IRRIGATION. 147 



observable. I shall presently speak more at large of the applica 

 tion of sewerage water. 



&quot; In the management of the crops of grass upon irrigated 

 meadows,&quot; says one whose practical knowledge of the subject 

 allows him to speak with authority, &quot; experience has shown that 

 to let the grass grow to be too old, viz., until the seed of it is in 

 a forward state, is productive of very great injury to the land. 

 When the grass has been cut for hay in this state, and brown at 

 bottom, the land does not recover for a great length of time. It 

 is also found very desirable, after beginning any meadow, or por 

 tion of a meadow, which receives the water from one carrier, 

 and at one time, that the consumption of it in a green state 

 should be carried on as quickly as possible, so that in dry 

 weather the water may not be kept off of it too long ; for in that 

 case it requires so much water before the land is saturated, and 

 will allow the water to flow evenly over it, that much loss of 

 time occurs in the next crop of grass.&quot; 



I have thus touched upon the principal points connected with 

 this great agricultural improvement, though there are some others 

 to which I shall recur before I quit the subject ; and I now pro 

 ceed to speak of some principal experiments, which have come 

 particularly under my observation. 



3. WELBECK, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. The most extensive and 

 most finished work of irrigation, or, as they are here called, of 

 water-meadows ) and to which I have repeatedly referred, is at Wei- 

 beck, in Nottinghamshire, at the residence of His Grace the Duke 

 of Portland.* The water-meadows at Welbeck at first embraced 



* The Duke of Richmond, for whose constant kindness I should find it difficult 

 to express my sense of obligation, did me the honor of a letter of introduction to 

 the Duke of Portland, which I duly forwarded ; and he, learning I was in his 

 vicinity, was kind enough to send a messenger twenty miles to meet mo, that I 

 should appoint a time for my visit, when he would be at home, that he might him 

 self, to use his own expression, &quot;have the pleasure of personally showing me his 

 improvements.&quot; The rules which I have prescribed to myself, and which I hold 

 inflexible, do not allow me to speak further of my most instructive and delightful 

 visit to that noble residence ; yet it seems but just that I should, as I wish to do 

 witli the most delicate respect, allude to such examples as only illustrative of the 

 uniform and universal treatment with which I have been honored during my pro 

 tracted residence in this country, by the higher classes, both titled and untitled. 

 These persons constitute a body, of whom I may say with truth, and I hope with- 



