THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



171 



obtain it. Guano acts on timothy as favour- 

 ably as on wheat. Of course no small grain 

 should be seeded with the timothy. Ir- 

 rigation will not create a sod, for water can 

 only be applied to a sod already formed, 

 but will strengthen, thicken, and preserve 

 it. As soon as a good sod is formed, and 

 by the above directions, it can be obtained 

 in 12 months, the water may be applied to 

 the meadow. 



Application of Water. 

 From the 1st of June to stacking time, 

 every water meadow should be laid dry. 

 From the middle of July to the 15th of Oc- 

 tober, an application of water may be made 

 once a week, and oftener if the stream be 

 muddy or swollen by a rain. From Octo- 

 ber to March the meadow may be almost 

 constantly under water. It will be suffi- 

 cient if it be laid dry two days in every four- 

 teen, but this always in mild and never in 

 freezing weather. A sheet of ice is as 

 warm a covering as a bed of snow. If the 

 soil be cold or retentive of moisture, the 

 water should be applied only one day in 

 fourteen from March to June. If it be san- 

 dy , # the application during that period may 

 be once a week. 



Soils suited to Irrigation. 

 The best are porous soils based on porous 

 sub-soils. Such is the character of the lands 

 in Lombardy and of some of the best water 

 meadows in England. The more water a 

 soil will absorb and digest, the better for 

 irrigation. It is doubtful whether a thin 

 glady soil based on a tenacious sub-soil will 

 be much benefitted by irrigation, except so 

 far as it deposits alluvial matter upon the 

 surface. All other soils will be more or 



less benefitted according to their capacity 

 of absorbing and filtrating water. 



Value of meadow and grass lands. 

 A meadow on tide water yielding, without 

 manure, 2 tons per acre would nett $26, 

 and should rent for $20 per acre. So also 

 at any other point accessible to market. 

 From no other crop can the like annual 

 profit be realized. The highest priced lands 

 in Virginia are the grass lands, and this 

 without regard to their distance from mar- 

 ket. The best arable lands in England sel- 

 dom rent for more than $25 per acre. The 

 best dry meadows for $40, and the best 

 water meadows often range over $65 per 

 acre. The meadows near Edingburg (irri- 

 gated with sewer water,) yield an average 

 rent of $1*0 per acre, and in years of scar- 

 city have risen to the high figure of $285 

 per acre per annum. 



Catch- Water Irrigation 

 Is substituted for elevated bed Irrigation, 

 where the meadow is located on a side hill, 

 or on a plane of a greater inclination than 

 one foot in ten. The conductoi here is 

 planted immediately above the meadow, and 

 in a position to command every part of it. 

 The water furrows are the feeders. They 

 are wound around the hill and graded to a 

 perfect level from one extremity to the other, 

 or where they are divided into sections, 

 from one stop to another. They are gene- 

 rally separated by a bed 40 feet wide. The 

 water is first delivered from the conductor 

 into a water furrow or feeder, over the sides 

 of which it flows and is equally distributed 

 over a bed, from which it is again received 

 into a feeder, again distributed over a bed, 

 and so on to the bottom of the hill. 



PLAN OF A SIDE HILL OR CATCH-WATER MEADOW. 



c. c. conductor. a. a. a. a. feeders, 



s. s. s. stops. 



