310 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



prevent (he admission of dirt, and the whole cover- 

 ed up. This is not so expensive a mode of drain- 

 ing as might be supposed. Tlie diich, or drain, 

 need only be narrow, and tiles are of much cheap- 

 er transportation than stone would be. I3ut the 

 result is so important, as well to justily the ex- 

 pense. It is estimated that this thorough draining 

 adds often twenty percent, to the production of the 

 wheat crop. A beautillil example came under his 

 observation in Nottinghamshire, not long before 

 he left England. A gentleman was showing him 

 his grounds lor next year's crop of wheat. On 

 one side of the lane, where the land had been 

 drained, the wheat was already up, and growing 

 luxuriantly ; on the other, where the land was 

 subject to no other disadvantage, than that it had 

 not been drained, it was still too wei to be sowed 

 at all. It may be thought singular enough, but it 

 was doubtless true, that on stiti clayey lands, tho- 

 rough draining is as useful in dry, hot summers, 

 as in cold and wet pumraers; for such land, if a 

 wet winter or spring be suddenly followed by hot 

 and dry weather, is apt to become hard and baked, 

 so that the roots of plants cannot enter it. Tho- 

 rough draining, by giving an opportunity to the 

 water on the surlace to be constantly escaping, 

 corrects this evil. Draining can never be needed 

 to so great an extent in Massachusetts, as in 

 England and Scotland, from the different nature 

 of the soil ; but we have yet quantities of low 

 meadow lands, producing wild, harsh, sour grass- 

 es, or producing nothing, which, there is little 

 doubt, might be rendered most profitable hay fields, 

 by being well drained (d.J When we understand 

 better the importance o( concentrating labor, in- 

 stead of scattering it ; when we shall come to esti- 

 mate, duly, the superior profit of " a little farm 

 well tilled," over a great fiirm, half cultivated and 

 half manured, overrun with weeds, and scourged 

 with exhausting crops, we shall then fill our barns, 

 and double the winter leed lor our cattle and cheep 

 by the products of these waste meadows. 



There was in England, another mode of im- 

 provement, most important, instances of which he 

 had seen, and one of which he regarded as the 

 most beautiful agricultural improvement, which 

 had ever come within his observation. He meant 

 irrigation, or the making of what is called water 

 meadows. He had first seen them in Wiltshire, 

 and was much struck with them, not having be- 

 fore understood, fi-om reading or conversation, ex- 

 actly what they were. But he had afterwards an 

 oppoiluniiy of examining a most signal and suc- 

 cecisl'ul example of this mode of improvem.ent on 

 the estates of the Duke of Portland, in the north 

 ol England, on the borders of Sherwood forest. 

 Indeed, it was part of the old /brest. Sherwood 

 Ibrest, at least in its present state, is not like the 

 l)ine forests of Maine, the heavy hard wood for- 

 ests of the unredeemed lands of New Hampshire 

 and Vermont, or the still heavier timbered lands 

 of the West. It embraces a large extent of coun- 

 try, with various soils, some of them thin and light, 

 with beautiful and venerable oaks, of unknown 

 age, much open ground between them and under- 

 neath their widespread branches, and this covered 

 with heather, lichens and fern. As a scene to the 

 eye, and to the memory by its long existence, and 

 iis associations, it is beautiful and interesiing. But 

 in many parts, the soil is far enough Irom being 

 rich. Upon the borders -of this lorest, are the 



water meadows of which he was speaking. A 

 little river ran through the forest in this part, at 

 the bottom of a valley, with sides moderately 

 sloping, and of considerable extent, between the 

 river at the bottom and the con^mon level of the 

 surrounding country above. This little river, be- 

 fore reaching the place, ran throujrh a small town, 

 and gathered, doubtless, some refuse matter in its 

 course. From this river the water was taken, at 

 the upper end of the valley, conducted along the 

 edge, or bank, in a canal or carrier, and li-om this 

 carrier, at proper times, sutiered to flow out, very 

 gently, spreading over and irrigating the whole 

 surlace, trickling and shining when he saw it, (and 

 it was then November,) among the light green of 

 the new-springing grass, and collected below in 

 another canal, from which it was again let out, to 

 flow in like manner over land lying still further 

 down towards the bottom of the valley. Ten 

 years ago, this land, for production, was worth 

 little or nothing. He was told that some of it had 

 been let for no more than a shilling an acre. It 

 has not been manured, and yet is now most exten- 

 sively productive. It is not flooded ; the water 

 does not stand upon it ; it flows gently over it, 

 and is applied several times in a year, to each part, 

 say in JVIarch, May, July and October. In No- 

 vem.ber, when he saw it, the farmers were taking 

 off the third crop of hay cut this season, and that 

 crop was certainly not less than two tons to the 

 acre. This last crop was mostly used as green 

 food for cattle. When he spoke of the quantity of 

 tons, he meant tons of dry hay. After this crop 

 was ofl, sheep were to be put on it, to have lambs 

 at Christmas, so as to come into market in March, 

 a time of year when they command a high price. 

 Upon taking off the sheep in March, the land 

 would be watered, the process of watering lasting 

 two or three days, or perhaps eight or ten days, 

 according to circumstances, and repeated after the 

 taking off of each successive crop. Although this 

 water has no doubt considerable sediment in it, 

 yet the general fact shows how important water is 

 to the growth of plants, and how far even it may 

 supply the place of other sources of sustenance. 

 Now, we in Massachusetts, have a more uneven 

 surface, more valleys with sloping sides, by many 

 times more streams, and such a climate that our 

 farms sutler much oftener from drought than farms 

 in England. May we not learn something useful, 

 therelbre, from the examples of irrigation in that 

 country (c.) 



With respect to implements of husbandry, Mr. 

 Webster was of opinion that the English, on the 

 whole, had no advantage over us. Their wagons 

 and carts were no better, their ploughs, he thought, 

 were not better any where, and in some counties 

 far inlerior, because unnecessarily heavy. The 

 snb-soil plough, for which we have little use, was 

 esteemed a useful invention, and the mole plough, 

 which he had seen in operation, and the use of 

 which was to make an under-ground drain, with- 

 out disturbing the surface, was an ingenious con- 

 trivance, likely to be useful in clay soils, free from 

 stone and gravel, but which could be little used in 

 Massachusetts. In general, he thought the Eng- 

 lish utensils of husbandry were unnecessarily 

 cumbrous and heavy. The ploughs, especially, 

 required a great strengdi of draught. But as drill 

 husbandry was extensively practised in England, 

 and very little with us, the various implcmenis, . 



