158 IRRIGATION. 



crops, but although not vital to success in case of 

 meadows, is nevertheless of advantage and importance. 



Every Autumn the drains, canals, feeders, and furrows 

 should be repaired, sodded, or put in perfect order. The 

 soil is in an unfit condition to be disturbed so early in 

 Spring as might be necessary, and heavy Winter rains 

 might easily devastate a system of imperfect or damaged 

 canals or ditches. Where trees are growing in the 

 meadows, the dead leaves should be carefully raked up 

 and removed, lest the drains be choked with them. 

 Coarse manure should never be spread upon a water 

 meadow. If fertilizers are needed, wood ashes, guano, 

 superphosphate of lime, and plaster only should be ap- 

 plied. In the Spring of the year, after the early floods 

 have passed away, an occasional dressing of one or more 

 of these may be given when thought necessary. If coarse 

 manure must be used upon such a meadow, in the absence 

 of all other fertilizers, it should be spread in the Fall and 

 raked up carefully in the Spring with the horse-rake, 

 leaving no litter upon the field. 



Boiling the surface in the Spring, after the ground has 

 become dry, will be imperative. Any inequalities of the 

 surface not thus removed, should be remedied with the 

 shovel, first removing the sod and then replacing it and 

 beating it down firmly. A lawn mower would serve ex- 

 cellently to remove the grass from the distributing fur- 

 rows, passing up on one side and down on the other. 

 This should be done as frequently as may be needed to 

 keep the current free from obstruction. Otherwise this 

 work should be done with the scythe, but the small cost 

 of a lawn-mower will be amply returned in one season 

 by the saving of time in attending to one acre of meadow. 

 Irrigation should be suspended at least eight days before 

 the crop is mown. The length of this interval will de- 

 pend somewhat upon circumstances, which may hasten 

 or retard the drying of the ground. If mown by hand, 



