THE NEW AGRICULTURE. 137 



duction of our rivers and streams, which were once freely naviga- 

 ble from their mouths nearly to their sources, until they are now 

 only kept open for commerce in many parts by the application of 

 great labor and large expenditures of money almost continually. 

 And as have failed these larger streams, so have also their smaller 

 tributaries (from which they all in fact derive their supplies), be- 

 come lessened in volume, until at length farms which were once 

 properly and abundantly watered are now comparatively without 

 supply, and streams which once furnished sufficient water-power 

 for the running of mills and factories, now scarcely afford power 

 sufficient to propel the churns of the farmers occupying their 

 banks. The depreciation in the value of lands in many parts of 

 the country for agricultural purposes, and in the supply of crops 

 therefrom, and from the same cause, has become equally percepti- 

 ble. Yet, the supply of water from the clouds from rains and 

 snows has not, so far as we know, in any way decreased; but 

 the forests are not here to husband them, and these waters are 

 permitted to soak into the ground, or run to waste from the sur- 

 face almost as soon as they strike the earth. 



The problem heretofore has been how best to secure and hus- 

 band these supplies, by artificial means, so as to most effectually 

 preserve them for the vast demands of our wonderfully increasing 

 population, for family and business purposes, and especially so as 

 to make them more useful in the cultivation of the soil. 



Many able and ingenious thinking men have for a long time 

 given this question their attention; and many plans have been 

 suggested some of greater and some of less merit but all accom- 

 panied with an apparent intricacy of detail and weight of expense 

 in their application, which has prevented the general or consider- 

 able adoption of either. 



But you, Mr. Cole, seem at last to have discovered a scheme, 



