106 QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



a ball at Lincoln, and was obliged to remain upon the waste tlL 

 morning." 



Since 1823 one portion of this heath (no longer) has been occu- 

 pied by one tenant, who has realized a large fortune ; and if suclj 

 are the results under a heavy rent, w^hat may we not expect froni| 

 improved agriculture in this country where the owners till thesoij 

 and have no outgo in the shape of $5 to $7 for each acre for rent 

 And what would our farmers think of farming, when, besides thij 

 rent, a capital of $20,000 is required to carry on the operations | 

 But such is the case in some parts of England. f 



We shall close this article by quoting from an article in th' 

 London Quarterly Review, a passage on the subject of irrigation 

 " Sir Thomas Ackland's farm of Clotsham, which hangs almos 

 precipitously over the valley of Holnicote, at 1100 feet above th- 

 level of the sea, affords a good instance. * 



The name of Catch Meadow indicates the process by which th' ' 

 irrigation is effected. The ground is not reshaped by the costl 

 process required for the irrigation of meadows that are naturall 

 level, but ' shallow gutters are carried around the slopes of tl 

 shelving field, tier above tier ; and no separate channel is requirt' 

 for carrying the water off, because after flowing over one carri' 

 it is caught in the next below, from which circumstance the nan 

 is derived.' The ease with which these catch meadows are form( ' 

 is remarkable. A field at Winsford, so steep that one could m 

 climb it wnthout the aid of hands, having been limed and plant* ' 

 with potatoes for two years, and overlaid with water-gutters alor 

 the slope, has been converted at a trifling cost, from w^aste, rou£i ■ 

 ground, worth 5s. an acre, to a field bearing perpetual grass, worr# 

 at least 40s. an acre ; and Mr. Blake, of Upton has brought lew 

 than 400 acres, which had not been let for JEl an acre, to produ - * 

 j£1200 a year, chiefly by catch meadows, which he formed out 

 moor land, and lets as summering ground to the lowland farmei 



S 



