IMPROVlNe P06» S61L9. S69 



fithljr, The action of water upon soils in general ought f^^ e'^q*^;^ 

 not to be overlooked. Lying long upon the ground, it respecting (hi 

 certainly tends to the destruction of those plants we wish to '^^°^^^ 

 cultivate. 



Hence in all countries contrivances should be resorted to, 

 to carry off the water, when Its continuance wotld pro- 

 duce this effect. 



But thousands of acres are barren for want of water; 

 and there are few situations in which, if kept up in re- 

 servoirs, it may not be employed at times, with coti. 

 siderable advantage*. 



In a variable climate, and a cultivated country, like 

 ours, all the water tliat falls might be employed in agricul- 

 ture. In the present state of things, perhaps, the expence 

 might be greater than the profit; but, should engine work 

 be so far improved, as to reduce the price of labour, and » 



be introduced into practical husbandry, it will then, in a 

 level country like Holderness, be no very difficult matter to 

 place reservoirs and drains in such a manner, that a whole 

 farm maybe either drained or flooded at pleasure. 



The Chinese, who certainly possess the best cultiva- 

 ted country in the world, are not content to make canals 

 for the purposes of trade, they dig many others to catch 

 the rain, with which they water their fields in time of 

 drought; during the whole summer, the country people are 

 busied in raising this water into ditches, which are made 

 across the fields ; in other places they contrive large re- 

 servoirs, made of turf, whose bottom is raised above the 

 level of the ground about it; and, if they meet with a 

 spring of water, it is worth while to observe how carefully } 



they husband it; they sustain it by banks in. the highest 

 places, they turn it a hundred different ways, thej divide 

 it by drawing it by degrees, according as every one has oc- 

 casion for it, in so much that a small rkvulet, well 

 managed, sometimes carries fertility to a whole province f , 



* With a double view, catch-nvater drains, as they are called, 

 ©light to be formed, not only to prevent the loW lands being flooded 

 4uring violent rains; but, by keeping up the water, topi-ieserve it 

 to be employed, at a proper season, in irrigation. 



t Vide Le Compt's Letters on China. 



1807. SF Cob- 



