188 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 3 



tion, which are so calculated, that they have not 

 only powers sufficient to take off tlie waters of that 

 river, but also half o!" those o(" the canal itself. 

 These ecaricatori are canals which take the water 

 when sluice-gales are opened for that purpose, and 

 convey it, at various distances, to the Lambro 

 again ; the fall in its course being considerable 

 enough to free the canal from all superfluity of 

 water. Near Milan, this Navillio receives the 

 torrent Seveso ; and, after surrounding the city, 

 unites with the Navillio Grande and the Olona. 

 The sluices which Bellidor supposed to be invent- 

 ed by the Dutch, were used, lor the first time, 

 near Padua, in 1481, by two engineers of Viterbo, 

 Dionysius and Peter Domenico, brothers.* Leo- 

 nardo da Vinci profited immediately of this great 

 invention, for the union of ihe two canals of Mi- 

 Jan ; and finding between them the difi'erence of 

 the levels to be eighteen braccia, he, with six 

 sluices, in they ear 1497, under Ludovico il Moro, 

 opened ana facilitated the navigation from one to 

 the other. The greatest scaricaiori] of the wa- 

 ters united at Milan, is the canal of Vecchiabbia, 

 which, after having served some mills and irriga- 

 tion, falls into the Lambro near Marignano; and 

 if this canal were made straight, and supported 

 by some fluices, the navigation might be continued 

 to the Lambro, and thence to the Po and the sea. 

 Both these canals, the Grande and the Martesano, 

 are so contrived as to be completely emptied once 

 a year, for cleaning and repairing whatever acci- 

 dents may have happened to any of Ihe works. 



1 Iiave entered into this digression upon a very 

 curious subject, little known in Enirlish literaturej, 

 in order to shew how well irrigation was under- 

 stood, and how admirably it was practised, when the 

 countries on this side of the Alps were barbarous. 

 At the same time, however, that jusliceis thus 

 done to these great exertions, we must bear in 

 mind, that few districts in Europe are better, or so 

 well situated for irrigation. The lakes of Mag- 

 giore and Comn, nearly upon the same level, are 

 three hundred \hei (one hundred and fifty braccia) 

 higher than Milan, — and that of Lugano two hun- 

 dred feet higher than those, with a nearly regular 

 declivity to the Po. 



(To be continued.) 



• Moto delVJlcque, vol. v. Parma, 1766, p. iJSD. 

 Mentioned by Zendrini in the tentli chapter, Sopra 

 VAcqua Corrente. This is the common supposition in 

 Lombardy, and is thns recorded ; but it ajipears to be 

 an error, by a passage in Giulini, torn. xii. p. S32, 

 where, anno 1420, mention is expressly made of them, 

 machinarum qiias conchas appellant, ^c. 



\ The scaricatori are wh.^t I believe we call wears 

 in England; they are discharges of superlliions wa- 

 ters. Mr. Brindley made them, in the Uiike of Bridge- 

 water's canal, circular, and in the centre of the river, 

 to convey the water, as into a well; but in Italy they 

 are cuts or openings in the banks of the canal, at places 

 that allow a quick eonveyaiice of the water ; for in- 

 stance, where a canal crosses the bed of a river : their 

 powers are calculated with such a mathematical exact- 

 ness, proportioned to the quantify of water brought into 

 the canals, by the rivers joining them, that no floods 

 ever effect the surface, wliich is of an equal height. 



I One would naturaljy look for some knowledge of 

 these facts in Jlnderson's Dediiction of f/yinmerce ; but 

 we sfc^Jl look in vain. 



BORROWERS OF THE FARMERS REGISTER. 



We have often been told, by subscribers to the 

 Farmers' Register, of the great demand for their 

 numbers, by some persons who found it cheaper 

 thus to borrow, than to pay for the work, and who 

 were willing thus to profit at the expense of those 

 who do pay. and still more at the expense of the 

 publisher. It has, indeed, often been reported to ua 

 fi-om neighborhoods which perhaps had furnish- 

 ed but two or three subscribers, that their num- 

 bers were so popular, that the owners could not 

 keep them at home, nor prevent their loss or de- 

 struction in the hands of borrowers ; and some- 

 times in places where no new name had been ad- 

 ded to our list for years together, this practice of ha- 

 bitual lending of the numbers by some one of the 

 few subscribers has been mentioned as a friendly 

 service rendered, to promote the circulation of the 

 work, and as a plea of merit, in asking for duplicate 

 numbers in place of the copies lost or spoiled by 

 the borrowers. By such reports, we were even 

 flattered, and gratified that our publication should 

 thus be sought for and read, though by those who 

 chose to avoid paying for it. But there is a limit 

 to every thing; and the limit of our gratification, and 

 toleranceof this wide-spread and growing practice 

 has long since been exceeded. 



Whether many, or even any, of these borrow- 

 ing readers would become subscribers to and pay- 

 ers for the Farmers' Register, if they could no 

 longer borrow, is more than we can tell ; but even 

 if no more gain is derived than is expected from 

 such sources, still the cessation of the practice of 

 lending will prevent the loss and destruction ot 

 thousands of numbers, which are caused by the 

 borrowers from the owners, {or takers without 

 leave of the owners, from the post-offices,) and 

 which losses we have then to supply, and without 

 remuneration. It is not unlikely that we ha^e, in 

 the course of this publication, furnished, and with- 

 out charge, as many duplicate numbers as would, 

 at subscription price, have cost $1000, to replace 

 those lost or damaged by being borrowed. Yet 

 sundry of these borrowers, within our knowledge, 

 are very wealthy men, and who would be utterly 

 amazed to be supposed guilty of an illiberal, 

 much lees an unjust or mean act, for the sake of 

 saving the few dollars, the outlay of which would 

 make the property their own, and pay what is due 

 to the producer. By the published conditions, we 

 have always engaged to furnish duplicates for co- 

 pies not received by mail, under certain restrictions 

 as to time and manner of notification, &c. This 

 obligation has not only been readily and willingly 

 discharged in every case, but we have never ad- 

 hered to our limits, the proper and seasonable safe- 

 guards against too great carelessness of eubscri- 



