154 On Mr, Bichford's Method of Irrigation. 



siblj enlarging itself into a little stream, which, falling into the 

 horizontal gutter next below, again filled that, and so on, until 

 the whole slope was under water. The result has been surprising, 

 converting a somewhat dry hungry meadow into a little oasis. 



It being obvious that a system so simply and entirely practical, 

 which commanded success on a small scale, must answer equally 

 to any extent, I proceeded to apply it to about twenty acres 

 more, the result of which was equally happy ; and, from the 

 approbation the system has elicited from the many practical 

 farmers who have come to witness the operation, I have no doubt 

 of its becoming generally in use in this neighbourhood in another 

 winter. Indeed, Mr. Bickford has been since employed on a 

 contiguous estate (that of Mr. Rodd, of Trebartha Hall), so 

 satisfied was the bailiff of that gentleman — an intelligent though 

 somewhat prejudiced agriculturist — of the superiority of the 

 system. 



Its merits may be briefly stated to be — an even distribution of 

 the water, realising the long - desired acme of perfection in 

 watering, viz., that you should be able to walk over the land 

 without wetting your feet. It applies equally to a large or small 

 stream, because, by removing the stops in the upright gutters, 

 you can water (acting upon Mr. Bickford's advice, always to 

 water in vertical and never in lateral sections) to the extreme or 

 any part desired of such section. It can be effected at about 

 half the expense of the old system ; and last, not least — an espe- 

 cial recommendation to tenant farmers — requires but little 

 superintendence. 



I should remark that, though it would be highly desirable to 

 secure Mr. Bickford's * services on first introducing his system 

 into a new district, yet it is so simple, that any old " gutterer " 

 would acquire the system sufficiently in a week to be able to 

 carry it out well enough for all practical purposes. Certain 

 ingenuity appears to be required, as well as practice, for cutting 

 the vertical gutters, but a few failures (and the consequences of 

 failures are so perceptible when the water is laid on, and so 

 easily remedied by the readiness with which the sods, being cut 

 with a die, and therefore fitting exactly, may be transferred from 

 one gutter to another) will soon put a man of common intelligence 

 in full possession of the system. 



Mr. Bickford fully concurred with me in objecting to watering 

 from the leading-in or carrying gutter, with a view to saving land 

 by avoiding a second gutter. The latter should be always the 



Mr. Bickford and Mr. Ellis have irrigated some meadows for me apparently 

 ■with great success last winter, of which I hope to give some account in a succeeding 

 Journal. — Ph. Pusey. 



