350 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 6. 



the meadow has been divided. If the stream or 

 river, by a crook in its course, happens to run 

 alone - the lower end of the meadow, all the irriga- 

 ting water will tall into it from the ridges, and it 

 will act as the discharging drain; hut when the ri- 

 ver itself does not afford that advantage, a main 

 drain must be cut along the lower end of the mea- 

 dow, which will receive the whole water irrigating 

 the meadow, and discharge it into the stream or 

 river. This drain should always be made of the 

 same dimensions as the large conductor, and deep 

 enough, when the meadow is under lull watering, 

 to carry the whole off without allowing any of it. 

 to stagnate and sink into the soil; for in a well- 

 formed meadow, where it is not allowed to stag- 

 nate, less of the water will sink in the soil than is 

 generally imagined, especially when it is muddy: 

 it will then leave a considerable quantity of sedi- 

 ment on the surface, which acts as an impervious 

 covering, and pevents the water from sinking into 

 the ground. 



The stuff taken out forming the main drain is 

 now used in filling up low places. The next part 

 of the process is to divide the portion of land for 

 meadow, which is assigned to each conductor, into 

 regular beds. Where the soil is naturally dry, and 

 the supply ot water plentiful, they misfit be made 

 forty feet wide; but when the sub-soil is naturally 

 cold and impervious, their breadth should never 

 exceed thirty-two feet, and even less in deep mos- 

 sy soils. The (feeders are made in the middle of 

 the beds, always branching out at right angles from 

 the conductors, except in cases where the ground 

 falls two ways, when it will be necessary to make 

 the feeders a few feet (or according to the fall of 

 the ground) nearer the one drain than the other, 

 or more on one side of the bed than the other. A 

 bed two hundred yards long will require a feeder 

 where it leaves the conductor twenty inches wide, 

 gradually decreasing in width to twelve inches at 

 the farthest extremity, (see plate 1.) for the quan- 

 tity of water becomes less and less by overflowing 

 constantly over the sides. 



The earth taken out in forming the feeders is to 

 be placed on each side, in such a regular manner 

 as to form small banks with a gradual descent to- 

 wards the drains. In forming the feeders, care 

 should be taken to leave stops (small portions of 

 solid earth) in them about six inches wide at reg- 

 ular distances from each other, or according to the 

 fall of the ground, to obstruct and keep up the wa- 

 ter to a proper height, so that the whole length of 

 the bed may be regularly watered, without the as- 

 sistance of notches, as recommended by Wright 

 and others; indeed the contraction in the width oi 

 the conductors and feeders serves to raise the wa- 

 ter over their sides, but this is not sufficient where 

 the descent is considerable. Stops and notches 

 have been thought indispensably necessary in the 

 formation of water meadows, therefore several 

 writers on the subject have recommended stakes 

 to be driven into the conductors and feeders, to re- 

 tard the velocity of the water. But if a water 

 meadow is properly laid out, few stops will lie 

 wanted; and, in situations where they cannot be 

 avoided, the best method is either to put in a few 

 stones, or pin down a tough sod or two, taking 

 care that the heads of the pins do not stand above 

 the surface of the water otherwise they would be 

 apt to collect any weeds that might be carried 

 down with the water, and thereby retard the regu- 



lar distribution. Wherever notches are found in a 

 water meadow, it is a sure sign of an imperiect 

 formation. 



Having completed all the feeders which are ne- 

 cessary to introduce and spread the water, a drain 

 must be made between every two feeders, paral- 

 lel to and equidistant from each, that is, if the 

 leyelness of the land will permit; but if the surface 

 of the ground falls two ways, which is often the 

 case, the drain must be made as before directed. 

 The drains are made in an order which is the re- 

 verse of the feeders; they are narrowest at the up- 

 per part of the meadow, and gradually increase 

 in width, as is represented in the plates, till they 

 descend into the main drain, which returns the wa- 

 ter into the original channel. The depth of these 

 drains, in all soils, should be so regulated that they 

 free the surface from the stagnated water; but in 

 moist soils, with retentive sub-soils, the depth at 

 the upper ends should never be less than six inch- 

 es, and increasing to nearly the same depth as the 

 main drain where they discharge their waters, and 

 the width exactly the reverse of the feeders. 



Having thus completed the formation of the va- 

 rious conductors, feeders, and drains, let in the wa- 

 ter, and, after having given each part its due, and 

 regulated the stops in ihe feeders, beginning with 

 the one next the head or upper part of the mea- 

 dow, and continuing the same way over the 

 whole, till the water runs an equal depth over 

 the sides or bank of the conductors and feeders, it 

 will very soon show such places as are too high, 

 or hollows necessary to be filled up. 



The stuff taken out in forming the drains, with 

 what is gained by reducing high places, is gener- 

 ally enough lor levelling the beds, to keep the wa- 

 ter in constant motion; but ihe nearer the beds are 

 brought to an inclined plane, the better for the pur- 

 pose oi irrigation; therefore, when the land is very 

 unlevel, with a thin sward on it, I would recom- 

 mend every proprietor to plough the whole and 

 take a crop of oats before forming it into a water 

 meadow; or, if the sward of grass is strong enough 

 to be lifted, to lift the turf and form the sub-soil 

 with the plough and spade, and lay the turf down 

 again. In either of these cases the beds should 

 be raised about twelve inches in the centre. When- 

 ever the whole surface of a piece of the ground 

 is broken to be constructed into an irrigated mea- 

 dow, the formation should be done with the great- 

 est nicety, for the greater the pains that are taken 

 in the first forming, the easier the management 

 will be ever after. Land that has been laid down 

 with grass seeds requires from two to three years 

 before it will be sufficiently swarded for the admit- 

 tance of water; but when the turf is taken off and 

 laid down again, the water should be put on im- 

 mediately; and if the work is done in autumn, it 

 cannot fail to give a very great crop of hay the 

 first year. Several meadows have lately been form- 

 ed in this manner, and have given general satis- 

 faction. 



As the rivers and brooks in this country are 

 generally very rapid, all dams across them should 

 be avoided as much as possible, by taking the wa- 

 ter out of the stream farther up, although the ex- 

 pense should be considerably more; but especially 

 when there is the least possibility of a neighbor- 

 ing proprietor's or farmer's lands being injured, or 

 he should imagine he might receive damage by 

 such an erection, although no real injury be done. It 



