1836 •] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



761 



to devote so much attention to the work as I de- 

 sired. 



It may be well to notice in this connexion, a 

 fact which I am aware may be urged to discredit 

 the favorable representations of this mode of im- 

 provement, that tracts of land even in England, 

 in Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, were formerly irri- 

 gated, but the practice has now been abandoned. 

 1 believe in every case of failure the cause may be 

 directly traced either to improper management, or 

 to culpable neglect; such, I have already stated, 

 was the case on my own farm, previous to my 

 taking charge of this work in person, and such I 

 have no doubt would be found to be the case in 

 every other instance, could a proper inquiry be in- 

 stituted. There is usually a strong indisposition 

 to undertake or continue that which requires con- 

 stant and daily attention; and this attention must 

 be given to the work by those who intend to de- 

 rive any advantage from it. Some will turn the 

 water on to the land; their usual work is on ano- 

 ther part of the farm; it is inconvenient for them 

 to go to their ditches, and the water is allowed to 

 run over their land, until the person who should 

 have attended to it, happens to be that way, how- 

 ever long the time may have been; he afterwards 

 perceives that a cold water grass is growing on 

 his land, condems the water, instead of his own 

 negligence, and the practice of irrigation is aban- 

 doned. There is no business that requires more 

 attention than irrigation, from early in the spring 

 until near the time of mowing the grass. Il the 

 water runs long on the same land without inter- 

 mission, instead of being of benefit, it is working 

 an injury. It is desirable that it should be changed 

 each day, but should never be allowed to run more 

 than two or three days on the same part of the 

 land at any one time. 



Having attempted to show that irrigation in our 

 climate is beneficial, that good husbandry requires 

 that that mode of improvement be adopted where- 

 ver opportunity is afforded, I shall now endeavor 

 to controvert the position that "it is too expensive 

 for our scale of husbandry." That "systematic 

 irrigation," in conformity to the scientific rules, as 

 laid down in the books, is expensive, I shall not 

 deny. But if this expenditure was necessary to 

 enable a farmer to make use of water, which, 

 however, is not the case, the increased crops 

 would soon reimburse the expense. From my 

 own experience, I can say that i know of no mode 

 by which hay can be obtained so cheaply as by 

 the use of water. The greater portion of the land 

 which I irrigate is interval, situated upon the mar- 

 gin of the Blackstone river, from which stream the 

 water is taken. The ground is, as is usual with 

 alluvial lands, highest near the stream, and de- 

 scends towards the high bank, it also descends 

 with the river. Near the high bank is a hollow, 

 usually here called a slang, which extends the 

 whole length of the interval, with branches diverg- 

 ing, and some of them extending across the inter- 

 val. For the purpose of conveying the water 

 to be distributed over the lower portions of the 

 interval, it was necessary to cross several of these 

 hollows, and as it would be necessary to pass over 

 them with a team in the gathering the crops, I 

 made two walls sufficiently wide for a cartway be- 

 tween them, filled the space with gravel, and 

 made my ditch over the embankment. That the 

 embarkment might not operate as a dam, a culvert 



Vol. 111—96 



was constructed under it, enable me to continue 

 my trench drain without interruption, to carry off 

 the surplus waten Where it is not desired to be 

 at the expense of a stone culvert, a very cheap 

 one may be constructed, by fastening four pieces 

 of plank together, to serve as a trunk to convey 

 the water of the drain. The weir or dam, and a 

 part of the principal ditch lor conveying the water 

 on to the land, were constructed before the farm 

 came into my possession, all the smaller ditches 

 and trench drains have been made by me, in the 

 following manner: — Alter having pariicularly ex- 

 amined the ground, by repeatedly passing over it, 

 for the purpose of ibnning an opinion of the pro- 

 per plan of laying out the work, 1 went on to the 

 ground with my level, and with a man to assist 

 me. I commenced the marking out the location 

 for a ditch, as high up the main ditch as the water 

 could be taken upon the land, and my assistant 

 stuck into the earth small sticks, with which he 

 had prepared himself, at short distances, and at 

 such places as by the level I used would enable 

 me to keep the ditch nearly or quite level, and in 

 a direction as nearly at right angles with the main 

 ditch, as the form of the land would admit, which 

 was, however, frequently in a very serpentine 

 course. Having in this manner marked out as 

 many ditches as 1 supposed necessary, and at such 

 distances as would enable me, as I then judged to 

 water all the land in a short time, 1 with a plough 

 and with a steady ox team turned a furrow each 

 way to the cen re, in a line indicated by the small 

 sticks, and thus my ditch was formed. The sods 

 may be used in levelling any inequality in the 

 laud or as I prefer, they may, with the dung-fork, 

 be readily thrown into a cart, and deposited in the 

 barn, or hog-yard, to be there converted into ma- 

 nure, if after turning the water into the ditch 

 thus made, I find any slight inequality in the sur- 

 face of the outside of the ditch which allows the 

 water to escape before the ditch is entirely filled. 

 I take sufficient earth from its bottom to level its 

 bank, so that the water will trickle over the land 

 the whole length of the ditch. When I first com- 

 menced this business, I left the panes between the 

 ditches too large, as I found by observation that a 

 portion of them did not obtain a supply of water: 

 but this delect I have since remedied by making 

 intermediate ditches. In all the slangs" a trench 

 drain should be constructed to conduct off the sur- 

 plus water. As all stagnant water, if it remains 

 long on the land, is prejudicial to vegetation, every 

 hollow should have a drain attached to it, and to 

 this thing too much attention cannot be paid. 

 Before making the drains it is desirable that a 

 careful examination should be had, to determine 

 whether the same trench that is used as a drain 

 for one part of the land, may not be used to con- 

 duct the water on to another portion ol the land 

 on a lower level; from this I have derived much 

 advantage. As the quantity of interval land 

 which I irrigate is so extensive, being estimated 

 at more than thirty acres, that I could not. if I 

 wishi d, suita! ly water it all at one time, I have 

 therefore in the main ditches several hatches or 

 Humes to enable me to turn the water at pleasure 

 on such pari as I may wish. I have found it con- 

 venient to place at the mouth of each of my small 

 ditches, a small flume made by taking four pieces 

 of plank, and fastening them togeiher by large 

 nails, ll ft opem, and the top plank 



