166 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



E. D. Andrews, of Pittsford, N. Y. says : " In the hilly country of Vermont, 1 

 owned a farm, over which I carried the water of a small stream, in artificial 

 channels, more than a mile. Lands that did not yield half a ton to the acre, 

 were thus made at once to yield two tons ; by which means I added to my crop 

 six or eight tons." E. Wilbur, formerly of Yates county, N. Y., while a resident 

 of that county, watered, artificially, a very dry and unproductive seven-acre lot, 

 by means of side channels from a stream Avhich passed through the center. 

 About one day's work was needed in arranging and plowing tiiese furrows. 

 " The effect was such," said he, " that it paid me a hundred fold for the seven 

 acres, after the first year. It produced for several years, while I owned it, from 

 two and a half to three tons of hay to the acre ; and the man I sold it to, told me 

 last year that he hardly ever saw such grass — there was hardly room on the 

 ground to make the hay after it was mowed." 



In the vicinity of Philadelphia, irrigation has been occasionally practiced. 

 Permanent meadows are selected on the two facing slopes toward a stream, from 

 which the water is diverted by successive parallel channels, carried as high up the 

 sides of the valley as the head of the water will admit. Two and a half tons of 

 hay to the acre are a common crop on lands thus treated. 



A brother of the writer, by spreading a small stream over the surface of his 

 meadow, tripled at least the product from the land. A successful farmer of 

 western New- York, by allowing the wash or liquid manure from a barn on ele- 

 vated ground to spread over about five acres of meadow, cut from a part of it 

 «o less than five tons of dried hay. Dr. Kirtland, of Cleveland, says that during 

 the past parching season, a field was made to produce two tons of hay to the 

 acre, by turning on it the wash of the yards and road, and the water from two 

 small springs. He also states that an intelligent farmer purchased a farm con- 

 sisting mostly of barren side hills, and dry, sterile, sandy fiats. He discovered, 

 Mrhh the eye of an engineer, that a stream of somg size might be turned from a 

 •deep glen, by means of a dam, and conducted upon one side of the glen, so as to 

 be accumulated upon the back part of the farm. From this point it discharges 

 ■at pleasure upon different fields, in different directions. It is an interesting spec- 

 tacle, to view his different dams and canals, and to see the brook discharging 

 from level to level, dividing and subdividing, over many acres, spreading fertility 

 through all its varied meanderings. At this time, the farm sustains a flock of 

 500 Of 600 of the best Merino sheep. Twenty years since, it would not have 

 fed a twentieth part of that number. 



Accidental instances often exhibit strongly the advantages of watering. In a 

 meadow belonging to the writer, a part of the land was occasionally overflowed 

 by a large stream ; another portion, of similar soil, was left dry. The watered 

 portion was usually double and sometimes triple in product ; and so clear was 

 the line of demarkation between these portions, that high-water mark could be 

 distinctly traced by the difference in growth, at any time before cutting the hay. 

 Meadows on tlie lower side of the Erie Canal in Niagara county, were noticed 

 last summer, when water had escaped from the canal, to be at least double in 

 growth in consequence; and a farmer Avho allows the wash from the public road, 

 during all rains, to pass upon his adjacent meadow, cuts annually two and a half 

 tons of hay to the acre. 



Rationale. — A supply of water to plants is essential on two accounts. First, 

 It is necessary that all plants in a growing state have at hand a supply of the 

 water which enters so largely into their composition. Secondly, that there be 

 enough to dissolve freely all substances which ascend through the stem from the 

 roots ; for, without solution, no fertilizing substances can enter the plant. 



The large quantities of water needed duruig vegetable growth, are evident 

 from the abundance which exists in nearly all living plants. Some plants con- 

 tain more than three-quarters of their weight, and most others more than one- 

 half In addition to this, the enormous quantities thrown off in hot, dry weather, 

 by perspiration, amounting sometimes to the entire weight of the plant in a day 

 or two, or to several tons daily from an acre, render an abundant supply still 

 more important. Hence the reason they droop and wither so soon, when the 

 usual supply is withheld. Water also, of itself, forms an essential portion of 

 the food of plants, by furnishing nearly all t!ie hydrogen they consume. 



But u most important office performed by water, is its solvent power. During 



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