IKItir.ATK'V 



IRIUOATION. 



In Rummer the flooding! must lie very short ; keldom more than 

 twenty-four houn t tune, but frequent. Thus a great weight of 

 graas may be obtained year after year without any manure being put on 

 the land, care being taken that where the surface is not qulto cvi-n the 

 hollow* be filled up with earth brought from another place, or dug out 

 of the drain, if that should I* partially Oiled up with the soil which 

 the water has carried into It. We alluded before to a case where water 

 may remain a considerable time on the land without injury ; this in, 

 when there are inundations from rivers, which rise above their beds in 

 spring and cover the low meadows which lie along their banks. In 

 this case the grass, which has not yet sprung up, is protected from the 

 cold, and if there be a deposit from tin- water there is a consider- 

 able advantage. But when it sulaides, it must be made to run off 

 entirely, without leaving xm.ill pools, by which the grass would 

 in.'viuMy lx- injured. Small ditches or channels are usually dug, by 

 which all the water nmy run off, unless where the subsoil is very 

 or the land is well under drained, which in seldom the case in these 

 low meadows, for the drains would he apt to be choaked by the earthy 

 deposit from the w.it.-r. These inundations can sometimes be regu- 

 lated by means of dykes and flood-gates, in which case they partake of 

 the advantages of irrig.it in, and also of that deposition of fertilising 

 mud which is called warping. [WABPIXO.] 



At a lecture given before the English Agricultural Society, at their 

 Salisbury meeting, Mr. J. Combes, of Tisbury, made the following 

 statement on the management of two Devonshire and Wiltshire mea- 

 dows; and we quote it as he is prubal ly the first authority on this 

 subject in England : 



" The watering should commence the first week in November, by 

 which time then- w ill be a crop of young grass about two inches high. 

 It is very desirable to have the young grass when the watering begins, 

 that the water may percolate through the grasses so as not to flood 

 them, otherwise they will, if flooded for any length of time, be stifled 

 and become thin. The meadows should always be in readiness to 

 receive the first fresh of the river from the autumnal rains, as this 

 water is, especially after a dry summer, rich with alluvial 

 Many meadows are very much injured by being fed too late in the 

 season, and by the treading of cattle ; it should always be borne in 

 mind that one mouthful of water-meadow grass in April is worth five 

 or six of the same when fed in November. In general, the more the 

 land is watered in November and December the better ; but should 

 the weather be very mild during this time, the meadows may have a 

 few days' drying. In January the water should remain on the land 

 about five days in six, unless the frost be so intense as to cover the 

 meadows with ice, which is sometimes the case, when the water should 

 be all turned off the land until a thaw takes place ; the young grass 

 will bo protected by the ice and even grow under it. In February 

 three days in four will be enough for watering. In March the irriga- 

 tion should be two days in four until the water is turned out t 

 the land dry for feeding the grass, \\hii-h will generally be fit about 

 the last week. As soon as the sheep h:n. fnl off a portion of the 

 meadow, or about the middle of April, the water should be again 

 turned over that portion, but care must be taken not to allow it to 

 remain long on the land until the gnus be grown high enough to keep 

 above the water; during the remainder of this month and the follow- 

 ing months of May and June, two days in a week will be enough fur 

 watering. In general the grass will be fit to cut for hay by the middle 

 of June. In July and August, or until the second hay crop be fit to 

 cut, the water should be used sparingly, one day iti nix will be quite 

 sufficient. In September and October water-meadows should be kept 

 perfectly dry. The above rules apply to meadows that have a plentiful 

 supply of water, but on those meadows that are short of water, which 

 are by f.ir the greater part, some of them requiring to be watered in 

 five or six portions, technically called sterns, the whole of the water 

 should remain on each stern for about five days at a time in winter, 

 and two days at a time in summer, so that all the meadow may be 

 watered in about twenty or thirty days in winter, and eight or ten in 

 summer. A good flow of water, or what is called thick watering, is 

 always to be preferred to thin watering, especially during the summer 

 months; for a very thin watering for a week together at summer 

 time, especially on a clay soil, in oftentimes injurious. I may here 

 remark that night watering is preferable to watering by day, anil the 

 water will do more good in shady than in sunny weather. The water 

 of the streams in this part of the country runs from the chalk, the 

 UPJM T green sand, and the upper oolite formations. That best adapted 

 for irrigation is pure spring water. 



" All water is very good for irrigation wherein certain aquatic plants 

 grow, such as brooklime, watercrencs, and water-millefoil, and when 

 tones and other substances in the stream are thickly covered with 

 lichen. Some of the best descriptions of grasses for water meadows 

 re Anltuaanthnm odoratum, or sweet-scented vernal grass; Fettuca 

 pratemni, or meadow fescue grass ; PUr* ., r Timothy grass ; 



Loliitm perennr, or rye grass; A'/rtalit it r florin grass. All 



UMM> are found in the bwl of the Wiltshire water-meadows, especially 

 the Timothy and fiorin grasae*. I should i. . ..inmi-inl in all m-u 

 meadows a mixture of Italian rye-gnus. I will now state what may be 

 considered the average produce of the watcr-iii<-adws in South WilU. 

 In doing > I will take a meadow of 20 acres, depastured in spring l.y 

 beep. Th spring feed of this meadow as fed in April will keep 400 



couple* of sheep 25 days, during which time then 400 couples will 

 fold 10 acres of arable land, and it will after this yield in the first and 

 second cuttings of gran about 40 tons of hay. As I have said, this 

 may be considered the average production of these water-meadows. 

 Hut in order to see the capabilities of some of the best deacrip' 

 will here state the annual average produce of tome of them. In 

 ing this, I will again take a 20-acre meadow, the spring gran of which, 

 when fed by sheep from about the last week in March till the miiMlw 

 of May, will keep 400 couples seven weeks. During this time these 

 couples will fold in the arable land from 15 to 20 acres. This meadow 

 will then in two cuttings give at least 60 tons of hay. In this case 

 there is annually put on the arable land 15 acres of spring folding and 

 00 tons or more of hay, thus enabling the fanner to dispense with flu' 

 growing of about 20 acres of turnips and about 25 acres of field grass, 

 or to increase the number of his sheep stock on a farm of 400 or 500 



' least 12 per cent. I have myself, on a meadow of 13a. 8r 

 the Rprini; grass, in April and May, 277 couples 38 days, and 



26 days, with a little less than lOlbs. of hay per day per cow, 

 after which there was cut from the same meadow at least 2 tons of 

 hay per acre, the aftermath being fed by cows and horses. I have also 

 mown part of a water-UK lines in six consecutive years, the 



produce of which averaged annually during the six yearn 

 than 40 tons of grass per acre; one year it produced more than 47 tons. 

 In some seasons, when there is a failure of the turnip crop, the spring 

 feed of water-meadows is exceedingly valuable; I have known it fre- 



nitly lot for "/. or 8/. per acre, and in one instance I knew the spring 

 of a water-meadow of 6| acres let for SO/., or nearly 13?. per acre." 

 On the proper seeding of land intended for a water-meadow, we 

 quote Professor Tanner's report on the Practice of Irrigation in the 

 ' Journal of the Bath and West of England Agricultural Society.' The 

 following Is his list : 



" Pua aquatint (or Glycerin aquatint). This water-meadow grass, 

 also known as the reedy sweet-water grass, is a valuable plant for 

 irrigated land, as it has a ra/ of good qua! it*/. 



" Poo. Juitant (or Gtyeeria /uifani), floating sweet-water grass, is 

 exceedingly early in its growth, and for this reason is generally sought 

 after in seeding new meadows. 



" Poa tnrialin, rough-stalked meadow-grass, although not particu- 

 larly early, is yet productive, and very desirable for water-meadows. 



" Aifrottii itnlonifera, fiorin grass or marsh bent, takes a high position 

 as a water-meadow gran. It is very productive, and yields bot/t early 

 and late herbage of good quality. It always tprtadt rapidly, and 

 maintains a firm plant. 



" Alopecurus pratcnsis, meadow foxtail grass. Its early, abundant, 

 and m/iid /,rotcth, together with the excellent qualities of the herbage, 

 place this among our best grasses for meadows ; and it answers very 

 well for water-meadows, provided the management is good. 



" Festuca tlatior, tall meadow-fescue. This grass, although rather 

 coarse in iU nature, is relished by ttock ; it is, however, best suited to 

 land which lies low. 



" Fcttuca pratentit, meadow-fescue. The produce is abundant with- 

 out being coarse ; the quality is exceUrnt, and its growth regular. 



" Lulia major, great bird's-foot trefoil. Moist situations are its 

 natural localities. It yields an abundance of xutritiota food, and is 

 much sought after by stock. 



" Trif'i'iHM hybridwn, hybrid clover, is not grown as much as its 

 merits justify; it is highly esteemed on the Continent, and wh> 

 grown in this country it answers very well. It is the most suitable nf 

 all the clovers for a water-meadow. 



" Phleuni pratente, meadow cat's-tail or Timothy grass. The growth 

 of the grass is both early in the spring and late in the winter; it 

 produces an abundance of herbage, and the quality it r.rcrnlmyl,i 



" These are the principal grasses which ore suitable for irrigated 

 land ; and the following mixture of these seeds, which has been recom- 

 mended,* appears to be a judicious receipt : 



lt. 



Aftrnntl* utolonifrrs 2 



Alcipccuru- pritrtiMH 3 



Kcktuca elatior 1 



,, pratrnnin 2 



,, ,, loliaeea . > . 2 



Glroeria aquatica . . . . . 1 



fluiuin* 2 



Lolium itallcum 8 



IK n nno . . . . . .12 



riial.ii i arumlinacta 2 



I'hlr urn pratcnx 2 



Poa trivi.ilii S 



Lolan mnjor 1 



Ttifollum hybrldum . .... 1 



41 



" These seeds should be sown on the land after it lias been well 

 cleaned and brought into good order by previous cultivation. The sur- 

 face iniiHt. be gently harrowed and then rolled, the bin!* kept 

 with ordinary care a good plant of gnus will soon establish itself, 

 producing herbage of the very best quality." 



* Morton'i ' Enejrclopadla of Agriculture,' vol. i. p. 1001. 



