40S 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 7. 



gave four hundred stone per acre at one cut- 

 ting. 



At Tarbax, in the same county, there are about 

 twelve acres of water meadow, belonging to 

 Norman Lockhart, Esq., partly bed and partly 

 catch-work. The formation into meadow cost 

 Jrom four to six pounds per acre, the original value 

 of the laud per acre of yearly rent was from five 

 to fifteen shillings, and the produce since it was ir- 

 rigated, one year with another, is from two hun- 

 dred to two hundred and fifty stone of hay per 

 acre, besides the aftergrass, which is worth as 

 much as keeps the works in repair. 



At Cairnmuir, in Peeblesshire, there are two 

 water meadows belonging to John Lawson, Esq.; 

 the one, containing three acres, cost ten pounds in 

 forming; and the other, containing one and a half 

 acres, cost twelve pounds in forming: the former 

 produces, one year with another, hay and grass 

 to the value of thirty pounds, and the latter four 

 hundred stone of hay per acre, besides aftermath, 

 which is generally cut and given green to cat- 

 tle. 



A meadow of three acres, belonging to John 

 Sanderson, Esq., at Romana Bridge End, not 

 worth ten shillings per acre in its original state, 

 has given, one year with another, since being irri- 

 gated, a thousand stone of hay, generally worth 

 from fourpence to sixpence per stone. 



Among the few farmers who have been particu- 

 larly interested in promoting the system of irriga- 

 tion, is James Murray, Esq,, at Drochill Castle, 

 Peeblesshire. Although Mr. 1M array is only ten- 

 ant of Drochill Castle farm, he has been at a con- 

 siderable expense in forming ten acres into regular 

 bed-work water meadow.* 



*There is a particular account of this water meadow 

 in the following letter: — 



"Drochill Castle, 24/A Jan. 1829. 



"Dear Sir — Your letter of the 20th curt. I have 

 been duly favored with, and lose no time in replying 

 to the queries therein contained. I have irrigated, 

 first and last, about ten Scotch acres of land, but as 

 seven of these were only done last year, I can only 

 speak of what I know the other three have produced; 

 these last, as you know, I watered in the year 1825. 

 The land previous to that time was a kind of meadow, 

 and regularly cut every year, (what of it would cut,) 

 but it was very unproductive; the quantity of hay, on 

 an average of years, was, I believe, under a hundred 

 stone per acre, and that of very indifferent quality. 

 Since it has been watered, I conceive it has produced, 

 on an average of the last three years, three hundred 

 tron stone per Scotch acre, and of excellent quality. 

 Perhaps the quantity in the year 1827 was under this 

 a little, but the previous and subsequent years rather 

 above it. I could assign no reason for crop 1827 be- 

 ing less than the other years, unless it arose from cut- 

 ting the lattermath the year before; and if I am right 

 in my conjecture, I would rather recommend pastur- 

 ing than cutting of the second crop. I believe my se- 

 cond crop was well worth £1 10s. per acre, fodder 

 that year being uncommonly scarce, which made it 

 the more valuable; at an average of years, however, 

 I could not calculate at above 10s. or 12s. As to the 

 expense of my meadow, I, upon looking into my book, 

 find it stated at £61 19s. for the whole ten acres" I have 

 watered, which comes to about £6 4s. per acre. As 

 to my opinion of water meadows in general, it is de- 

 cidedly favorable; and I would recommend it to every 

 person who has it in his power to make the expen- 



The land was partly bog and partly arable. 

 The boggy part was made into water meadow in 

 1825, and has produced large crops of hay and af- 

 termath ever since; but the arable part did not re- 

 ceive the water till the autumn of 1827, and even 

 at. that time the ground was not properly covered 

 with natural grasses, for which reason, the hay 

 crop of 1828 was comparatively small. But, as 

 the, supply of water is abundant and the quality 

 particularly good, even that part, in a lew years, 

 will become as productive as the former. 



At Glenormiston, the property of William 

 Stuart, Esq., in the same county, there are three 

 water meadows, two of them containing about 

 two acres each, watered by a small brook that 

 runs through the farm yard, whose washings run 

 into the meadows. The third meadow is watered 

 from the Tweed, and contains six acres. The lor- 

 mer of these meadows gave, in 1818, upward of 

 lour hundred stone, of excellent hay per acre, but 

 the latter considerably less, on account of the in- 

 feriority of the. water and the impossibility of 

 using it, except when at a certain height in the ri- 

 ver. 



As the land is all very dry, the hay is of a su- 

 perior quality. What makes those meadows par- 

 ticularly advantageous, is the. scarcity of natural 

 hay and the want of manure in the whole dis- 

 trict. 



In 1827, I was employed to introduce irrigation 

 into YVigtonshire. The largest meadow is at 

 Dalreagle, on the river Bladnock, the property of 

 Sir Alexander Muir Mackenzie, Baronet, con- 

 taining nearly thirty English acres. It is mostly 

 composed of peat to a considerable, depth, and 

 was, until a tew years ago, overflowed by the 

 water of the above mentioned river at every Hood; 

 to prevent which, the former tenant threw up an 

 embankment round it, and made some partial 

 drains, to free the surface of stagnant water; but 

 as the embankment was never made sufficiently 

 high to ward off the great floods, the improvement 

 was neglected, and, on my arrival in the spring of 

 1827, the greater part of the bank being destroy- 

 ed, the land had become boggy. 



The first operation was to repair the. bank, 

 which cost £140; the next, to make ihe large 

 conductor from the river to the meadow eight feet 

 wide at bottom, through "very hard ground, a dis- 

 tance of nearly half a mile, and build a flood 

 sluice nine feet high, with hewn stone and lime; 

 which operations cost £60. 



The making of the feeders and drains, and 

 levelling the surface of the ground, was the next 

 operation, which cost. £6 10s. per acre, or whole 

 expense, including the reparation of the bank, 

 £ 13 per acre. The value of the land previously 

 to these improvements, was from 5s. to 15s. per 

 acre per annum. The hay crop of 1828 was con- 

 siderable, besides an immense crop of after- 

 math. 



[To be continued.] 



merit, and lie may rest assured that he will have no 

 cause to regret it if the management be not neglect- 

 ed. 



I remain your most obedient Servant, 



JAMES MURRAY." 



To Mr. George Stephens. 



