90 HOW TO GROW GOOD GRASSES. 



gation will be valleys of denudation, the centres of 

 which are occupied by more or less copious and 

 rapid streamlets. Some of these valleys in the 

 Cotteswolds having been scooped out of the oolitic 

 freestones, have left the spoils of the rock as a 

 gravelly deposit, sometimes on the lias, at others 

 on the fuller's earth, and then on the Oxford clays ; 

 so that, stiff as these soils would be by themselves, 

 they now only tend to throw out the waters by 

 natural drainage, which are again conducted over 

 the porous gravels through which they flow with 

 great regularity ; thus fertilizing what would otherwise 

 be but a scanty thin-soil herbage, and to such an 

 extent that early depasturing, haymaking, and later 

 pasturage (lattermath) are the rule year by year. 



These circumstances make water-rights of great 

 value, and which, if not in possession, are secured at 

 a fixed charge per acre; this, however, is usually 

 included in the expenses, which, as before stated, 

 are covered by about 6s. per acre. 



Before concluding this chapter, we must say a 

 few words in reference to flooded meadows. These 

 will be found on the banks of the larger rivers or 

 on streams of sufficient importance to be called rivers, 

 as distinguished from brooks or streamlets. Here 

 the flooding is caused by the water overflowing the 

 banks, as the result of sudden thaws or an unusual 

 quantity of rain. Here then the flood is not under 

 control, and as it may happen at any and all times of 

 the year, the grass may be spoiled by being covered 

 with silt and drifted materials, or even the hay may 

 be carried away by the flood. 



These river flats, then, have seldom the requisites 

 for carrying on irrigation, although the waters are of 



