ESSAY ON IRRIGATION. 75 



observes ; " My father commenced the experiment as early as 

 the year 1800, and continued it till 1820, or to the time when 

 he sold his farm. The last ten years of this time he flashed 

 perhaps twenty acres ; and it produced I should think twice as 

 much in common seasons, and three times as much in dry 

 seasons, as it would have done without watering. This land 

 would hold out to yield a good crop twice as long as other land 

 of the same quality" — (that is, I presume, without flowing.) 

 " In dry weather he watered it every night — and the produce 

 was good, very good.'' 



I am acquainted with the lot of land which was the subject of 

 this experiment. It is a northern declivity, and rather a light 

 anti sandy soil, on the eastern bank of Contookook river ; and 

 the water used was that of the river — about one mile below its 

 formation by the junction of two sti'eams, one from a large pond 

 of several hundred acres in Rindge, and the other a mountain 

 sti'eam, formed by innumerable springs issuing from the skirts of 

 the Monadnock. 



From the foregoing premises may we not conclude that water 

 performs a more important office in the growth and formation of 

 plants than has generally been supposed — and that it not only 

 serves to convey nourishment, but that it is itself elaborated into 

 nourishment, and thereby constitutes the solid substance ; and 

 we may further conclude, that every farmer should survey his 

 premises and turn those streams which now are often useless or 

 hurtful, on to lands where they are capable of diffusing fertility, 

 abundance, and wealth. 



It appears further that the immense fertility of Egypt is not 

 so much owing to the alluvial deposit, brought down by the 

 annual inundation, as to the canals and reservoirs in which the 

 waters are retained, to be spread over the lands during the suc- 

 ceeding drought, at the will of the cultivator. 



If, according to the experiments of Boyle and Van Helmont, 

 almost the whole food of plants is derived from water, then the 

 })rinclpal use of the various manures is to attract moisture and 

 stimulate the roots of plants to absorb and elaborate it : and we 

 have also reason to think that lands are much more injured and 



