IRRIGATION. 



81 



The formation of the meadow cost S37 50 per 

 aero, and, for the last 20 years, the grass produce 

 of this laud, m hay and after-grasa, has been, 

 annually, $55 per acre — the hay crop being 

 6,600 pounds per acre of the finest quality. The 

 same gentleman has another inigated meadow 

 of 8| acres, formed out of a perfect bog, only 

 worth originally 5 shillings annual rent per acre. 

 The expense of forming tliis meadow was 

 S'27 .")0 per acre. It has since yielded, in hay 

 and after-grass, to be fed off to sheep an annutd 

 income of $27 50, in place of $1 25 per acre. 



The late Sir George Wontgomerj-, in 1815, 

 converted 9 acres of partly boggy and tlie re- 

 mainder dry soil, worth ten dollars j-eariy rent, 

 into irrigated meadow, at a cost of $25 per acre. 

 It has since yielded 6,600 lbs. of very superior 

 hay to the acre, and its gro.ss produce is $55 per 

 acre. In 1802, a 9-acrc lot, belonging to the 

 Duke of Bedford, was prepared for irrigation, 

 and in 1803 it produced as follows : In March, 

 it was stocked with 240 sheep, for 3 weeks, at 

 6d. each per week, making ^18, or SIO an acre, 

 for the spring feed alone. In June, mowed 2 

 tons of hay to the acre, worth, as per statement, 

 S2G a ton ; August 20, mowed again 1 ^ ton an 

 acre, at £i per ton ; September 16, put on 80 

 fat .sheep, for 3 week.s, at 4d. each per week ; 

 and then it fed lean bullocks, not reckoned in 

 the account — making from the 9 acres $740, or 

 $80 per acre of annual produce. 



I once heard Mr. Crowninshield, then Secre- 

 tary of the Navy say that he gave ^00 an acre 

 for land in Massachusetts, and hacTto pay $50 

 an acre to clear it of stone, before it could be 

 plowed. I saw land being ditched, cleared, and 

 cleansed of alders and stone, at Indian Hill, in 

 Massachu.setts, requiring msre labor to get up 

 one acre than is expended in the ordinary way 

 on 100 acres in Delaware or Maryland. But 

 what is impoiisible to indomitable perseverance ? 

 The veiy aspect of such land is terrible to a 

 Southern man ; yet, suppose, by an outlay of 

 $10, or even $20, or $30 an acre, in ditching, 

 draining, or in-igation, a Delaware farmer would, 

 as man}' might, reclaim otherwise wortliless 

 land, making it produce, without further culti- 

 vation, say 2 tons of hay, worth on the spot at 

 least $10 per ton, at the same time di.ssipating 

 sources of autumnal disease, and rendering his 

 farm at once more beautiful and more pro^iuc- 

 tive ; liow much better and more patriotic 

 would it be than pusillanimously to flee across 

 the mountain.s, he knows not where, far away 

 from the grave of his fathers and the endearing 

 associations of his youthful pastime, ay, and of 

 youthfitl son-ows? Has not he already lost the 

 best part of his nature who has ceased to feel 

 in heart that there is, indeed, " no place like 

 home ?" Would that Americans could forego 

 the love of change for change sake, and acquire, 

 in place of it, something of that love of home, 

 however humble it be, which prompted one of 

 England's best poets to say of the Swiss, 



" Dear is that shed to which his soul conforms 

 And dear that hill which lifts him to the storms." 



But, when driven to seek a home in other 

 States, there are districts near at hand, in some 

 of the " Old Thirteen," far more inviting than 

 the rude borders and den.se forests of the distant 

 West. 



Liebig informs us that " in the vicinity of 

 Liegen, (a town in Nassau,) from three to five 

 perfect crops are obtained from one meadow 

 (1S9) 6 



and this is eficcted by covering the fields with 

 river water, which is conducted over the mead- 

 ow in Spring by numerous small canals. This 

 is found to be of such advantage, that suppo.sing 

 a meadow not so treated, to yield one thousand 

 pounds of hay, then from one thus watered 

 4500 pounds are produced. In respcq), to the 

 cultivation of meadows, the country around 

 Liegen, is considered to be the best in all Ger- 

 many." 



ON IRRIGATION. . . .By Rev. VV, L. Rham. 



Of all the substances which concur in the ve- 

 getation and growth of plants, water is the most 

 essential ; without moi.sture the seed cannot 

 genniuatc, nor can the plant receive nourish- 

 ment. Hence, in wann climates, where rains 

 are periodical, and where the soil is dried and 

 parched by a contmued evaporation, no verdure 

 exists, except where springs or rivers supply 

 the waste of moisture. The warmer the climate 

 and the more rapid the evaporation, the more 

 luxuriant is the vegetation, provided there be 

 an abundant supply of water. Tiiis circum- 

 stance has suggested the plan of diverting 

 streams and conducting them in channels to fer- 

 tilize as great an extent of land as possible. 



In China and in India, as well as in Egypt, 

 ingenious modes of watering lands have been 

 adopted fi-om the most remote ages. No ex- 

 pense has been thought too great to secure a 

 supply of water, and to distribute it in the most 

 advantageous manner. It seems that where 

 there is great heat in the air, water alone will 

 supply the necessary food for the growth of 

 plants. It is probable that the component parts 

 of the atmosphere are more easily separated, 

 and made to enter into new combinations with 

 those of water, in a high temperature than in a 

 lower ; or that the leaves and green parts of ve- 

 getables imbibe water in a state of solution in 

 air, and that in this state it is more easily de- 

 composed. Atmospheric air and water contain 

 all the principal elements of vegetables, viz. ox- 

 ygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen ; the re- 

 mainder are either found in the soil or diffused 

 through the water. Manures seem to act prin- 

 cipally as stimulants or reagents, and are them- 

 selves composed of the same elements : they are 

 of no use unless diffused or dis.solved in water ; 

 but when the water is impregnated with animal 

 or vegetable sub.stances, the effect is far greater 

 and more rapid than when the water is pure. 



Water has also an important office to perform, 

 if we admit the principle discovered by Ma- 

 caire, that plants reject through their roots those 

 portions of the sap which are the residue of its 

 elaboration, and which are of no further use to 

 the plant, but rather injurious if they are again 

 imbibed by the roots. Plants seem to require a 

 removal of their excrements, as animals do when 

 tied up in stalls or confined in a small space. If 

 this is not effected, they suffer and contj-act dis- 

 ea-ses. The percolation of water through the 

 soil is tlie means which Nature has provided for 

 this purpose. Hence we can readily suppose 

 that the mere washing of the roots has a benefi- 

 cial effect, and to this in a great measure must 

 be ascribed the fertilizing effects of pure and 

 soft rurning water. 



If water stagnates and is evaporated, and the 

 noxious matter held in solution remains in the 

 soil, all the advantage of irrigation is lost, and 

 the better kinds of grasses are succeeded by 



