144 



NEW ENGL.VND FARRIER. 



March 



IRRIGATION AND FLOWING. 



Almost every farm has a brook near it that can 

 be directed to irrigating purposes.— //orace G?-eefey. 



Mr. Greeley is out of his proper spliere wlicn he 

 lectures on farming. What folly it is to recom- 

 mend farmers to irrigate their lands, by the 

 strean)lc'ts that run flirough them. Irrigation is 

 practicable only wlierc labor is very cheap, and 

 where the land is level, and so situated that large 

 fields can be flooded at pleasure, and the water 

 turned off speedily : but our farmers, generally, 

 can do nothing at this kind of business, and it is a 

 waste of words to recommend it.— Rural American. 



Remarks. — Is not the Rural American ' 'out 

 of its proper sphere" in this criticism of the 

 extract from Mr. Greeley's Dutchess County 

 Fair address ? 



F Iowa g e msiy be "practicable only where 

 labor is very cheap, and where the land is 

 level," but irriijation is certainly possible un- 

 der dilferent circumstances. We have exper- 

 imented on sharp slopes of rough land, with 

 the most decided advantage — the little rivulets 

 separating a thick growth of grass below them, 

 from an exceedingly light growth above, as far 

 as the water could be made to run. Water 

 that is apparently pure has a very beneficial 

 effect, but where the little stream, as is often 

 the case, has pilfered from the fields or build- 

 ings above a good store of manurial matters, 

 the most striking results are often obtained by 

 irrigation. 



With but a small amount of engineering skill 

 or labor, a dam may be built and a portion of 

 a brook conducted along its margin at the high- 

 est possible water level, by marking its course, 

 as the water flows along, with a stout hoe or 

 sharp spade or shovel ; now bridging a de- 

 pression or hollow in the surface of the field 

 by the use of cheaply made troughs — we have 

 seen common eve-spouts used — now winding 

 around a swell of the land, all the time guid- 

 ing the stream at the highest attainable level, 

 for the purpose of irrigating as much of the 

 field as possil)le and for guarding against the 

 gullying whi<h is liable to occur where there is 

 too much dcs' ent in the leading water courses. 

 From this horizontal channel small streams are 

 allowed to ovcrllow at suitable di>tances. The 

 water of thi-.-e streams after irrigating a belt 

 or strip of tiie descending surface may be in- 

 tercepted by another horizontal channel, and 

 again di-triliuti-d where most needed in other 

 small rivulets. These horizontal channels may 

 be repeated as often as tlie lay of the land and 



nels may be deepened, or, with a little care, 

 may be made in the first case by a plough. 



While writing the foregoing hints we have 

 had in mind, and have in fact described a 

 practical case of irrigation which we lately 

 witnessed on the farm of Mr. Thomas S. 

 Fletcher in Reading, Vt., by which he has 

 greatly increased the grass crop on a field, 

 on the side of a hill so steep and high that a 

 team could haul up to it at best only very small 

 loads of manure from the barn below, provided 

 he had any manure to spare for his upland, 

 which he said he had not. True, his "water- 

 works" require some care and attention ; but 

 with proper management this little stream will 

 furnish a large part of this "hill lot" with an 

 annual coating of manure "as long as water 

 runs and wood grows." This care and atten- 

 tion, however, our friend regarded as a light 

 job, compared with the severe labor of both 

 man and beast which would be necessary to 

 apply to this field sufficient barn manure to 

 produce the same result, even if the manure 

 was offered gratuitously at the foot of the hill. 



Water is an interesting as well as wonderful 

 element. How the boys love to build the 

 dams and sluices for the water which operates 

 their miniature mills ! Why may they not be 

 led to take a similar interest in those gurgling 

 streams which spread a inanlle of green upon 

 the irrigated land in the tpring, weeks before 

 it appears on the adjoining fields ? We re- 

 member very well the interest we took when a 

 boy in the work by which the water of a stream 

 which passed through our "mowing" and which 

 was nearly or (juite dry in the summer season, 

 was made to overflow the sides of dry ridges 

 which were hardly worih mowing. The very 

 great increase of hay on the parts irrigated 

 gave rise to many jokes at the expense of our 

 neighbors who owned land on the stream above. 

 Among other sugge.-tions it was proposed 

 that whatever bulk of uiarmre, whether from 

 their barns or their H(l(i>, which they wish to 

 float down this .vtnam, should be transported 

 on our canal and tliruu;fli all its locks free of 

 expense to the owner.-« of >ui h freight! 



Indeed, we have seen j-o many instances of 

 the successful u>e of water in this way, with 

 a small amount of labor, ih.it we must agree 

 with Mr. (ireelt-y in rei ouniu nding farmers to 

 irrigate their lands wiien- practicable by the 



other circumstances may require. These chan- I streamlets which run (broujjii them. 



