WATERING OF LAND. 



buried under the ridges, while the furrows are left deftitute. 

 Where there is a great depth of fertile foil, the plough may 

 be ufed with better effeft than where the foil is (hallow. 



The next confideration is the elevation and convexity of 

 thefe meadow ridges. On the principle offered, it is faid, 

 die ileeper the fides are formed, the more beneficial will be 

 the etfeft of the work. But it is not lefs certain that the 

 expence of it will be proportionally great. Something may de- 

 pend on the nature of the materials of which the ridges are to 

 be formed, and the method of forming them. If,in moving the 

 materials, a regular ftratum of flints or gravel can be buried, at 

 a proper depth, as an open fubfoil, a fmall degree of elevation 

 will be fufficient. In ordinary cafes, one foot of rife to fixteen 

 feet and a half, or a ftatute-pole of bafe, will fufSce ; pro- 

 vided the drains between the beds be funk to a fufficient 

 depth. One foot of rife to five feet and a half of (lope, or 

 eleven of bafe, may be confidered as the maximum of eleva- 

 tion in thefe cafes. On thefe premifes, it is concluded, that 

 a ridge fet out one ftatute-perch in width at the bafe, re- 

 quires an elevation of from nine to eighteen inches at the 

 ridge ; one of two perches in width, an elevation of from 

 eighteen inches to three feet, according to the nature of the 

 materials by which it is formed. In refpeft to the turn of 

 furface, or form of the Hope, there are fufScient reafons why 

 it fhould be convex, not a regular inchned plane, nor of a 

 concave or hollow caft. A regular (heet of water fpread 

 over a (loping furface has a natural tendency to break into 

 ftreamlets, and to coUeft into partial currents. In the pro- 

 cefs of watering, this effeft is produced in part, by the un- 

 evennefs of the furface it is fpread over, and the obftruc- 

 tions it meets with in its defcent, as well as by the natural 

 propenfity of falling waters to colleft into a body ; and the 

 ileeper the defcent, the greater freedom of aftion this pro- 

 penfity acquires. Hence, the propriety of giving the water 

 a gentle defcent on the upper part of the flope, in order to 

 preferve the entirety of the (heet as far down the fide of it 

 as may be ; and this is effefted by the convex form, which 

 alfo gives firmnefs to the fides of the trench. Befldes, a 

 convex furface, while it leffens the defcent at the ridge, in- 

 creafes it at the foot of the flope, and thereby haftens the 

 drying in that part ; to which the fuperfluous moiflure of 

 the entire flope tends, and where noxious plants are moll 

 liable to gain a footing ; the earth or foil being there kept 

 the longed in a flate of faturation. 



The width of thefe convex beds is a matter of much con- 

 fideration. In what has been faid of their- elevation, it 

 plainly appears that the expence of forming them is in pro- 

 portion to their width. An acre of ground may be raifed 

 into beds of a rod wide, with the mentioned flope, at half 

 the expence that another acre can be formed into thofe of 

 two rods in width, and the fame (lope : the latter requiring 

 to be raifed at the ridge twice the height of the former ; 

 befldes the work in this cafe being within a fmaller compafs. 

 And from what has been faid of the form of the flope, it is 

 equally clear, that water may be more evenly fpread over % 

 narrow than over a wide or deep flope ; and that a narrow 

 bed will dry more quickly than a wide one of the fame foil 

 and fubflrata. Neverthelefs, there is an advantage of wide 

 ridges, which, in fome iituations, may more than over-ba- 

 lance all their inconveniences. A given quantity of water 

 will float twice the quantity of ground, though perhaps not 

 with twice the profit, when railed into beds of two poles 

 wide, that it wiU in thofe of one perch in width, befides the 

 current expences of management being lefs. If, however, 

 the quantity of water be great in proportion to the extent of 

 ground, or if it can be collefted again, and fpread over other 

 lands belonging to the fame owner, which lie below thofe 



that have been watered, narrow ridges may claim a fupe- 

 riority. Hence, the proper width of watered meadow 

 ridges depends much on foil and fituation, and on the quan- 

 tity of water proportionate to the quantity of ground. In 

 the neighbourhood of Salifbury, the prevailing width, it is 

 faid, is ten yards, nearly two perches. In the vicinity of 

 Amelbury, there are fome of three times that breadth oT 

 width, but they are nearly flat. From one to three poles 

 may fairly, it is thought, be fet down as the ordinary limits 

 of width. 



In refpeft to the arrangement of thefe meadow beds, and 

 the general economy of watered meadows or lands of this 

 nature, almoft every thing may be faid to depend on the 

 particular circumflances of the given fite. But fuppofing 

 a copious dream of good water to pafs through a flat of 

 water formed land, in a dilatation of the bafe of a valley ; and 

 fuppofing the fituation of it to be nearly level from fide to 

 fide of the fame, or to have a gentle defcent, the banks of 

 the dream towards the outer margins ; a cafe which often oc- 

 curs where flat lands have long been liable to the overflow of 

 foul waters. In this cafe, the beds require, it is faid, to be 

 run acrofs the valley in a direft or obUque manner, as the 

 defcent may point out ; and the water to be condufted to 

 them by an artificial channel, winding on each fide of the 

 natural dream, with a main-drain near each outer margin, 

 leaving room for a carriage-way between it and the foot of 

 the bank of the valley ; and where the grounds to be wa- 

 tered are wide, other road-ways may be left between the 

 condufting trenches and the bed of the brook or rivulet. 

 Thefe d' y flips of land are ufeful, not only in conveying 

 away tlie crop, but in furnifhing comfortable lodging- 

 grounds for paduring dock when the area of the land is 

 moid. It follows, of courfe, that thefe road-flips fhould 

 be watered with caution, late in the fpring and during the 

 fummer months. The mod ehgible method of raifing the 

 water high enough to fill the trenches, is that of placing 

 folding-gates, like thofe in ufe for navigable canals, acrofs 

 the dream, at the upper end of the ground to be improved. 

 In fummer, or when the water is not wanted for ufe, the 

 gates may be thrown open, and fadened back, to give free 

 paffage to floods. But during the time of watering they 

 are kept (hut, to throw a condant fupply of water into the 

 main trenches. If the defcent downward of the valley be 

 confiderable, the main trenches or condufting channels re- 

 quire to have dops, or rather checks, placed acrofs them, at 

 didances proportioned to the defcent, in order to fill with 

 due effeft the working trenches, the mouths of which open 

 into the condufting channels ; and, to gain more perfeft 

 command of the water, the mouth of each aftiug trench 

 fhould be furnifhed with a regular valve, to admt jud water 

 enough to fupply the given ridge while under watering, and 

 to clofe the entrance effeftually when it is laid. A fifting- 

 board in the form of a (hovel, with a (hort handle, and 

 Aiding in upright grooves made in the faces of two flender 

 pods, joined together within the ground, becomes a fimple 

 and defirable regulator for the purpofe. And where a mea- 

 dow ridge happens to be long and much dechning, a circum- 

 dance which (hould, as much as poflible, be avoided : checki 

 are likewife requifite to be placed in the working-trenches, 

 to afTid in didributing the water evenly over its furface. 

 Thefe checks are formed in different ways. Two thick 

 tough fods placed in the trench, fo as to leave an opening 

 between thim narrow enough to force a fufficient quantity 

 of water over the fides of the trench above them, and wide 

 enough to let the remainder pafs down freely into the lower 

 part of the trench, form a ready and not ineligible check for 

 this purpofe ; as the opening may be eafily widened or nar- 

 rowed 



