1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



317 



course. After taking off the corn, the stalks, &c. 

 may be preserved in the old fodder house mode. 

 But tor the preservation of every thing I prefer 

 the board shelter, and open barn. It is true econ- 

 omy, and that is to me sufficient. 



Mr. Editor, I am persuaded you will, and I 

 know some of your readers will, require an apolo- 

 gy for taking up so many of the pages of your 

 (if it could be got into the hands and heads of 

 our agricultural population,) invaluable Regis- 

 ter on this subject — and to you, and them, I will 

 say, that I have received so much valuable infor- 

 mation, consequently gratification, from the com- 

 munications it contains, that I am anxious to dis- 

 charge, if* but a part of the debt I owe. It I can- 

 not give coin, I am willing to give all the ii proc''' 

 I have. 



Alabama, July 21, 1835. 



AGRICOLA. 



[It is regretted that the foregoing observations on 

 securing the corn crop, by cutting otf the entire plant, 

 could not have been published in time to permit the 

 process to be tested by experiment The communica- 

 tion was received late in August, and when all the 

 space of the September No. was occupied. This 

 mode of harvesting the entire corn crop has been long 

 practiced successfully in some parts of the north and 

 west, with the small and hard-grained corn raised in 

 those colder regions. We infer (from his incidental 

 remarks) that this is the kind of corn cultivated by 

 our correspondent. If so, we should be glad to learn 

 whether he has tested fully by experiment, the dispu- 

 ted point of the small northern corn being equally pro- 

 ductive, in the south, with thalargerand softer grained 

 kinds. The answer furnished by our experiments 

 would be in the negative — though perhaps they were 

 not sufficiently varied to be conclusive. We have also 

 tried frequently, and with various success, the mode 

 of saving fodder as well as corn, by cutting oil" and 

 putting in shocks the entire plants — and have thence 

 formed the opinion that the plan would not answer 

 with the soft grained corn, even if always safe for the 

 hard kind.] 



TREATISE OX IRRIGATION. 



Extracted from the Practical Irrigator and Drainer. 



By George Stevens, 



Land drainer, and member of the Nerician and Werm- 

 landska Agricultural Societies, Sweden. 



[In the following pages will be presented to the 

 reader the whole of the latest and most approved Eng- 

 lish work on an important branch of agriculture, of 



which very little correct knowledge or practice ex- 

 ists in this country. The complimentary manner in 

 which Mr. Stevens' labors have been spoken of in the 

 late agricultural reviews, induced us to send to Lou- 

 don for this work, which issued from the press only 

 within the last year — and to lay before our readers this 

 portion of it, (which has no immediate -connexion 

 with, or dependence on the after part,) as soon as the 

 engravings could be procured. 



The great cost of irrigation, as stated of various dif- 

 ferent operations, may so startle the tillers of our cheap 



lands, as to forbid all desire of adopting the most perfect 

 and productive methods. But it may be seen that 

 the returns are much greater than the necessary outlay, 

 and if that would be also certainly the case in this 

 country, the amount of the cost per acre is of but lit- 

 tle importance. 



In our mountain region, watering meadows has long 

 been practiced, and with success and profit. Still, we 

 infer that the plans used are very imperfect, and there- 

 fore are far less productive than such as might be sub- 

 stituted. There may not be many situations in this 

 country (under present circumstances,) where irriga- 

 tion is advisable to be used; but if proper to be prac- 

 ticed at all, we presume that a correct method will be 

 more profitable than one either not founded on correct 

 principles, or imperfectly executed. 



There is another consideration well worth attention. 

 Great and valuable as have been the products of irriga- 

 tion in England and Scotland, they are not to compare 

 with those of Upper Italy, the south of France, and 

 of Spain. A cool and moist climate renders this im- 

 provement less necessary, and therefore less profitable 

 in the former countries, than in the latter, which are 

 comparatively hot and dry, and where water alone 

 will cause land to yield exuberantly, which without 

 such aid, would have been a hard and naked clay, on 

 perhaps shifting sand. These changes from barren- 

 ness to fertility, caused merely by the application of 

 water, are still more numerous and remarkable in Asia 

 and Africa, under a state of agriculture which in all 

 other respects is wretchedly defective. The dryness 

 of the climate and soil of the hilly and mountainous 

 regions of Virginia, (which only are fit for profitable 

 irrigation, causes a greater similarity to Italy and 

 Spain, than to Great Britain — and therefore it may be 

 fairly presumed that the increase of product from irri- 

 gation in Virginia, and still more farther south, would 

 be proportionably greater than in the lands described 

 by our author. 



The remainder of the Practical Irrigator and Drain- 

 er, treats of other and detached though kindred sub- 

 jects. The principal one is vertical draining, by bo- 

 ring, on the plan first discovered and successfully prac- 

 ticed by Elkington. This method, excellent and ad- 

 mirable as it is for Great Britain, would be but cf lit- 

 tle practical use in this country.] 



Preface. 



The following treatise on irrigation was drawn 

 up and published at the request of those for whom 

 the author has had the honor of converting land 

 into irrigated meadow, in order to point out, in a 

 practical manner, the different methods of their 

 Ibrmation, and, more particularly, what was ne- 

 cessary to be attended to in their management, as 

 well as to show the result of experiments made 

 in Scotland in this useful branch of agriculture. 

 It having gone through two editions, which are 

 now exhausted, he is encouraged, by the success 

 which has attended them, and the work having 

 been frequently asked for since it was outol print, 

 to bring ibrward a third edition, which he hopes 

 will not be unacceptable. An account of several 

 other experiments has been added in this edition, 

 with letters from proprietors and tenants, showing 

 the expense of the operations and the results 



