36 -ON IRRIGATION OF LANDS. 



No. II. ON IRRIGATION OF LANDS. 



The Committee on Farms, to whom was referred the subject 

 of " Irrigation of Lands," report — 



That only one entry for the premium on this subject was made ; 

 and that by David Gray, of Andover. Your Committee visited 

 his farm, and as in previous visits were gratified with the various 

 evidences of persevering and well-directed labor and skill ; and 

 of the full enjoyment of its proper rewards, comfort and compe- 

 tence. They examined his experiments in irrrigation, of which 

 his account is annexed ; but although creditable to the industrious 

 proprietor, they were not considered of a sufficiently extensive 

 and decisive character to justify the Committee in awarding the 

 premium. 



Your Committee deem this mode of improvement of the 

 highest advantage, and are anxious that many experiments 

 should be made to test among us the value of a process whose 

 utility has been so fully established in more improved countries. 

 It has been found in many cases much more than to double the 

 produce of lands, and has been successfully applied, not only to 

 the improvement of grass, but to the great increase of cultivated 

 crops, such as wheat and barley. Its value upon pasture grounds 

 and newly mowed lands, especially during our severely dry sum- 

 mers, must be very great. Much has already been done among 

 us by turning water from the sides of the roads, by which means 

 the wash of the roads contributes much to the enriching of our 

 fields. A good deal of advantage, as your Committee have in 

 another report remarked, might be found in being able to flood 

 our drained meadows at pleasure. Greac advantage would 

 doubtless arise from using the water from springs, which are to 

 be found on some of our hills; and> directing it by successive 

 small channels formed on their sides over the contiguous grounds. 

 The county of Essex, which cannot be said to abound in springs 

 or brooks, does not perhaps admit of many improvements of this 

 nature ; but where there is a capacity for it, there cannot be a 

 doubt that a successfld experiment would aniply compensate a 

 liberal expenditure. In some cases several springs on neigii- 



