Improved System of Irrigation. 



Ill 



will be found to run into the little gutters sufficient for the land 

 below. 



When the water is shut out from the leading-in " gutter it is 

 not necessary to move any of the little stops ; the same perpen- . 

 dicular gutters that are effectual to run the water on, are as 

 effectual to run it off, leaving the surface of the meadow dry and 

 solid— a most manifest advantage. 



The water is evenly distributed over the surface of the land by 

 these minute gutters, which are made to follow all the undula- 

 tions of the land, which can never be done by the large gutters ; 

 and also, from the draining effect of the perpendicular gutters, 

 the water is never suffered to accumulate in ponds : the water on 

 the meadow is, therefore, never "over-shoe" anywhere. 



These gutters are no way dangerous to sheep or lambs, are 

 never in the way of mowing, have an elegant rather than an 

 unsightly appearance, are not perceived either in raking or 

 carting, and suit the horse - rake or hay - making machine 

 admirably. 



I am not aware of any circumstances under which this has not 

 the advantage over the " old plan." For wetting the ground in 

 summer this plan has the decided superiority, as less water will 

 do the work than will be required merely to fill the level gutters 

 under the old system. It will be proper to remark, that grass so 

 raised is scarcely safe for sheep ; it certainly rots their livers : I 

 found out this at the expense of many sheep. It is perfectly 

 analogous to a plentiful rain after long drought ; grass resulting 

 thus proves equally as fatal to sheep as that produced by summer 

 watering in a hot dry season, and vice versa. 



Where the stream is small, a pond should be made capable of 

 holding as much water as will run a good stream for four hours 

 or more ; such a pond would make such a stream valuable as is 

 really insignificant in itself. A small stream so collected will 

 damp over 30 acres sufficiently well to secure a crop of hay. 



I would just advert to the fact that the leading-in gutters can 

 be so arranged as to tend themselves in cases of flood ; but the 

 opportunity does not present itself just now for going into that 

 branch of the subject. 



I have purposely forborne to go at all into the history of the 

 invention, as it would be foreign to the present object in view. 



