20 



I have in the title, and other parts of 

 tliis treatise, substituted the term floating, 

 in the place of that oi xvatcringy as more^ 

 expressive of the thing intended. The 

 word watering, I fear, has not contributed 

 towards a clear conception of the busi- 

 ness, but has given a notion of water 

 used merely for the purpose of wetting 

 tlie land, for which a small quantity is 

 sufficient ; whereas the true practice re- 

 quires a complete sheet of quick flowing 

 water, at least an inch deep. Indeed, I 

 do not know any one word that will give 

 an adequate idea of the art . I n the county 

 of Gloucester and in Wiltshire, it is fre- 

 quently called droummg, or winter drown- 

 ing ; but this runs into the opposite ex- 

 treme, and denotes too much water in 

 use, and seems to express water kept in 

 a stagnant stat€, which is very pernicious, 



if 



