1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



399 



of clear spring water most strikingly manifest- 

 ed.* 



Every water meadow that is properly managed 

 is made ready to receive the first autumnal floods. 

 It is a rule with the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire 

 irrigators (and that rule stands good in every 

 country) to use as much water through the win- 

 ter as possible, which not only shelters the grass, 

 but leaves a considerable quantity of fertilizing 

 manure — both contributing to assist vegetation 

 through the dead of winter, and making the grass 

 display the most pleading appearance of spring, 

 when the surrounding lands bear not the least sign 

 of renewed vegetation, or are even covered with 

 snow. Some imagine this effect to be produced 

 by the warmth of the water, others may attribute 

 it to a decomposition which it may be supposed to 

 undergo, or to such sediments as it may deposite; 

 but whatever be the cause, it is certain that if 

 this opportunity be neglected, the crop will be de- 

 fective in proportion. However authors may dis- 

 agree on this interesting subject, I believe all ex- 

 perimentalists acknowledge, that early winter wa- 

 tering is necessary to produce early and abundant 

 vegetation. In what way this operates is, as to 

 practical purposes, less material. 



It has been sometimes observed or alleged, that 

 the quality of the hay made from water meadows 

 is inferior to all other hay; but every one acquaint- 

 ed with the process of making hay from this grass, 

 knows how much the good or bad quality of it de- 

 pends on the management. I strongly suspect, 

 where there is any real reason to complain of wa- 

 ter meadow hay,. it must have arisen from the 

 grass having been allowed to-standtoo long be- 

 fore it was cut, which renders sown grass hay, as 

 well as that of water meadows, as little nutritious 

 as straw; or otherwise from mismanagement in 

 the hay makinff.f 



The hay made from several irrigated meadows 

 in Dumfriesshire and Peeblesshire will fatten a 

 bullock or sheep as soon as the best clover hay in 

 the country. 



The late Sir George Montgomery, Bart, of 

 Magbiehill, who perhaps has paid as much atten- 

 tion to the management of water meadows, and 

 the making of water meadow hay, as any indi- 

 vidual in Scotland, not only gave it to his hunters, 

 but fattened part of his flock with it; indeed there 

 were many instances of gentlemen from England 

 preferring his water meadow hay for their° car- 

 riage horses to any other kind. 



After the hay is carried off, the water is some- 



one practice of irrigating- with muddy water is in 

 general use intha Mexican states, every attention be- 

 ing there paid to collecting the water at the time of 

 floods into canals made on "purpose, and which is after- 

 wards used in irrigating the land. 



tOne of the few proprietors who pay particular at- 

 tention to the making of meadow hay, is G. S. Men- 

 teath, Esq. of Closeburn. In 132S, Mr. Menteath 

 commenced making hay in the last week of June, and 

 in the very short period of eighteen days the whole 

 crop (averaging three hundred stone per English acre) 

 of one hundred and five acres was made, and carried 

 from the fields and put into Dutch barns. If other pro- 

 prietors would pay the same attention to cutting, ma- 

 king, and securing their natural or water meadow hay, 

 there would be no reason for complaining of its qual- 

 ity. 



times put on for a day or two to promote the 

 growth of the aftermath; and this practice may 

 do no harm where the aftermath is to be eaten by 

 any other stock than sheep, but wherever sheep 

 are to eat off the aftergrass, (unless intended for 

 the butcher,) it is not thought advisable; for sum- 

 mer watering produces so very rapid a growth, 

 and the grass imbibes so much moisture, that it 

 is apt to cause the rot in sheep;* but neither the 

 first crop nor aftermath, produced from mere win- 

 ter irrigation, has ever been observed to have any 

 tendency to occasion that disorder. 



A water meadow attached to any farm gives 

 the farmer a great command of manure for the 

 part he keeps in tillage, for he carries away and 

 converts into dung the whole of its produce of 

 hay every year, whilst it. requires nothing in re- 

 turn but the watering, and meanwhile is every 

 year improving in quality and in the increase of its 

 produce. The advantage will, no doubt, be the 

 greater, in proportion to the richness of the water 

 he has in his power to employ: witness 1 lie extra- 

 ordinary crops of grass that are yearly carried 

 from the meadows below Edinburgh, to feed 

 cows in the neighborhood of that city. The 

 grass of these meadows is cut five or six times in 

 a year; but to support that extraordinary growth, 

 the water is put on for a day or two immediately 

 after every cutting; and, although it is never clear, 

 the cattle eat the grass with the greatest keenness, 

 which strongly militates against Mr. Smith's fa- 

 vorite idea of the superiority of irrigating with 

 clear spring water. 



Amongst the many prejudices against the prac- 

 tice of irrigation, those which relate to the quality 

 of water, and season for using it, are the most im- 

 portant. All water, except what comes immedi- 

 ately from poisonous minerals, let it be ever so 

 clear, is beneficial to vegetation; if properly em- 

 ployed, it invariably produces such grasses as are 

 most congenial to the soil. 



Irrigation, like many other operations, is but ill 

 understood; and I am fully convinced that its ill 

 success is more owing to bad formation and im- 

 proper management than to any uncongenial 

 qualities of the water. The general defect of 

 crop arises from a scarcity of water and its un- 

 timely application; for, instead of wetting the 

 ground like a shower of rain, which many unac- 

 quainted with the art suppose to be all that is ne- 

 cessary, the water must continue running over 

 the surface of the ground all winter, except for a 

 few fine days at a time, to give air and strength 

 to the young grass, where the water may have 

 run too rapidly or too slowly over it. 



At the beginning of the month of October, 

 each feeder and drain should be cleansed, and the 

 banks of the feeders repaired where they have re- 

 ceived damage by the treading of cattle. The 

 whole works being all repaired, and there being 

 generally water enough at this season, either for 

 the whole or for part, the sluice should be drawn, 

 when, in the course of half an hour, the conduc- 

 tor and upper part of the feeders will be nearly 

 filled. 



*Thiswas the case with a water meadow at Inver- 

 ardran, nearTynedmm, in 1S27. An extraordinary 

 flood having covered the meadow immediately after 

 the hay was cut, it produced the same effect on sheep 

 as summer watering. 



