IRRIGATION. 167 



its fall in rain, in washing and purifying the atmosphere as it descends, it brings 

 down matter which had previously risen in the form of vapor ; and afterward as 

 it flows along the surface or through the soil, it dissolves many solid substances, 

 and becomes charged with various matters of organic origin, which possess 

 more or less highly fertilizing powers, and which are thus conveyed in a fluid 

 form to the roots of plants. Water thus becomes one of the best and most effi- 

 cient modes of manuring; the quantity of foreign matter thus held in solution, 

 and the enriching power it possesses, are often almost incredibly large, even 

 though it may appear but little discolored by their presence. There are, of 

 course, various degrees of foreign and fertilizing matters to be found in water, 

 according to circumstances ; from the purest brook or river water, to the heavily 

 loaded drainings of the city sewer, or the farmer's manure tank. 



In En land, and in all countries so cool and moist that plants do not suffer 

 greatly from drouth, the chief benefit resulting from irrigation arises from the 

 foreign matter contained in the water. Hence it becomes a very important ob- 

 ject to obtain such streams as contain the most enriching substances. Some in- 

 teresting illustrations of this fact have been given to the public. In one case, a 

 gentleman who owned meadows on the bank of the stream which passes through 

 Winchester, observed the great superiority of the waters of the stream below 

 the city, after they had received the drainage of the sewers. The benefits which 

 the plants derived from the water was strikingly shown by its deteriorated 

 quality after it had passed over the fields and imparled its fertility to the plants. 

 On one occasion, after having long enjoyed the exclusive use of a stream, his 

 neighbor, higher up, imitated his example ; and the water, in consequence, was 

 so reduced in value, that he thought of disputing the right with him. 



An interesting experiment was made in Scotland, to show this abstraction of 

 dissolved substances by the plants. A stream of water before its use in irriga- 

 tion, was analyzed, and was found to contain per gallon about 10 grains of com- 

 mon salt, and 4 grains of the salts of lime. After passing over fifty yards of 

 meadow, it was again analyzed, and yielded only 5 grains of common salt to the 

 gallon, and 2 grains of the salts of lime. 



A long continued flow of the water will thus impart to the plants a large and 

 most important quantity of mineral as well as organic manures. It is not neces- 

 sary that streams should always appear to the eye turbid or impure, in order to 

 be well adapted to this kind of manuring ; indeed a turbid stream, rendered so 

 bv the suspension of clay merely, may be less valuable than a limpid stream, 

 which holds gypsum and various other salts in solution. Several analyses have 

 shown that ail hard waters contain considerable portions of gypsum or sulphate 

 of lime ; and that not unfrequenlly every two thousand parts of the water of our 

 rivers and brooks contain one part of gypsum. [{, therefore, every square yard 

 of common meadow soil absorbs only ei^jht gallons of water, more than a hun- 

 dred weight and a half of gypsum per acre is thus diffused through the soil. 



It would be hardly possible to convince the community of the enormous amount 

 of wealth lost to the country yearly by a neglect to secure the liquid manure 

 with which it abounds. The quantities v/hich are every year swept from our 

 fields and flirm-vards, and carried through our lands, unapplied, in running 

 streams, into our rivers and lakes, and into the sea, might safely be estimated at 

 millions. The sewers of towns and villages alone carry off a vast amount of 

 manure. A meadow near Edinburgh, belonging to tiie Earl of Moray, which 

 was watered for several years by drainage fVom the city, yielded so heavy a crop 

 of grass that it Avas cut six times a year, and the whole yearly crop was sold at 

 $120 to SloO dollars per acre. 



But even tiirowing the manuring process, strictly speakins, out of the ques- 

 tion, who can estimate the beneficial results of judicious irrigation, if generally 

 applied through the country, wherever running water is accessible ? During hot 

 and dry summers, our parched and withered grass fields, and our diminished and 

 Stunted ruta-baga and potato crops might in many situations he at once stimu 

 lated into freshness and viifor, and doubtless be double in product. The artifi- 

 cial improvement of supplying manure to the soil is universally practiced and 

 commended, and considered the first and last requisite in successful culture ; 

 while the artificial application of water, which, unlike manure, costs nothing, 

 nor requires the labor or expense of cartaae, but is often equally if not more im- 

 portant, seems to be nearly unknown. Why should the Yankees be behind 



