1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



453 



tor is suffered to run over the surface of grass 

 land, the greater quantity of fertilizing substance 

 will be collected: therefore as the water is so very 

 superior in quality to all other water, a speedy re- 

 turn lor the capital laid out may be expect- 

 ed. 



The expense ot keeping these meadows in re- 

 pair is from 10s. to 15s. per acre per annum, 

 which is more than double the expense of keep- 

 ing water meadows in repair in general, for the 

 watering of them is not only through the winter 

 season, but the water is put on them lor one or 

 two days together, immediately after every cut- 

 ting of the grass, through the whole of the sea- 

 son. 



One hundred and ten acres of Mr. Miller's 

 meadows, in 1S27, gave a clear profit of .£2300. 



Such specimens, one should imagine, will carry 

 sufficient weight with them to turn the scale 

 against any objection to the practice of irrigation, 

 arrising from a fear of expense, inferiority of soil, 

 or poorness of water; which have always been 

 the principal charges against the system, and, ] 

 am sorry to say, have prevented many proprietors 

 from making the experiment. But it is sufficient- 

 ly proven, that land of the worst quality, with the 

 poorest water, under good management, in the 

 highest districts of Tweeddale, after deducting the 

 expense of keeping in repair, brings nearly £7 

 per acre per annum. 



In 1828, a water meadow, consisting of nearly 

 thirty acres, was commenced at Bertha, on the 

 north side of the river Almond, for the Right 

 Honorable Lord Lynedoch, and was completed 

 the following year. The soil is partly alluvial, 

 and partly gravel and sand, laid into natural 

 ridges by the action of water. Previous to its be- 

 ing irrigated, the alluvial part produced tolerable 

 good pasture, but the gravel and sand ridges were 

 mostly covered wilh broom. The inequality of 

 the surface would not permit its being formed into 

 regular beds of either catch or bed- work irrigation; 

 it is, consequently, made into a continued succes- 

 sion of both. It commands the whole of the wa- 

 ter of the Almond after the manufactories and 

 town of Perth are supplied, which, in droughty 

 seasons, intercepts the whole; but although so sit- 

 uated, and the water running through a poor 

 country, yet it contains a considerable quantity of 

 enriching substance, whereby the land has alrea- 

 dy been improved three times its former value, 

 and there is every reason to believe the value will 

 still be increased considerably. Further particu- 

 lars will be found in the annexed letter from the 

 factor on the estate.* 



*" Lynedoch, 29th Feb. 1S32. 



"Dear Sir — I had intended to send you a short ac- 

 count of Lord Lynedoch's water meadow last week, 

 but several unforeseen occurrences have prevented me 

 from doing so till now. 



"The formation of this meadow was completed ear- 

 ly in May 1829, and for the eight preceding years it 

 was let for pasture at the average rent of £30 lis. 3d. 

 The total cost of its formation was £320 10s. 7d., and 

 the average annual expense of managing it for the last 

 three years has been £ 17 17s. 5d. 



"It is unnecessary to say any thing of the produce 

 of this meadow in 1829, as those parts where cutting 

 or forcing was necessary to bring it into form, were 

 but imperfectly swarded when the crop was cut, and 



During the period last mentioned, a catch-work 

 meadow was made for the Honorable Lord Core- 

 house, consisting of a little more than five acres, 

 partly by means of lifting the turf, levelling and 

 pulverizing the soil, and laying down the turf 

 again; and partly by ploughing and levelling the 

 surface, and sowing if. with natural grasses. The 

 water used is of good qualify, but rather scarce in 

 droughty seasons. The grass of the meadow is 

 cut iwice a yea:-; the first crop being generally 

 made inio hay, and the second given green to cat- 

 tle. The produce of hay this year was nineteen 

 hundred stones. 



Another catch-work meadow was made in 

 1829 and 1830 at Dalquharran, the property of 

 T. F. Kennedy, Esq., M. P. lis extent is about 

 eight aci'es, of a gravelly sub-soil, and was pre- 

 pared in t'ne same manner as the last mentioned, 

 at an expense from £4 to £9 per acre. It is 

 lormed inio lour parts, two on each side of the 

 burn which runs ihrough if; the water, alier run- 

 ning over the two upper parls, is caught and car- 

 ried over the two lower, and the whole being so 

 arranged t hai any portion can be irrigated sepa- 

 rately. No expense has been spared to make 

 this meadow as complete a specimen as the na- 

 ture andsilua.ion of the land would admit. 



In a letter from the proprietor just received, 

 (Nov. 7ih, 1S33) he says, the part first irrigated 

 produces three hundred, and the second two hun- 

 dred stones of hay per acre, Avorih, in general, 6d. 

 per stone, and the aftergrass is worth 20s. per 

 acre annually, and that he has not the least doubt 

 bui that within two years the latter will produce 

 an equal quantity with ihe first. 



Since the publication of the second edition of 

 this work, I have been employed in making many 

 other wafer meadows in this country, and in 



yielded nothing; but, upon the whole, I reckoned the 

 crop worth double the average rent which the held pro- 

 duced while let for pasture. 



"The crop of 1830 was put up in twenty-one ricks, 

 nmeteen of which were sold by auction on the 21st ot 

 December of that year for £89 16s. 6d. One of these 

 ricks was selected as an average of the whole, and 

 weighed, and from this I estimated the produce of the 

 meadow at three thousand nine hundred stones tron, 

 and the price at which it sold 6d. a stone. We had ra- 

 ther unfavorable weather for making the bay that year 

 and it was not of the best quality. The aftermath was 

 let for pasture, from the 22d August to the 13th Octo- 

 ber', for £ 12, so that the total produce of the meadow 

 in 1830 was £109. 



"In 1S31, from a scarcity of water in the spring and 

 early part of the summer, the crop was, as nearly as I 

 could estimate it, about one-third less than that of the 

 preceding year, or not exceeding two thousand seven 

 hundred stones; but the quality of the hay was so 

 much superior, that in value I do not consider it above 

 one-fifth inferior to crop 1830. 



"Our own sheep were turned into the meadow after 

 the crops of 1829 and 1S31 were carried, but I kept 

 no account of their number, nor the time they were 

 upon it, in either year. 



"I do not think the meadow has yet come to its full 

 bearing; on the contrary, it may reasonably be expect- 

 ed to produce considerably more than it has yet done; 

 but even if it should continue to yield only at the rate 

 it has done for the two last years, it must be held to be 

 a profitable undertaking. 



I am, dear Sir, 



Yours sincerely, 



WILLIAM GOODSMAN." 



