W A T 



where the irregularities of furface arc fufficiently great, and 

 the fubfoil abforbent, it is very eligible ; efpecially, iF in 

 making the trenches and drains, the turf and foil fo raifed 

 be applied in adjufting the natural defefts of the furface. 



In the watering of more lleeply floping grounds, as the 

 fides of hills, and the lower banks of valleys, in what may be 

 termed the D-.on(hire praftice, as having been long there 

 and thereabo, u chiefly cftablifhed ; as ther;-, the fides of 

 the valleys lie in or nearly in their natural Hates ; many of 

 them appear as if they had never been fubjefted to the 

 plough ; and thofe which have been in tillage, have been 

 laid down again to grafs with nearly their natural furfaces. 

 The praaice of laying up foils into high arable ridges, has 

 never, perhaps, gained a footing in that part of the king- 

 dom. In thefe cafes, the condufting channel being led along 

 the brink, and acrofs the upper part of the flope, as ad- 

 vifed, the working trenches are to be fupplied from it by 

 means of checks and valves, as already feen. The diftances 

 between the working trenches are to be regulated by the 

 fteepnefs and evennefs of the furface. Wherever the (heet 

 of water is feen to break, and to divide into numerous 

 ftreamlets, there a trench is required to catch and refpread 

 it ; the working trenches, in this manner of watering, 

 afting in the two-fold capacity of trenches and drains : 

 frefh fupplies of water being let down from above, to the 

 lower trenches, as occafion may require. 



Where the depth or downward length of the flope is 

 great, or where an additional fupply of water offers itfelf, 

 and where refervoirs are formed at different heights, an addi- 

 tional main-channel is required, to lead a frefli fupply acrofs 

 the" midway of the flope. This main-trench hkewife re- 

 ceives the wafle water from above ; and, like the working- 

 trenches, afts at once as a fupply ing-channel, and as a re- 

 ceptacle of the wafte water : hence, a given quantity of 

 water will float a much larger extent of ground in this man- 

 ner of watering, than in watering ridges, raifed on level 

 ground ; though, it may be prefumed, not with equal 

 benefit. 



In forming the trenches of whichever fort, the turf and 

 loofe earth that are raifed out of them, and which are not 

 wanted to make their lower fides firm and level, are to be 

 ufed in filling up the channels and dimples that naturally 

 happen in the face of the flope ; in order that the warer 

 may fpread more evenly over it, and thereby to leflen the 

 reijuifite number of trenches. To the fame end, if hillocks 

 or fmall protuberances occur, as they generally do on na- 

 tural furfaces, they are to be lowered by turning back the 

 turf, ufing their contents as above, and returning the fods to 

 faioothed furfaces. But, where the knoll is large, water 

 may be led by a narrow branching trench to its top, and be 

 thus fpread evenly over its fides. The proper defcent or 

 decline of the working trenches depends, in fome meafure, 

 on the prefa of water that enters them. One quarter per 

 cent, may ferve as a guide in fetting them out : firit making 

 them of inferior dimenfions, and then turning on the water : 

 afterwards enlarging them, and in doing this, adjufting 

 them in fuch a manner, that the water will flow evenly out 

 of them, from end to end. The ftiorter the afting trenches 

 are made, the more eafily they may be regulated without the 

 jncumbraice of checks, which fhould be avoided as much as 

 poflible. 



4/Z1. Watering Jloping Groundi that have leen raifed into 

 Ridges by Cultivation, and are in the State of Grafs. — In 

 watering ridges on flopes, or fuch fhelving grounds as have 

 formerly been in a ftate of aration, in whicli they have been 

 raifed into high wide convex beds, refembling thofe ad- 

 vifed above, for flat meadowy ftu-fices, and have been laid 



WAT 



down to grafs in that form ; a praftice which, it is fuppofed, 

 has been common to many parts of the kingdom, efpecially 

 where the common-field fyllem pi-evailed ; the direction of 

 the ridges being moftly dircttly downward of the flope. 

 In this cafe, it would be in vain to attempt to fpread water 

 over the furface, in the manner ufyally praftifed on more 

 even flopes. And if it be thrown into open trenches, cut 

 along the tops of the ridges, agreeably to the practice in 

 ufe for level grounds, and according to the ordinary prac- 

 tice of watering the lands now under confideration, the 

 operation becomes very imperfeft. For, if the defcent be con- 

 fiderable, the water will unavoidably flow ont of the trenches 

 in ftreams immediately above the checks ; and the fides of the 

 ridges will confequently be watered partially. Thefe dif- 

 ficulties in fpreading water evenly over ridges on fteeply 

 ftielving furfaces, have led fome induilrious managers to 

 throw down the ridges, and return the flopes to their natural 

 itates. But this, where the ridges are high and wide, is 

 very troublefome and expenfive if done by hand ; and if 

 performed by the plough, is greatly injurious and hurtful 

 to the land for many years. A better method has there- 

 fore been had recourfe to by the writer. Inflead of leading 

 the water down the ridges, it is thrown into the furrows, 

 and fpread over the fides of the beds by means of crooked 

 trenches, winding, in the feftoon manner, horizontally, or 

 nearly fo, acrofs them, and led more efFeftually over their 

 tops by pointed trenchtels depending from the feflooned 

 parts. Thefe winding trenches, like thofe acrofs plain 

 floping furfaces, aft both as feeding-trenches and as drains, 

 or collefting trenches, to refpread the water evenly over the 

 ground, immediately below them : thus keeping the entire 

 ridge covered with an even fheet of brifl<ly moving water. 

 When the upper ends of the ridges are fufficiently watered, 

 the water is to be let down the furrows to the parts below ; 

 or if the ridges are fhort, their whole length may be 

 watered at once, by letting the water partially down the 

 furrows to the lower parts, by the means of cuts of proper 

 widths, made with a fliarp tool acrofs the lower fides of the 

 trenches, where they crofs the furrows : thefe fimple regu- 

 lators afting as checks in the common modes of watering. 

 The diftances between the trenches, as well as their form, 

 muft always vary with the fteepnefs of the flope or defcent, 

 and the fhape of the ridge. 



Confiderable trafts of land in North Wales have been 

 watered in fomewhat this manner of late years. 



In concluding, it may be Hated on tiie beft authority, 

 that the beneficial praftice of watering, by fome of the me- 

 thods which have been fuggefted above, may be greatly ex- 

 tended and applied in different parts of the country where it 

 has yet been but little tried, as on the fenny lands of the 

 counties of Lincoln, Norfolk, Cambridge, Northampton, 

 and, perhaps, fome others, where it is particularly defirable, 

 as well as the bottoms of the chalk-hills in different dif- 

 trifts, as Yorkfliire and Suffex, and the vales of Hertford- 

 fhire, the chalky parts of Buckinghamfhire, Oxfordfhire, 

 and Suffolk, which are peculiarly fitted for the purpofe ; 

 befides many others where good' waters are afforded for 

 making fuch improvements on grafs-Iands. 



Watering Live-Stock, in Agriculture, the bufinefs of giv- 

 ing and providing them with water. The work is effefted 

 in different ways, and by different means. See Drinkin6- 

 Poyos, Made Streams, W AT^R-Ci/lerns, Water, Rain, 

 Colhaing of. Spring, Artificial, Well, Field, &c. 



Watering Plants and Fruit-Trees, in Hot-houfes, Stoves, 



&c. in Gardening, the practice of throwing water over them 



in different intentions. The common modes of applying 



water have been fpoken of in confidering the general praSice 



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