MAKING THE CANALS. 139 



growth, more of this solid matter will be arrested, until 

 in a few seasons a sod will be formed, and the meadow 

 begin to yield crops. This method consumes a great 

 quantrty of water, but is very usefully applied where there 

 is a stream that is charged with mud or silt after every 

 heavy rain. 



When the surface of the plowed meadow is ready for the 

 water, the canals are laid out, with a fall of not more than 

 one foot in 1,000. Whatever is lost in the fall reduces the 

 area that may be watered. The sods are removed carefully 

 from the surface where the canal is dug, and used, after 

 it is completed, to cover the sides. Being cut into pieces, 

 and the pieces placed here and there upon the sides, the 

 intermediate spaces are sown with seed, and the gaps are 

 soon filled. The distributing furrows are made in a simi- 

 lar manner. These may be made with a plow by turning 

 a furrow-slice, in exactly the line laid out, on the opposite 

 side of the furrow from which the water is to overflow. 

 Fig. 67. Great care is to be exercised in laying out the 



Fig. 67. METHOD OF PLOWING THE FUBBOW. 



canals and furrows. A builder's level, fixed to the edge 

 of a plank 12 feet in length, of equal width from end to 

 end, having a cross-bar or foot, a foot long, fastened to 

 each end, will make a useful implement for this pur- 

 pose. One foot being set on the ground in the line 

 of the ditch, the other is moved from one side to the 

 other in the same direction, until the level is found. A 

 peg is driven there to mark the spot, and the level moved 

 further on. It does not require much ingenuity to do 

 this, and any farmer of ordinary intelligence need not 

 fear that he will go wrong if he will only be careful and 

 cautious as he goes along, and takes the precaution to 



