470 On the Theory and Practice of Water- Meadows. 



If a little higher up there were a fall of 2 feet, and the water could 

 there be diverted, a side fall of 3 feet, or of 1 in 100, might be 

 obtained on the water-meadow. 



But if the land adjoining a stream do not shelve sideways, the 

 only fall to be obtained will be in the direction of the river's de- 

 scent, and that fall cannot be increased by damming the stream 

 higher up. The gutters must be cut athwart the line of the 

 river, and the course of the irrigating water must be in the same 

 direction with the course of the stream thus, — - 



b h I b b b b b 



a. River. &. Watering gutters. 



In this case it follows that the fall of the irrigated land cannot 

 exceed the fall of the river. Since the fall of the riyer on this 

 meadow of Lord Poltimore's is only 4^ inches in a course of 3 

 furlongs, or 1980 feet, and the course of irrigation is not lateral 

 but direct, it follows that the fall of irrigation is but ] in 5280. 

 This is so wonderfully low, that unless the measurement had 

 been given me by the person who laid it out I could not have 

 believed it, for the fall considered desirable, if not necessary, on 

 the old-fashioned system is about 1 in 18. A new meadow is now 

 being made for Lord Poltimore where the river has a fall of 2=f 

 feet only in half a mile length. On one side of the stream the 

 field is 2 furlongs wide, so that even where the fall is lateral it 

 will be but 2\ in 2 furlongs, or 1 in 528. Another is being 

 made for Mr. Barber with the exceedingly low fall of 2^- inches 

 in 2i furlongs. This is a direct irrigation. The fall of one inch 

 in a furlong, or 1 in 7920, is remarkable even according to the 

 new system of Devonshire. There is indeed one old meadow near 

 Crediton exceedingly flat, so flat that, as the stream which waters 

 it brings down large quantities of mould from the hills, as well 

 as refuse from the town, the land rises rapidly, and in order to 

 keep down the levels the surface has been removed twice in 

 seven years to a depth of 2 feet, to be carted off as a top-dressing 

 for other fields. These flat meadows are now spreading widely 

 in South Devon. That they pay for their formation there can 

 be no doubt, costing from three to four pounds an acre to form, 

 and yielding three pounds of rent, whereof two pounds may be 

 taken as the new value imparted by the operation. This, for 

 an average rate of profit, is a very high one. In single cases it 

 is exceeded. About two miles from Exeter there is a small 



