1 8 A Walk from 



seven per cent, annually, for twenty years, for the in- 

 creased capacity of production which drainage gives to 

 the farm he cultivates. At the end of that period the 

 Government is paid by the landlord, and the landlord 

 by the tenant, and the tenant by his augmented crops 

 for the whole original outlay upon the land. For aught 

 either of the three parties to the operation knows to the 

 contrary, it must all be done over again at the end of 

 twenty years. The system is too young yet, even in 

 England, for any one to say how long a course of tubing 

 will last, or how often it must be relaid. 



One point, therefore, has been gained. No intelligent 

 English farmer, who has tried the system, now asks if 

 under-drainage will pay ; nor does he expect that it will 

 pay back the whole expenditure in less than twelve or 

 fifteen years. Here is a generous faith in the operation 

 on the side of all the parties concerned. Then why 

 should not Alderman Mechi's irrigation system be put 

 on the same footing, in the matter of public confidence ? 

 It is nothing very uncommon even for a two hundred 

 acre farmer in England to have a small stationary or 

 locomotive steam-engine, and to find plenty of work for 

 it, too, in threshing his grain, grinding his fodder, pulp- 

 ing his roots, cutting his hay and straw, and for other 

 purposes. Mr. Mechi would doubtless have one for 

 these objects alone. So its cost must not be charged 



