AGRICULTURE ON THB RHINE. 135 



channel, are supplied with water from the distributing 

 canal by means of transversal cuttings. It may seem 

 simpler to let the water at once run over the whole 

 surface from the distributing canal ; but experience has 

 shown that the richest grass springs nearest to the 

 canals, although the reason why there should be a dif- 

 ference where there is water enough to flood the whole 

 surface ia not very apparent. By increasing the number 

 of canals the fertilising principle is more equally distri- 

 buted, and terraces of 6 roods in length by 1^ in breadth 

 are found to be the most advantageous size for ensuring 

 the best yield of grass. If the level of the beds be found 

 after a few years' watering to be raised too much, the 

 canals can each be carried a foot or two higher up the 

 slope, the old cuttings being closed and covered with the 

 turf taken out of the new ones. 



The sluice cuttings in the dam of the upper water- 

 course are 5 inches wide, and their bottom is sloped, 

 being at the upper end 6 inches higher than the level 

 of the chief water-course. The irrigating canals are 

 5 inches broad and 4 inches deep. The transversal cut- 

 tings are of the same dimensions. 



Irrigation hy means of narrow Ridges. 



In a meadow irrigated on the system of narrow ridges, 

 the water-course, with the sluice-cuttings through its dam, 

 are the same as in the terraced meadows. The distri- 

 buting canal is kept horizontal, and is 1^ foot broad and 

 5 inches deep. The meadow is measured and divided 

 into equal portions, the best size for which is between 

 1 5 and 25 feet. Lach bed or ridge is supposed to have a 



