EFFECTS OF PARTIAL IRRIGATION. 97 



meadows in this country, is the few partially irrigated 

 grass fields which are very sparsely located in hilly regions 

 where springs and brooks are led upon the grass upon 

 sloping hillsides. In these few cases, year after year, 

 crops of two or three tons, and sometimes more, of hay 

 are cut. Where a very imperfect irrigation has thus been 

 employed for 30 or 40 years, the meadows exhibit no sign 

 of deterioration. An occasional dressing of manure, and 

 a little fresh seed now and then, keep them in a produc- 

 tive condition. But in the majority of these cases the 

 water has been utilized for this purpose, from sheer neces- 

 sity rather than from choice. A spring issuing from a 



Fig. 42. IRRIGATING A HILLSIDE. 



hillside, or upon a level field, with high ground above it, 

 and low ground below, either meanders wastef ully through 

 the level and escapes in an unsightly gulley at the edge 

 of the hill, or it spreads over acres of ground, and makes 

 a useless and unsightly bog. The careful farmer, to 

 avoid this evil, and with an eye to thrift, leads the flow 

 into a channel that departs slightly from the level, across 

 the field and down the slope. A stone placed here and 

 there in the channel, causes the water to overflow, and 

 spread in a sheet upon the surface. One by one portions 

 of the field are thus watered, and the effect is to induce 

 a growth of grass that remains green beneath the snow, 

 and grows luxuriantly as soon as it has disappeared, yield- 

 5 



