WATERING OF LAND. 



of watering ; and too .much of it to be conveniently and 

 properly watered in flat flooding. 



The ridges being formed, and all the feeders and drains 

 cut out, and their materials placed and difpofed in fuch a 

 way as to render the fnrface as regular and correft as can at 

 firfl; be done ; the feeds of proper grafles (hould in fome 

 cafes be fown, but in others it will be uimecefTary. When 

 the land is ready in the fpring, the feeds may be fown with 

 a thin crop of fome early grain kind, but it may be as well 

 to fow the feeds alone towards the beginning of the autumn 

 if the land be then ready. 



In the latter mode of watering, or that of catch-work, 

 the principle confifts in floating as much of the furface, as 

 can be done, in the way moft fuited to the form of the 

 grounds ; taking care to prevent the water from fmking or 

 ftagnating ; and coUefting it again to be a fecond time, or 

 more frequently thrown over new furfaces of the land. In 

 order to put it in the power of the floater to receive the 

 water, and to throw it again over fome other portions of 

 the ground, there muft be a declivity fufficient for fuch 

 purpofes. A fmaller quantity of water may be enough for 

 watering, according to this method, than is neceffary in 

 flat flooding ; and as the water is accommodated to the form 

 of the ground, and no ridges required, the expence of 

 watering in this way is generally very moderate, in compari- 

 fon with that of watering flat meadows or lands. It is well 

 adapted, too, to thofe gentle declivities which produce very 

 little in the itate of nature, but may become highly valuable 

 at little expence, when properly watered. On thefe and 

 fome other accounts, it would feem that all the preference 

 to flat meadows or lands, that has been commonly claimed 

 for them, is not due. At leaft, it admits of no queft;ion, 

 that watering in catch-work, when properly executed, is a 

 very beneficial and advantageous method. 



The principal objeftion to this mode of watering is, per- 

 haps, in the feeming unequal diftribution of whatever nutri- 

 ment the water may contain, which has certainly fome 

 weight in it ; as the firit furface over which the water pafles, 

 muft of neceflity have the advantage. It fhould not, how- 

 ever, be entirely forgot, that in moft cafes of land in fuch 

 declivities the confiderate farmer beflows moft manure where 

 the foil or land is the moft thin and poor ; and the water of 

 catch-work meadows or lands does the fame ; the higher 

 Stuated groiuids receiving it and its benefits the firft, and 

 afterwards thole which are lower, and, for the moft part, 

 richer, and deeper m point of earthy ftaple. 



In this mode of watering, the feeders and drains are cut 

 in a direftiou palling acrofs the (lope of the furface of the 

 land ; and having no greater fall, as the water, flows in them, 

 than to caufe it to move gently and freely, without either 

 ftagnating, or acquiring fuch a rapidity, as might endanger 

 the works. In order to accomplilh the work in this eafy 

 way, the water may be introduced at an upper corner, 

 where it paifes gently, and by a very fmaU declivity in the 

 feeder acrofs the flope, and overflows the furface below its 

 traft. A drain, at a proper diftance below, receives the 

 water, and tranfmits it into another feeder, cut on the fame 

 plan as the former, where it again overflows, and is again 

 taken up in a drain to be fent over nev? furfaces. 



In this manner, a moderate quantity of water may float 

 a fet of different fpots lying in a diagonal direction, until it 

 arrive at length at the bottom of the watered grounds, and 

 reach a drain which carries it off completely. An entirely 

 new fet of different fpots may then be watered in the fame 

 manner, the drains in the firft procefs, or caf.-, acting as 

 feeders in the fecond, and the contrary in other cafes. But 

 catch-work watering, fo far as regards the method of per- 



forming it, admits of almoft an endlefs variety. A con- 

 duftor with ftops may be formed, pointing direftly down 

 a declivity, if the rapidity of the current be not fufpefted 

 as dangerous for forcing up the channel in which it flows. 

 From this conduftor, feeders may be formed at right angles, 

 to the right and to the left, or in either direftion ; and the 

 ftops in the conduftor fend the water into thefe feeders ; 

 which, being formed only a very little off the level, foon fill 

 and overflow the grounds below them. The furplus water 

 is collefted in drains parallel to thefe feeders, which reftore 

 it to the conductor, whence it can again be diffufed to right 

 and left, in order to float a lower fituated furface, from 

 feeders conftrufted in the manner already feen. 



There are many other ways of watering in different cafes 

 of this nature ; but where the lands are neceffary to be laid 

 down into permanent meadows, the works fliould evidently 

 be fubftantially executed at once, and with proper care and 

 defign, whether the method be catch-work or flat meadows- 

 or grounds. 



Regular plans of this mode of watering may be feen in 

 the laft editions of Wright's traft on the " Art of floating 

 Land," and of Young's " Farmer's Calendar." 



The writer of the work on " Landed Property" has given 

 praftical direflions for four different methods of applying it 

 artificially on the furface.s of grafs lands, which may be ufe- 

 ful in guiding the practice of the inexperienced. 



\Ji. Flooding or covering loiv Jlat Lands •with Jlagnant or 



Jlo'wiy -moving IVater This is a mode which, it is thought, 



was formerly, perhaps, the only one in ufe, in this cotmtryj 

 for enriching the bafes of valleys by the means of water. In 

 the midland diftrifts, tradition, it is faid, fpeaks of it with 

 famiharity. And the remains of works that have been ufed 

 in praftifing it, are ftill evident. Even in the weftern dif- 

 trifts of the fouthern range of chalk hills, which have long 

 profited more by watering, than all the other diftrifts of 

 the ifland, this, it is more than probable, has been hereto- 

 fore the only method in ufe. It is indeed an interefting fa£t, 

 it is faid, that the far-famed long-grafs mead of Orchefton, 

 in the county of Wilts, is ftill watered in this manner. But 

 it is conceived that there are now, however, few fituations in 

 which this method can be pradlifed with the beft effeft. 

 The one for which it is the moft applicable is, it is fuppofed, 

 a drained morafs, or other flat moory ground, through which 

 a ftream naturally paffes, or to which a fufficient fupply of 

 enriched waters can be led. A body of water, refting on a 

 light fpongy furface, tends to comprefs and confolidate it;.- 

 while the fediment of foul waters, let fall in palling from 

 an agitated to a ftagnant ftate, further promotes this ten- 

 dency. The rich moory meadows and pafture grounds, 

 which are feen in various parts of the kingdom, were doubt- 

 lefsly, it is thought, brought to their prefent profitable 

 ftate, by being flooded with ftagnant or flowly moving 

 waters. 



Another, and perhaps the only other, fort or clafs of 

 lands, to which this method can now be properly applied, is 

 dry valley grounds, which are compofed of a fufficient depth 

 of foil for the pafture of herbage, with a fubfoil of flints, 

 pebbles, or rough gravel, to draw off quickly the fuper- 

 abundant moifture that may be left in the foil, after its fur- 

 face has been freed from water ; and, thereby, to give vege- 

 tation the immediate freedom of aftion. But lands of this 

 fort, having a fufficient command of water to flood them, 

 are much lefs common, in this country, than thole of the 

 former clafs or kind. The valley of Orchefton is, however, 

 in itfelf, it is thought, a fufficient ftimulant for fearching 

 narrowly for lands of fo valuable a formation, and which can 

 command fertilizing water to flood them ; as they may ge- 

 nerally 



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