Improved System of lay ing out Catch- Meadows. 



173 



meadow in various directions. By 



. • i- t-tr viu Carriag^c Gaiter 



stopping any oi these gutters with 

 earth at any point, the water is made 

 to overflow, and thus irrigates what- 

 ever part of the land it is desired to 

 benefit. 



The carriage gutter a «, after passing through the meadow No. 

 1, enters the meadow No. 2, where it is carried by a wooden 

 shoot, B, over a hollow which was formerly a branch of the river. 

 This branch is now partially filled up, and its communication 

 with the river is entirely cut off. It serves as a drain to carry off 

 the surface water and the waste of the irrigation. 



The marsh No. 2 is extremely irregular and undulating in its 

 character, and cannot possibly be watered by a single, carriage 

 gutter. The main gutter, a a, is therefore divided into several 

 branches, which diverge very widely from one another, after 

 crossing the shoot B. The water in former times used to be 

 brought into one or other of these branches, by shutting it out of 

 the others by means of wooden fenders, and it was then distributed 

 over the marsh in the same manner as in the meadow No. 1. The 

 carriage gutters, or some of them, were also continued into the 

 marsh No. 3 ; but owing to the irregularity of the ground, and 

 the great size of the carriers, it was impossible to water both 

 marshes at the same time ; and when it was intended to convey 

 the stream into No. 3, it was necessary to stop the branch gutters 

 in No. 2. I am informed by my steward that it usually took a 

 whole day to bring the water properly over either of the marshes. 

 I shall presently explain that, by the improved system, it can now 

 be brought over both in about three hours. 



The system of irrigation invented by Mr. Bickford is as 

 follows : — 



A carriage gutter is, in the first place, cut along the line of the 

 highest ground. This gutter is laid out in the usual manner, by 

 means of a spirit-level, an inclination being given to it according 

 to the nature of the ground, and the quantity of water which can 

 be made available. Where it can be had, a fall of 2 inches in 4 

 land-yards, or 1 in 396, is thought desirable, but a very much 

 less rapid fall will do. The width of the carriage gutter should 

 be about 1 foot, and the depth about 6 inches ; but these dimen- 

 sions are gradually diminished as the gutter approaches its 

 termination, so that at last it dies into the ground. 



When the carriage gutter is filled, the water begins to overflow 

 over the sides ; and, were the slope of the ground exactly uniform 

 in all directions, the water would run equally over the whole ; but 

 as the slightest inequality would prevent this, and would cause it to 

 run in streams along the lowest parts, a series of smaller gutters are 

 cut below, and in the same direction with, the carriage gutter, one 



