TREATISE ON IRRIGATION. 



Extracted from the Practical Irrigator and Drainer. 



By G-eofce Stevens, 

 [Concluded from p. 40S Vol. III.] 



Although the formation of this meadow has 

 been very expensive, there can be no doubt as to 

 the success, if a regular management be carried 

 on.* 



Another waler meadow was made the same 

 year at Craighhnv, the property of W. C. Hamil- 

 ton, Esq., and one near Creetown, for filajor 

 Campbell, with a small experimental one at Cas- 

 tlewig, belonging to Hugh Hawthorn, Esq. 



The formation of these meadows not being fin- 

 ished till late in the season, the first crop could 

 not be expected to be great; however, there can 

 be no doubt as to their future success, if properly 

 managed. 



I have been favored with the following short 

 statement of the suceessof irrigation in Aberdeen- 

 shire, by Mr. John Boutyon, land surveyor: — 



"The extent of hind that has been irrigated un- 

 der my direction in this county is, viz. for James 

 Ferguson, Esq. of Pitfour, ninety English acres, 

 of all kinds of soils. The land, previous to ils 

 being made into water meadow, was valued at 

 from 7s. to 15s. per acre of yearly rent; the ex- 

 pense of cutting feeders and drains, &c. was from 

 <£2 to £14 per acre; and the. increased value by 

 irrigation has been from £2 10s. to £4 per acre. 

 Since the introduction of the system at Pitfour, I 

 have made many other water meadows, both for 

 tenants and proprietors, which have succeeded 

 equally with the first mentioned."! 



Captain Aytoun has had the goodness to favor 

 me with the following interesting account of Miss 

 Rutherford's water meadows at Glendevon, and 

 with a letter from the Rev. John Brown, minister 

 of G-iende.von, showing the comparative value of 

 the same kind of land, under a regular rotalion of 

 cropping: — 



* I have made every inquiry to obtain a true state- 

 ment of the quantity of last year's crop of hay; but 

 the old lease of the farm being- out, and the tenant not 

 having got a new one, the hay was mixed (for reasons 

 best known to the tenant) with other hay, by which 

 means all my inquiry lias been frustrated. 



This being the first water meadow that has been 

 made in the county, it has met with considerable op- 

 position; but the proprietor, being fully determined to 

 give it a fair trial, has appointed an experienced per- 

 son to look after it through the irrigating season. 



fThe product of the Aberdeenshire meadows is ve- 

 ry deficient, in comparison with what the water mea- 

 dows produce in other parts of Scotland; which ap- 

 pears to me to be wholly owing to the water being- 

 spread over too large a surface — an error too often 

 committed, and which it is very difficult to dissuade 

 proprietors from practising. 



Through the course of experience, I have always 

 found that it is more advantageous to irrigate two acres 

 well, than three indifferently. 



Vol. Ill— 57 



"Dear Sir — As you have requested me to give 

 you an account of the produc* of Miss Ruther- 

 ford's water meadows at Glendevon, and an esti- 

 mate of the return made by them, as well as for 

 the expense of Ibrmation, 1 shall endeavor to do 

 so as well as I can. I must say, however, that if 

 you insert this statement in the new edition of 

 your work, I should like your readers to under- 

 stand that I do not pretend to any knowledge of 

 agriculture, and that, therefore, it is only the tacts 

 which I shall state, relative to the produce and 

 the expense of firming the meadows, which can 

 be entitled to any weight, and that my conclu- 

 sions from those facts may very possibly be erro- 

 neous. 



"Miss Rutherford has already formed two mea- 

 dows, one of which is watered by the Devon, and 

 measures about nine Scotch acres; the other con- 

 tains two acres, and is watered by a small brook. 

 The large meadow was formed, according to your 

 directions, into beds, forty feet broad, raised about 

 twelve inches in the crown. As the turf of this 

 meadow was too tender to be lifted, the ground 

 was ploughed several times, and then formed by 

 the spade and barrow into bed-work. 



"It was sown with grass seeds about, the 20th 

 June 1827. and, after being watered during the 

 ensuing winter, produced a crop of three hundred 

 stone an acre of the finest hay, which was lodged 

 in the barn-yard by the 1st of July 1S28. The 

 turf of the small meadow was lifted, and, after 

 the ground had been ploughed and levelled for 

 catch-work, was replaced in the usual manner. 

 This meadow also produced about three hundred 

 stone an acre of very fine hay; but as the water 

 was very deficient in the spring, it was not cut so 

 soon as the other. After the hay was removed, 

 the meadows were watered lor about a fortnight, 

 with the intermission of a i'ew days at a time, and 

 the grass sprang up with the greatest rapidity. 

 On the 21st July, forty-three sheep and ten cattle 

 were turned into the large meadow. The sheep 

 were read)' for the butcher by the 18th of August, 

 and most of them were sold for 4s. 6d. more than 

 they were worth (according to the shepherd's es- 

 timate) when they were turned in. From the 18th 

 August the meadow was watered as before, till 

 the 1st of September, when thirty-five sheep were 

 turned in; but as they could not consume the 

 grass, and as 1 was desirous of preparing in time 

 for the autumnal Hoods, twenty more were put. in 

 on the 10th, and twenty-eight more on the 18th 

 September, in order that the grass might be eaten 

 quite bare, before the feeders should be cleaned 

 out for the winter watering. The sheep were re- 

 moved on the 1st October; but the waterman, be- 

 ing at that time busy with altering the conductor 

 of the small meadow, watered the large one 

 aa;ain, without cleaning out the feeders, &c; and 

 on the 18th October, sixty-seven sheep were turn- 

 ed into the meadow, in order to consume the grass 

 produced by the last watering as quickly as possi- 

 ble, previous to the winter watering. On the 29th 

 October the sheep were removed to allow' the 

 works to be cleaned, although the grass was by 



