WAT 



W A T 



485 



the water to run ; and from the 

 main channel, a great number of 

 very narrow ones should be cut, 

 that the water may be well spread 

 through every part of the surface. 



Watering the ground in this man- 

 ner should be avoided when the air 

 is extremely hot ; because heat 

 draws the water too hastily into the 

 plants, which renders them weak. 

 The night time should be preferred 

 to the day for letting out the water, 

 or a day that is cool and cloudy 

 may be chosen, rather than one 

 that is hot and dry. 



No water should be admitted in 

 the spring, till after the ground 

 which has been hoven by the frost 

 is well settled. But afterwards, 

 and in a dry spring, watering may 

 be plentifully used, till the grass be- 

 gins to spring up. After the shoot- 

 ing of the grass, the water should 

 be administered more sparing- 

 ly, or not at all if the weather 

 proves rainy. And when the grass 

 comes to be tall, no water should 

 be applied, but in case of necessity, 

 as when a drought prevails, which 

 would otherwise shorten the crop ; 

 for if it were applied at this time 

 in a large quantity, the grass would 

 be lodged ; or if the water be not 

 clean, it will foul the grass, and 

 give the hay an ill taste. 



After the second crop of hay is 

 taken off, water may be thrown 

 over the ground in plenty ; for the 

 ground is then very dry, and the 

 weather so cool, that vegetables 

 will not be injured by plentiful 

 watering. 



Ground that is thus watered will 

 produce plenty of grass, unless it 

 should happen to be too much 



chilled by watering ; to prevent 

 which it should have a sprinkling 

 of some warm compost, soot, or 

 other hot dressing, each year, in 

 autumn. 



Care should be always taken to 

 leave off this watering before the 

 month of December, when strong 

 frosts are expected ; because frost 

 destroys all vegetables much more 

 when they are full of sap, and 

 where the soil is very wet. 



When you wish to water land 

 which is above the level of an ad- 

 jacent stream, an engine may be 

 used to raise it to the proper height. 

 They who are willing to be at this 

 expense may tind descriptions of 

 Archimedes'* watering screw, the 

 Persian wheel, M. Beltdor^s wheel, 

 and an engine invented by M. de la 

 Bay, in the Complete Farmer, arti- 

 cle Water» 



WATER FURROWING, draw- 

 ing furrows in the lowest parts of 

 a field of wheat, or other winter 

 grain, as soon as it is harrowed in, 

 in order to draw off the superflu- 

 ous water, that none may stand 

 on the surface during the win- 

 ter. 



This piece of good husbandry is 

 considered, in the old countries, as 

 indispensably necessary ; unless 

 when a field is on such a declivity 

 that the water cannot stand on it. 

 For if water stand long upon corn, 

 in a frosty season, or almost any 

 season, it will either be killed, or 

 so stinted in its growth, that it will 

 produce nothing. 



If this practice were adopted by 

 my countrymen, the labour of do- 

 ing which is but a trifle, I am per- 

 suaded they would find so great an 



