THE GENESEE FARMER. 



148 



IRRIGATION. 



Wk have often expressed our conviction of tlie 

 fjreat utility of irrigating improved lands in this 

 coiuitry; and it gives us pleasure to find our views 

 fully sustained by intelligent Americans familiar with 

 agriculture, who have observed the advantages of ir- 

 rigation in Europe. L. G. Morris, Esq., late Presi- 

 dent of the New York State Agricultural Society, 

 yifered tht; following remarks on this subject in his 

 address before said Society, at its annual meeting, 

 held in Albany, February 9, 1854: 



" The next subject I will call your attention to is 

 that of irrigation. While in Europe, in 1850, and 

 a-iaia in 1852, I was forcibly struck with the great 

 a(ivantage of this fertilizer. There is many a brook 

 or strea:n nniuing comparatively waste througli a 

 farm, that, if properly directed, woidd add as much 

 to fertilizing the land of said farm as the ordinary 

 stock kept upon it. If you will allow me to trespass 

 ou your time, I will give a short description of the 

 three modes of irrigation I saw in practice. 



'•In Devonshire, England, I saw what is called the 

 'catch meadow' system. The plan is this: A stream 

 is dammed, and as large a pond formed at as high an 

 elevation as the location will admit ; that pond is 

 tapped by a small ditch or raceway, at its bottom, to 

 drain it; that ditch or raceway leads tlie water, keep- 

 ing it at the highest elevation its head will admit, and 

 allowing its banks to overflow and irrigate as it me- 

 anders along, by which means a certain number of 

 acres of the farm can be watered. This process is 

 performed in the fall, winter and spring, as often as 

 tie pond will lil]. 



" An experiment of this kind I witnessed in Exeter, 

 at tlie Royal Agricultural Meeting held in that place 

 in 1850. Mr. Gkoroe Turxer, the celebrated agri- 

 cultuiist of that section, exhibited the process on his 

 own farm, and while the water was flowing made very 

 full and explanatoiy remarks as to its eilicacy. Mr. 

 TuRXER stated that he in-igated at any season of the 

 year, excepting midsummer ; he also said he did not 

 use matmre on the part irrigated, but would hurdle 

 his sheep above the irrigated land where the w-atcr 

 could not get : by which means he transferred the 

 advantage of irrigation by the droppings of the ani- 

 mals which liad consumed the pasture and hay, on 

 the land below the water line. 



'•The only disadvantage, Mr. Turner stated by 

 telling an anecdote of the celebrated breeder Bake- 

 WFJ.L. Bakewei.l was so tenacious as to the exclu- 

 sive breeding of superior animals himself, that he 

 would not sell his old ewes to a breeder ; and when 

 it became necessary to part with them, he would fat- 

 ten them on irrigated land, and then say to the 

 bntcher, 'You may sell them to breeders if you 

 please, as they will never produce increase hereafter.' 



"This kind of pasture produces what is called the 

 ROT (a disease of the liver), and if the animal is not 

 killed that fall it will die before spring. Mr. Turner 

 stated that he was veiy carefid never to graze his 

 breeding flock ou such pasture. Homed stock and 

 other animals he expressed no opinion as to injurious 

 effects. 



" The second mode of irrigation I saw on the plains 

 of Lombardy (near the city of Milan), the great 



country for making Parmezan cheese, which is pro- 

 duced almost entirely from the grass and hay, as they 

 very seldom feed any thing else to their cows. The 

 process of making this cheese is very simj^le, and per- 

 formed by men in a very careless and any thing but 

 cleanly manner. 



" Tlie cows are kept tied in the stables the year 

 round, and only put out a few hours each day for 

 water and exercise ; they are rather better than an 

 ordinary race of milkers, and are procured in Swit- 

 zerland, at three years old, before they have produced 

 their first calf; they are allowed to breed every year, 

 and the young calves butchered ; and when they get 

 too old for the dairy they are killed, and their jjlaces 

 again supplied from Switzerland. They po&sess a very 

 decided appearance as a distinct breed, being, univer- 

 versally, some of them brown, and others mouse color, 

 with a light or mealy tinge around the eyes and nose; 

 very straight on the back ; coarse in the bone, horns 

 and hair. The agricultural establishment at Grignon 

 prefer them to any breed of cattle. 



" The kind of irrigation used in Lombardy is by 

 letting the water remain on the laud, at a moderate 

 depth, for a certain number of days ; this country 

 being so level, it is {Drepared thus : The water which 

 descends from the snowy peaks of the Alps, rests 

 itself in such beautiful lakes as Como and Maggoire, 

 and afcer being quieted, tamed, and comparatively 

 ^varmed, it winds its way in sluggish streams through- 

 out those extensive plains. Previous to the channels 

 of tho.se streams being formed, and in great freshets, 

 this whole country must have been irrigated naturally, 

 which h'as prodwced one of the richest countries in 

 the known world. At the present day, it is necessary 

 to renovate that alluN'ial quality, and to do which, 

 a stream is dammed at the most suitable location, 

 and a raceway is foi^med, frequently by raising an 

 embankment; this raceway is tapped at pleasure, and 

 suffered to cover a. certain amount of meadow, which 

 is so graded and arranged by ditches that after the 

 water has remained on it a proper length of time it 

 is let oft' upon another meadow, so graded as to re- 

 ceive the water of the others, &c. 



"The person owning a location high enough to 

 warrant a stream being dammed, sells the privilege of 

 taking the water from it for quite a large sum, and 

 the next neighbor sells to his next neighbor, and so 

 on. There are certain periods of time, and depth for 

 the water to lay on the meadow, regulated by the 

 heat of the weather ; and a crop is taken from the 

 meadow once in thirty days, at a growth from sevem 

 to nine inches long, as thick as the hair upon a dog. 

 The climate is so mild that eight or ten crops of this 

 kind are taken per year ; and if the grass is not cut 

 every thirty days during the season of gi-owth, the 

 roots of the sod are injured. 



"The third and last mode I saw, and by far the 

 most beautiful, and in all respects better adapted for 

 our general use, was in that picturesque country, 

 Switzerland. This country is diversified by moun- 

 tains, steep side hills, slopes and flat lands; and when 

 the water is finding its way down from those snowy 

 peaks to the streams in the valley, its course is diverted 

 by the peasantry, and obliged to flow over and irrigate 

 the side-hills, and at last finds its way into the streamsi 

 below, after having performed its eoriohing duties. 



