CHAP. xii. CATCH-MEADOWS. 888 



pitch from such gutter and the horizontal part of the main drain, the 

 water which had percolated through the grass of the first pitch would 

 be so largely deprived of its fertilising qualities as to be almost in- 

 capable of communicating any perceptible benefit to the pitches lying 

 beneath. Water thus filtrated is, in the language of Gloucestershire 

 irrigators, termed used water, and is regarded as next to useless: 

 and hence it is that the grass growing nearest to the floating gutters 

 is most abundant, and of the best quality, in all kinds of meadows. 

 There is no doubt that the water does deposit a certain quantity of 

 fertilising sediment, yet in many cases this is very small, and water 

 from the clearest brook may be employed with very great advantage, 

 though that from streams in which cresses and some few weeds 

 grow is more beneficial. 



The breadth of the panes or pitches of catch-meadows, from gutter 

 to gutter, is by no means uniform ; but it would seem that they ought 

 not to be much broader than the distance from the floating gutter to 

 the receiving drain in float-meadows now most generally known as 

 " ridge and furrow " irrigation that is, from four to six yards. 

 Catch-meadow is not held in such estimation, nor is it so profitable, as 

 float-meadow, but it is the only kind available for hilly lands. 1 



All lands that lie low, and are contiguous to the banks of rivulets, 

 brooks, and springs, are capable of being watered, particularly where 

 the watercourse is higher than the lands, and is kept within its bounds 

 by the banks. If the current has a ver} r quick descent, the improve- 

 ment by irrigation will be great, and attended with comparatively little 

 expense, because, in proportion to the greatness of the descent, the 

 improvement is more speedy. The lands most suitable for irrigation 

 are, in Mr. Boswell's opinion 



1. A gravelly, or sound, warm, firm, sandy soil ; or, which is more 

 frequently the case, a mixture of each, or almost any soil partaking of 

 these qualities. Such soils, where there is a descent from the river, 

 exhibit an almost instantaneous improvement. It will in no case be 

 advisable to attempt a large improvement by irrigation until the quality 

 of the water is known. This, however, may in most instances be dis- 

 covered by observing the effect it produces upon the herbage of the 

 land which is sometimes overflowed by it; or may be ascer- 

 tained by regularly watering a small piece of land with it. Water 

 impregnated with ferruginous or calcareous particles is unfit for irriga- 

 tion, as is peat and bog water ; whilst trout-streams, brooks favourable 

 to water-cresses, and springs which feel warm and soft, or, as some 

 describe it, oleaginous, to the hand, are almost invariably found to be 

 fertilising. 



2. Boggy, miry, and rushy soils, which always occur near the banks 

 of rivers where the land lies tolerably level, are capable of improvement 

 equal to that of any others, when their respective values in an unre- 

 claimed state are considered. In that state, indeed, swampy marsh-land is 



1 For an excellent paper on Catch -meadows, see Journal of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society, vol. x., First Series. 



3 L 2 



