360 Irrigation and Drainage 



but little personal attention. Large volumes of water 

 are usually used, and in Europe especially this is 

 applied more extensively out of the growing season 

 than during it, or, more exactly stated, during times 

 when the crop is off rather than when on the 

 ground. 



Reference has already been made to the water- 

 meadows near Salisbury, England, where Fig. 16 

 shows a large part of the river Avon diverted into 

 a canal to be led out for water-meadow irrigation. 

 In Fig. 96 is represented a diagram of one of these 

 water-meadows covering about 15 acres. The solid 

 lines are permanent distributing ditches beginning in 

 the head distributary and ending near the river at 

 the foot of the field. They are placed about 3 rods 

 apart, upon the crests of ridges which are quite 

 steep, sloping from 1 in 12 to 1 in 15 feet toward 

 the dotted lines, which are permanent drainage fur- 

 rows. It is on this field that the photograph shown 

 in Fig. 17 was taken. In talking with a "mead- 

 man," whose business is to water one of these meadows, 

 it appears that water has been run over them year 

 after year for so long a period that no one knows 

 who laid them out. The mead -man in question was 

 past sixty years of age, and both his father and 

 grandfather had been mead -men for the same field. 

 It is quite probable, therefore, that the steep slopes 

 now found have been to a considerable extent a mat- 

 ter of growth due to deposit of sediments in the 

 distributaries, and to some extent to erosion along 

 the drainage lines. The plan of this system of irri- 



