98 



it, (viz. : from twelve to twenty inches in 

 a mile), will suffer a very material deteri- 

 oration in its quality, and a very consider- 

 able diminution in its quantity, not to 

 mention the injury firom soakage, and 

 other inconveniences, which the land will 

 sustain through which the w^ater passes. 

 He probably never yet felt the expense of 

 cutting a wide conductor, five hundred 

 yards in extent ; of making good the banks ; 

 of erecting bridges, and of carting away 

 the soil. I have seen repeated instances 

 of all these charges having been incurred ; 

 but I never knew them submitted to with- 

 out heavy complaints. The expense of 

 merely distributing the water upon the 

 meadow, if the land is cut as freely as it 

 ought to be, is always found heavy enough, 

 without looking out for extraordinary oc- 

 casions of expenditure. 



The 



