DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. VIII. 



BOSTON, MAY, 1856. 



NO. 5. 



JOEL NOURSE, Proprietor, 

 Office.. ..QuixcT Hall. 



SIMON BROWN, EDITOR. 



FRED'K HOLBROOK, ) Associate 

 HENRY F. FRENCH, 5 Editors. 



IRRIGATION 



ANY •writers on ag- 



r 



riculture have been 

 unanimous in urg- 

 ing the importance 

 of irrigation, espe- 

 cially on soils which 

 are naturallj- dry, 

 and susceptible of 

 being affected inju- 

 riously by drought; 

 and in many situa- 

 tions, it is certainly 

 to be regarded as 

 one of the most 

 useful and impor 

 tant operations 

 which come within 

 the pro\'ince of the 

 farmer. Water, or, 

 at least, moisture, 

 is one essential con- 

 dition of vegetation, for water, either directly or by 

 its decomposition, contributes to the nutrition and 

 sustenance of every cultivated plant, as well as to 

 the vegetable world in general. This fact, and the 

 importance of irrigation as a branch of agriculture, 

 was well understood by the ancients. Homer, in 

 the Iliad, says, in allusion to the subject : 



"The peasant with his spade, a rill 



Conducts from some pure fountain, through his grove 

 Or garden, clearing the obstructed course." 



And in the Odyssey, when he describes the wonder- 

 fid beauty of the gardens of Alcinous 



"Amid 



The lovely scene, two fountains welling forth. 

 One visits into every part diifused. 

 The garden round." 



And Virgil, in his Georgics, expresses himself in 

 very much the same manner, while most of the an- 

 cient writers, historians, as well as the children of 

 Parnassus, have recorded innumerable instances of 

 its adoption in oriental countries, as a means of 

 vegetable enrichment, and sustenance to crops. 



In China, it has been practised from the most re- 

 mote epoch of which the historical records of the 

 country furnish any account. In some parts of 

 Asia, particularly at Mysore, irrigation, as a branch 

 of agriculture, is under the express auspices and 

 control of government. In the Milanese territory, 

 it is probably adopted to a greater extent than in 

 any region, and ditches, tunnels and canals are 

 everywhere seen running in every possible direc- 

 tion through lands, the unsurpassed beauty and lux- 

 uriance of which attest most conclusively, the ad- 

 vantages resulting from their efforts. These life- 

 giving veins were opened centuries ago, and the 

 continuance of an adequate supply of water in them 

 for all the numerous and multiplied purposes of 

 agriculture, is still, more than formerly, an object 

 of popular solicitude. So highly, indeed, are the 

 advantages resulting from this universal diffusion 

 of water estimated, that the canals and viaducts em- 

 braced in this system of general irrigation, are 

 placed under the jurisdiction of the government, 

 the same as are the highways. 



The wonderfid fertility of Egypt, or that part of 

 it rather, which is known by the appellation of the 

 Delta," bordering upon the river Nile, and period- 

 ically submerged by the exudation of its waters, is 

 proverbial. "To this river," remarks a celebrated, 

 traveller, "Egypt is indebted for its fertility and 

 happiness; for as it seldom rains in the inland 

 parts of the country, and the soil is naturally dry, 

 if the lands were not annually watered by its over- 

 flowing, Egypt would be one of the most barren 

 regions in the world." 



Water, in almost all cases, contains feitiziUng 

 particles which are exceedingly beneficial to vege- 

 tation. When water has stood for a considerable 

 length of time on the surface of the soil, it is found 

 to be pregnant with nutritive matters, which it has 

 imbibed during its quiescence, and which are in a 

 condition to act beneficially, and with great energy, 

 when applied to plants or crops of any kind. The 

 water conveyed by rills and streams, is never with- 

 out fertilizing powers. When applied by irrigation 



