796 



WAT 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



\V AT 



a piece of ground be ploughed in this shape, and the earth 

 taken out in cutting the cross-drains, be used in stopping the 

 furrows on the lower side. Perhaps upon wet lands it would 

 ibe necessary to re-plough them every autumn, or the strong 

 lands might become too solid to receive the same benefit 

 from the practice ; and it will be necessary to level the ridges 

 every spring, if the ground be mowed, but if summer-fed, it 

 may as well remain in this form as any other. This easy 

 method of getting land up into ridges, which are very nar- 

 TOW, gives to the surface all that inclination which is neces- 

 sary for drawing off water, which is thus placed under the 

 same command as in any of the best formed meadows or 

 lands, and a much less quantity will be sufficient than under 

 any other plan of watering. It is supposed that it might 

 probably answer the purpose to float young Wheat, or any 

 other sort of grain, in some cases, by a similar method ; and 

 that flat peaty ground, such as the level fens in Norfolk, 

 which are subject to be covered a few inches deep every 

 winter with stagnant water, -would be much benefited by 

 ploughing it in this way before the floods commence. Some 

 parts of it would thereby be raised above the water, and 

 vegetate quicker in the spring; and the sedgy matter, grow- 

 ing up in the furrows, would, in a few years, raise them to 

 the same level. The cross-drains, where on a declivity, 

 'would serve to catch and re-distribute the water, and the fall 

 from one to the other must be very little. If this method be 

 found not to do for watering, perhaps four furrow-ridges of 

 turf, with a small feeder upon each, may answer all the pur- 

 poses of a more expensive system. There is always good 

 grass by the side of the feeder, whether the water rushes 

 over it or not, and a meadow or land of this nature would 

 %>e nothing but feeders. It requires so little elevation of 

 ridge, and fall in the feeders, that the water might soon be 

 used again ; therefore a very small quantity would suffice, 

 and if there was a scarcity in the winter, the whole discharge 

 might be stopped, and gradually lowered in the spring. This 

 method would answer all the purposes of complete saturation, 

 which seems to be one of the most essential parts of water- 

 ing, and might be applied more or less, according to the time 

 of the year. When the water is put on, it is supposed no 

 grasses would sustain any injury by exclusion from the air, 

 for a day or two, at the first application. If these ridges 

 could be elevated but four or six inches above the furrows, it 

 would give the surface nearly the same slope as the wider 

 ridges of common meadows or lands ; perhaps it would be 

 better to begin ploughing the furrows wide at the ridge, and 

 very narrow at the furrow, which would leave but narrow 

 spaces for drains. If a piece of turf-ground w.ere ploughed 

 in such ridges by the common way of turning over the fur- 

 row, if it were set pretty much on edge, it is thought the 

 grass between would soon cover the whole surface. Perhaps 

 ridges might be made by beginning the two first furrows 

 more apart than the usual width, thus leaving the width of 

 one furrow between the two first, to constitute the channel 

 of the feeder. These ridges should be ploughed up and 

 down, with only three or four inches' fall between the cross 

 feeders ; and the water may be brought into use again at 

 every other set of beds. If the ground require to be loosen- 

 ed every year, or every other, or two years or more, it will 

 not be attended with much expense, and there will be no very 

 great inconvenience in mowing ground in this shape, if the 

 sides of the ridges be about a swath wide. It is thought 

 that meadows or lands of this sort might be made for twenty- 

 five or thirty shillings the acre, floated or watered with less 

 water than catch-work, and have many advantages over it ; 

 namely, the water would lie more above the surface, would 



be more at command, and therefore changed more readily, 

 and it may be pent up better to get a good soaking when 

 scarce. This may be done more effectually in turns, and 

 will run drier when the water may be taken off, and does 

 not require much skill in the making or management. All 

 the water will be let through nicks; instead of running over 

 a level edge, which in the first place is seldom made well, 

 and in the next is difficult to keep in repair. This sort of 

 work would, it is thought, have all the advantages of drains 

 and feeders, whereas the same channels are obliged to serve 

 for both in the common catch-work : it would require but 

 very few or no stops, and consequently want but little atten- 

 dance. The whole of the channels and drains for carrying 

 the water on or off" the land, in the constant course and re- 

 gular quantity which practice proves to be necessary, have 

 two very distinct uses. The first sort, or feeders, bring a 

 continued supply of water, to make the slopes wet ; and the 

 latter, by carrying it away, prevent the land from becoming 

 too wet in the time of floating or watering, serving to render 

 it dry when that is finished, and to remove any superfluous 

 moisture arising from the soil, or falling from the clouds. 

 The large ones, which convey the water to the land, and 

 along the main ridge, to supply the others, are sometimes 

 said to be the main feeders ; and the branches that run 

 "along each ridge and distribute the water down the sides, 

 the floating-feeders. The first operation of floating, or 

 watering, begins at the edges of these feeders ; the maiu 

 feeders being nothing more than channels or courses along 

 which the water must pass, from the places where it can be 

 found, to the places where it is to have its effect. The 

 place of its use lies between the floating feeder and the 

 foot of the slope or drains, which are made in every furrow 

 for the purpose of catching the water; and which are said to 

 be catch-drains, and the large ones which collect the water 

 from these, main drains. Some suppose, that all floating or 

 watering, in large rivers, may be effected without construct- 

 ing hatches, which are often attended with heavy expenses 

 and many inconveniences. If the land be far enough up the 

 river, nothing more is necessary than to go thither, and cut 

 a channel out of it, which shall be deeper than the bottom 

 of the stream. The water, which will be taken out in this 

 new channel, may be dammed up by the hatches in it, at any 

 place most convenient for bringing it out upon the surface. 

 To turn it into its old course down the river, nothing more 

 is necessary than a hatch at the upper end of the feeder ; 

 which, when constructed in this way, will be extremely ser- 

 viceable in time of floods ; for by drawing both the hatches, 

 an entire new channel will be opened, which generally be- 

 comes straighter than the original. To contrive the shortest 

 way possible to bring the water upon the ground, it is evident 

 that an obtuse angle is the best calculated for that purpose : 

 it shortens the length of the feeders, facilitates the motion of 

 the water, and preserves that natural warmth which prevents 

 it from freezing in the winter, or stagnating in the summer. 

 It also prevents the accumulation of scum, or whatever floats 

 upon the surface, and enables the floater to distribute the 

 water much more equally on every part of the work, than if 

 it circulated in any other direction. The wind has less 

 power to retard the motion of the surface ; and the sediment 

 which should ge out upon the beds is less liable to lodge in 

 the bottom of the feeders, and consequently the feeders will 

 be cleared out with much less trouble and expense, especially 

 if there be proper plugs or small hatches to draw up, for the 

 purpose of sending a stream through them. It may appear to 

 some that these hatches are too expensive ; but, as is already 

 stated, the best policy is to construct well at first, because 



