2o6 MANAGEMENT OF GRASSLANDS; 



TURE GROUNDS, I met with nothing no- 

 ticeable ', except the extraordinary foulnefs 

 of many of the Leys ; which has been al- 

 ready noticed, under the head— Man AG e^ 

 mentoftheSoil. I ihall therefore eon- 

 fine my remarks, under this head, to mow- 

 ing GROUNDS, and more particularly, to 



Watered meadows. The origin. c^ 

 the practice of watering Grafslands, arti- 

 ficially, in this Diftrid:, cannot be reached 

 by memory ^ nor does tradition^ I believe, 

 attempt to afcertain it. There is a ftriiiing 

 inftance of the antiquity of the pradice ob- 

 fervable, on the iarm of Buckland Priory. 

 A hedge, in appearance fome centuries oldy 

 winds by the (16.Q. of a water courfe, evi- 

 dently formed by art, for the purpofe of 

 conveying a rill, along the brow of a fwell 

 of rich Grafsland, whi^h bears no mark of 

 having ever been ih a flate of aration. 

 From the vz-nding diredlion,and the regular 

 defcent, or almofl: levelnefs, of this artificial 

 rill, there is every reafon to believe, that it 

 was formed prior to the Hedge -, which 

 may feem to have fince been run along the 

 upperiide of it. From the circumftance of 



tliis 



