On Flooding Land. 283 



SECT. IX. On Flooding Land. 



THE mode of improving land by " Flooding" is, to cover 

 it for a time, or drown it by a quantity of water from a 

 stream or lake ; by means of which, (if it takes place in a 

 favourable season), the future production of crops, both of 

 grass and of grain, is promoted. It differs completely from 

 irrigation, in which the water ought constantly to be in a 

 flowing state, whereas in the process of artificial flooding, it 

 is wholly or nearly stagnant. The great object of the process 

 is, 1. To admit the water, without any injury to the surface 

 of the soil from the force of the stream ; and, 2. To with- 

 draw it in such a soft and regular manner, that none of the 

 mud, deposited on the surface, shall be taken away. 



Along the margins of many of the rivers in England and 

 Scotland, the meadows are thus improved : When the floods 

 take place in winter or spring, they produce the most ferti- 

 lizing effects ; but these flat grounds, being rarely protected 

 by embankments, often suffer severely from overflowings in 

 summer and autumn. The management of these meadows 

 on improved principles, shall be discussed in a subsequent 

 section. (Chap. IV. Sect. 8.) 



The most striking instance known in Great Britain, of 

 advantage being derived from the inundations of a lake, is 

 that of Loch Ken, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright. At 

 the head of that beautiful piece of water, there is a flat of 

 about 240 statute acres, which is rendered, by flooding, one 

 of the richest spots in Scotland. Many acres in it produce 

 at the rate of three tons of hay each, and some parts of it 

 have been cropped with grain for 25 years in succession, 

 without any manure, except what it receives from the inun- 

 dations, which leave behind them a variety of enriching sub- 

 stances ( 45 ). 



The advantages of flooding, in favourable circumstances, 

 cannot therefore be too highly appreciated ; and it evidently 

 appears that water, in a stagnant state, may produce the 

 most beneficial effects, more especially where the surface is 

 incumbent upon an open subsoil or bottom. 



From the advantageous consequences of flooding, when 

 done by nature, there is reason to imagine, that the same 

 benefit would result from it, when artificially executed ; and 

 this was formerly attempted in various parts of the kingdom. 

 Hence the obsolete practice of floating upwards, as it was 

 termed, which in fact was a species of warping. For that 



