed once a fortnight. In a 

 dry season, it is advisable to apply it immediately after cutting 

 the grass ; but it must not then be allowed to remain many hours 

 in the same place, especially if the sun is powerful. 



Mr. Oliver, at Lochend, where the sewerage water of the city 

 was used, deemed it unsafe to apply the irrigation immediately 

 after the cutting of the grass, but considered it altogether advi 

 sable to wait until the grass had acquired some growth. The 

 sewerage water, in this case, was of great strength, and a different 

 rule was applicable from a case where the water of irrigation 

 was pure. 



Mr. Roals, who farms some cold land one thousand feet above 

 the level of the sea, in Somersetshire, and who has improved a 

 considerable tract by irrigation, says, that &quot; the water should 

 never be suffered to remain in one place over the grass more than 

 two or three days at a time without being changed ; nor be 

 turned upon the land in order to remain there during frost ; but 

 should the frost set in while the water is on, by no means alter 

 it until the frost is gone ; for if the surface is exposed, and 

 the frost continues, it will most likely lift the land and kill 

 the grass.&quot;* 



These observations will have peculiar value in New England, 

 where the frosts are severe, and where grass lands, upon which 

 water stands in the winter, or lands upon which grain has been 

 sown in the autumn, if particularly wet, are sure to suffer most 

 severely from freezing. 



I have already spoken of the quality of the water used for 

 irrigation. At Lord Hatherton s, it is the water gathered from 

 the different drains, in different parts of the farm, whose position 

 was such that their supplies could be turned to this purpose. 

 At the Duke of Portland s, a small river, called the Maun, run 

 ning through the neighboring town of Mansfield, supplies the 

 water of irrigation. After strong rains, when the washings of 

 the streets and sewers of this town are poured into the river, its 

 waters become quite turbid, and have a superior efficacy. The 

 sediment deposited by a single watering, in such cases, is very 



* Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. vi. p. 520. 



