NEW ENGLAND FAitMEll, 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



I'UBLISHEU BV GEORGE C. UARllETT, NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agricultural Warkhouse.) — T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



6OSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 9, 1836. 



NO. 35. 



^'^'^^'QW^^w^m^i 



(For the New Enclatul F.inner.) 

 IRRIGATIOIV, 



Br Hon. John Wk Lincoln. 



CContinueii from page 260.) 

 Havinar hnd some experience in this business, 

 I am (lis|iOsefl to offer myself as a witness, pre- 

 mising that no school-boy is more amused by 

 paddliii!; in the water', than I am pleased with 

 airtiing it about from p!acc to place on my farm, 

 knowing that I could in no other manner be so 

 iirofitably employed ; gratified with witnessing 

 rom time to time the superior growth of the grass, 

 ind anticipating the pleasure of seeing a heavy 

 :wath when it shall be cut. 



Jly late father was in the practice of irrigating 

 I portion of his land on the farm on which 1 was 

 )orn, on which there are tracts which have, with- 

 n my own knowledge, for nearly forty years an- 

 maily |)roduced large crops of hay, without the 

 lid of any manure, e.\eept that derived from wa- 

 er. In the spring of 1820, on the decease of my 

 ather, that farm, now owned by my brother, was 

 )laced uniier my superintendence, and from that 

 ime to the prei^cnt my attention has year by year 

 leen called to the subject of irrigation, and during 

 bat tune I have known no year, however moist 

 lias been the season, in which I have not derived 

 much benefit from the artificial use of water on 

 my land. The farm on which I now reside came 

 •nto my possession in 1820, previous to which 

 ■ime a portion of it had been irrigated, but the 

 >vorks, from disuse, were much out of repair. It 

 lot being convenient for me to take it under my 

 wn immediate supervision, I rented it, as it has 

 leen rented for many years, on shares. I how- 

 ver at my own charge put the dam, the principal 

 reiich, anil several of the smaller ones in repair, 

 nd endeavored to persuade tny tenant, that it was 

 nuch for his interest to make use of them. But 

 ivhetber he believed that our climate did not 

 equire this mode of improvement, that a kind 

 "rovidence would supply all the moisture which 

 ivas necessary for vegetation, or was unwilling to 

 llevote jiroper attention to this subject, I know 

 lot, it was much neglected. In 1829, my barn 

 leing then old, and much out of repair, I caused 

 t to he pulled down, and another to be erected of 

 .. different form and greater capacity. When I 

 bowed the plan of the proposed structure to my 

 enant, he e.xpressed much surprise that I should 

 hink of erecting so large a building, saying that 

 dl the produce of the farm would not half fill it. 

 told him that 1 was satisfied that the farm, if 

 irojerly managed, was capable of filling it, and 

 hat if I continued in the enjoyment of health for 

 I few years, that I should see the barn full. It 

 ivas true that after the barn was erected, and the 

 ;rops gathered, not half the barn was occupied, 

 md it is also true, that after the last harvest there 

 .vas very little s[)are room in my barn. On the 

 irst day of April, 1830, I took my farm into my 



own care, and I was obliged to purchase several 

 tons of hay to support what stock \\'Sis then there, 

 until vegetation was so far advanced, as to enal)le 

 them to obtain a living abroad. I have been grad- 

 ually increasing my stock as I had more food to 

 sustain them, and now keep more than twice the 

 .stock of 1830, and have now considerable more 

 hay than can be necessary for their support, seve- 

 ral tons of which I shall sell. Anil this change 

 has been effected principally by irrigation. I say 

 principally, because I have during that time pur- 

 chased some manure, Ijtit I have also received for 

 hay sold nearly as much money as 1 have paid for 

 manure ; and perhaps something is to be attributed 

 (0 a different mode of husbandry on lands not 

 irrigated, but the improvement which has been 

 increasing from year to year, is in a great degree 

 owing to the use of water. I have strong reason 

 to believe, that by employing the same means I 

 shall be able to add greatly to the future crops of 

 my farm. I have not heretofore derived so much 

 advantage from this mode of improvement as 

 might have been expected, my engagements have 

 rerpiired tue to be frequently absent from home, 

 and consequently I have not been able to devote 

 so much attention to the work as I desired. 



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. 

 I 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 

 instituted. 'J'bere is usually a strong indisposition 

 to unilertake or continue that which requires con- 

 stant and daily attention ; ami this attention must 

 be given to the work by those who intend to derive 

 any advantage from it. Some will turn the water 

 on to the land ; their usual work is on another 

 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, hapjiens 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, condemns the water, instead of Ids own 

 negligence, and the practice of irrigation is aban- 

 doned. There is no business that requires more 

 attention than irrigation, from earlj' in the Spring 

 until near the time of mowing the grass. If 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 he 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 shew that irrigation in our 

 climate is beneficial, that good husbandry requires ' 



that that mode of iinjirovoment lie adnple.d wher- 

 ever opportunity is afiordeil, I shall now endeavor 

 to controvert the position that " it is too expen.sive 

 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 

 enalde 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 

 vvfhole length of the interval, with branches diver- 

 ging, and sotne of them extending across the in- 

 terval. 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 nece.=sary to pass over 

 them with a team in gathering the crops, I made 

 two walls sufficiently wide for a cartway between 

 them, filled the space with gravel, and made my 

 ditch over the embankment. That the embank- 

 ment might not operate as a dam, a culvert was 

 constructed under it, to enable me to continue my 

 trench drain without interruption, to carry off the 

 surplus water. Where it is not desired to be at 

 the expense of a stone culvert, a very cheap one 

 may be consn-ucted, by fastening four pieces of 

 plank together, to serve as a trunk to convey the 

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

 of the firincipal ditch for 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: — After having particidarly ex- 

 amined the ground, by repeatedly passing over it, 

 for the ]jurpose of forming an opinion of the 

 proper jilan of laying out the work, I went on to 

 the ground with my level, and with a man to assist 

 me. 1 commenced the marking out the location 

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

 (■ould be taken upon the kind, and my assi.stant 

 stuck into the cartli small stick,s, with which he 

 had iirepared himself, at short distances, and at 

 such places as by the l«vel 1 used would enable 

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

 a direction as nearly at right angies with the main 

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

 was, hpwever, frequently in a very serpentine 

 course. \ Having in this manner marked out as 

 many ditches as I supposed necessary, and at such 

 distances as would enable me, as L then judged, to 

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

 and with a steady ox team turned a furrow each 

 way to the centre, in a line indicated by the small 

 sticks, and thus roy ditch was formed. The sods 



