880 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK ix 



the land, and as quickly as the supply from the river will permit, for 

 those meadows have been observed to be most fertile where the fall is 

 quick, without being too sudden. To make the carriages deep would 

 be of no use, because it is only the water at the surface that flows over 

 their sides. A carriage kept full, that has only six inches of water, will 

 throw as much over upon the meadow as if the water in it were six feet 

 deep. There is also an evil in deep carriages; a larger body of 

 water, by its weight, descends farther into the ridges and chills the 

 land, and makes it produce flags and other aquatic weeds, to the 

 detriment of the hay ; whereas the object of the operation is merely 

 to pass the water over the surface. 



The drains d r, d r, are made in the furrows between the ridges, 

 and parallel to the carriages ; they are 18 inches wide, and of a similar 

 depth, at the upper ends d d, and 24 inches wide, and the same depth, 

 at the lower ends r r. 



The carriages c a, c a, are widest (24 inches) at their upper ends c c, 

 in order to receive a sufficient quantity of water, and are gradually 

 contracted from 24 to 18 inches at their lower ends a a ; by which 

 contraction the water, being more and more confined, rises a little, 

 runs over the banks, and flows upon the grass en each side. 



The drains, on the contrary, being made narrower at their upper 

 ends, and widening, and also deepening towards the lower, are on that 

 account capable of receiving the accumulating water from the carriages, 

 which they discharge into the large drain r r, in order to be conveyed 

 out of the meadow at n. 



The main drain m n is four feet wide, and is made to receive the 

 water out of the carriages through a small sluice near n, which is to 

 be opened for that purpose when the meadow has been sufficiently 

 watered. 



If the bottoms of the carriages were level from one end to the other, 

 the water could not be drawn out of them, but would stagnate and chill 

 the ground, making it produce sedges, flags, and other coarse aquatic 

 plants ; for which reason the carriages are deeper by six inches towards 

 their upper ends next the river than at their further ends a a. This 

 being the case, it results that, when the meadow has at any time been 

 sufficiently watered, and is to be laid dry by shutting the sluice at S, 

 to prevent more water coming in from the river, and opening the sluice 

 near n, the water immediately begins to run out of the carriages into 

 the main drains, all the former are emptied very speedily, and the 

 water in the drains running off at the same time, the whole meadow 

 soon becomes dry. 



It is not necessary to continue the carriages so far as the drain r r, 

 but they may be made shorter by three or four yards ; for the water 

 that runs over at the ends of the carriages will spread and flow over 

 the intermediate spaces, from a a to the drain r r. 



Where the water does not run over the sides of the carriages, or not 

 uniformly, stops are to be put into the carriage a little below, which 

 will make the water rise somewhat above the stops, and flow over the 

 bank. These stops are made with pieces of turf laid across the 



