THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



165 



Irrigation benefits vegetation in three 

 ways. It supplies in dry seasons the defi- 

 cient moisture. It warms the soil in win- 

 ter. The Dutch farmers of the valley have 

 a proverb that a sheet of ice on a meadow 

 is a coat of manure. The earliest vegeta- 

 tion will always be found on spots which 

 during the winter have been irrigated by an 

 adjacent spring or stream. It wrests from 

 our streams their mineral and alluvial treas- 

 ure, and for that consideration, more than 

 for any other, will prove of the utmost ser- 

 vice to our Agriculture. A limpid spring 

 will warm the soil and supply the deficient 

 moisture, but if it hold no fertilizing mine- 

 ral in solution will require the aid of guarrc^ 

 or other manure, or at least a good soil to 

 be acted upon. A stream, which in its 

 course has received the washings of the 

 forest or of cultivated lands, will perform all 

 the conditions of Irrigation, and should be 

 suffered to pass through no farm without 

 leaving some of its plunder behind. 



A farmer intending to construct a water- 

 meadow, should provide himself with a 

 spirit level antl levelling rod and learn to 

 use them. The rude instruments, some- 

 times recommended as substitutes, will en- 

 tail confusion and loss. The art of levelling 

 may be learned, in one-half hour, from any 

 one familiar with the use of the instrument. 



It will be more convenient here to define 

 the meaning of certain terms hereafter to 

 be used. 



The Meadow is the land intended to be 

 irrigated. 



The Discharging Ditches are deep ditches 

 which serve the purpose of thoroughly drain- 

 ing the land and rapidly discharging the ir- 

 rigating water. They should never be less 

 than three feet deep. 



The Main Conductor is a small mill race, 

 which receives the water from the stream 

 and conducts it to a position from whence 

 it may be delivered on the whole or a part 

 of the meadow. 



Branch Conductors receive the water from 

 the main conductor and place it in a posi- 

 tion to be delivered on parts of the meadow 

 not convenient to the main conductor, they 

 should never be constructed until the mea- 

 dow has been gradecl and well set in 

 grass. 



Beds are subdivisions of the meadow, gen- 

 erally 30 feet wide. They always start 

 from a conductor and terminate at a point 

 convenient for the delivery of the water 

 into a discharging ditch or stream. 



Feeders are narrow channels cut through 

 the combs or highest points of the beds. 

 They serve the purpose of supplying the 

 beds with water and of equally distributing 

 it. 



Notches are small openings in the banks 

 of the conductors, through which the feed- 

 ers are supplied with water. Notches are 

 also sometimes cut through the sides of feed- 

 ers to distribute the water over the beds. 



Sluices are large notches in the banks of 

 the main conductors, through which the 

 branch conductors are supplied with water. 



Puuale or Puddling, is any kind of pure 

 earth moistened and worked to a stiff batter. 



There are three kinds of Irrigation. 1st. 

 Irrigation by passing a current of water 

 over the meadow termed Current Irrigation. 

 2nd. Irrigation by wetting the land, termed 

 Irrigation by Absorption. 3rd. Irrigation 

 by Flooding. 



Current Irrigation 



Is the most profitable in its results of all 

 kinds of Irrigation. It also requires more 

 skill and care in its execution. A know- 

 ledge of Current Irrigation embraces every 

 thing necessary to be learned, to enable 

 the farmer to practice either of the other 

 branches, and will therefore be more par- 

 ticularly the subject matter of this paper. 

 Precautions. 



Having ascertained, with a spirit-level, 

 that the water may be drawn from the 

 stream, at an elevation of at least one foot 

 above the highest point of the meadow, 

 and having traced off the conductors and 

 ditches, the farmer should prepare a careful 

 estimate of the probable cost of the enter- 

 prise before he incurs any other expendi- 

 ture. If, after much reflection, he is satis- 

 fied that the outlay will not exceed 50 dol- 

 lars per acre, he may safely make the ad- 

 venture. The ditching follows next in 

 order. 



Ditching. 



The discharging ditches should be located 

 upon the lowest points of the meadow. 

 They should be 2 feet wide at bottom, at 

 least 3 feet deep and have a fall sufficient 

 to discharge the water with rapidity. All 

 springs or wet places must be drained by 

 secret ditches, terminating in the discharg- 

 ing ditch or stream. Broken stone, or cedar 

 branches, or pine poles, are the best mate- 

 rials for secret drains in Virginia. Pipe or 

 tile require a nicety of foundation seldom 

 attainable under our slovenly system of 

 agriculture. In filling up the secret drains, 



