660 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



4093. Meadows are of two sorts; flowing, calculated for a fiat country ; and catch-work, 

 for sloping grounds. 



4094. Flowing meadows. Where the ground is flat, the soil is formed into beds, or 

 broad ridges, like those met with at bleach-fields. They are commonly from SO to 40 feet 

 wide, and nine or ten poles in length ; as, in such situations, the great object is, when 

 once brought on, to be able to carry oft' the water quickly. Hence it is necessary to throw 

 up the land in high ridges, with drains between them, More of the failures in irrigation 

 arise, from the ridges not being sufficiently high, and the slopes not being suflficiently 

 steep, than from any other cause. (Code.) 



4095' Catch-work meadows. It is diflBcult to give an intelligible written description 

 of the mode of making these meadows. To be properly understood, the operation must 

 be seen, "t may, however, in general be remarked, that the system is calculated for slop- 

 ing groun o ; and that after the water is brought from the original stream, into a new 

 cut, it is stopped at the end, on as high a level as the case admits of, by which the water is 

 made to fill the trench, and run over at the side, and flood the land below it. But as the 

 water would soon cease to run equally, and would wash the land out in gutters, it has 

 been found necessary to cut small parallel trenches, at the distance of from 20 to SO feet, 

 to catch the water again (hence the name originated), and the same plan of spreading or 

 diflPusing is continued, until the water reaches the main drain at the bottom of the mea- 

 dow. It is a great advantage attending the catch-work system, that it is not only less 

 expensive, but the same quantity of water will do much more work. (Code.) 



SuBSECT. 3, Of the Preparation of Surfaces for Irrigation, 



4096. Artificial iirigation, Smith observes, is produced by diverting the water of a 

 brook out of its accustomed channel (where there is a fall) in such a manner that the new 

 watercourse being kept nearly level, the space between the old and new channel may be 

 floated ; the water being brought upon the land by the new channel and taken away to 

 the old one. Thus a constant discharge and succession of water is retained without 

 such an accumulation as would make it appear bright upon the land, or without such a 

 deficiency as would leave any part of it not perfectly floating, for the art of irrigation 

 may be most properly called floating, not soaking nor drowning. Soaking the soil, 

 similar to the effects produced from a shower of rain, is not sufficient for the general pur- 

 poses of irrigation, nor will damming up water and keeping it stagnant upon the surface 

 like that in a pond, or on the fens, produce the desired effect. 



4097. Stagnating water on land may properly be called drowning, because it drowns 

 or covers all the grass, thereby rendering the plants beneath it in some degree aquatic, 

 or the herbage disposed to make such a change ; whereas the herbage of a water meadow 

 should, by the construction and good management of the latter, enjoy the fulLbenefits of 

 both the elements of air and water. Practice bas proved that there is no better method of 

 doing this, than by keeping water passing over the surface of the land with a brisk cur- 

 rent ; not so brisk as to wash away the soil, and yet in sufficient quantity to cover 

 and nourish the roots, but not too much to hide the shoots of the grasses : hence 

 appears the nicety of adjusting the quantity of water ; and hence it also appears,, 

 that one main drain to bring the water on the upper side of the mead, and another 

 on the lower side to take it away, will not be adequate to all the purposes of sucb 

 an accurate regulation. If the space between the upper channel or main feeder, and the 

 lower one or main drain, should therefore be wider than is proper for the good adjust- 

 ment of the water, that is, so that every part of the space shall have enough water passing 

 over it and no part too much, then that space must be divided into smaller spaces by in- 

 termediate drains, which shall catch and re- distribute the water. As the water is brought 

 by the main feeder upon the higher side of a piece of ground which slopes towards the 

 main drain, and down which sloping surface the water will run very readily, it does not 

 to persons unacquainted with irrigation, at first sight appear necessary to make such a 

 number of intermediate catch drains ; but it is proved by experience, that however re- 

 gular the slope of ground may appear to the eye, that the water will find a number of 

 irregularities, forcing itself into gutters or channels, and defeat the purposes of irrigation ; 

 in the hollow places by excess, and in high ones by the want of water. Jlence the 

 water, which was scattered over the surface of the first space, being aU collected in the 

 catch drain, may by the skill of the floater be let out upon those parts of the bed below 

 which appear to need the most assistance. 



4098. The work should always be well formed at first in all cases of improvements of 

 this nature. Temporary means of making dams and hatches to divert the water out of 

 its usual channel may, says Smith, " suffice to try an experiment, or for a tenant who 

 has but a short term in the grounds to be irrigated ; but every land-owner who enters 

 upon such work in this temporary m.anner^ sadly mistakes his own interest ; indeed it is 

 frequently more diflScult to repair than to renew upon large streams when the foundations 

 Are often destroyed by the force of the water. The same principle holds good upon 



