1 76 Improved System of laying out Catch- Meadows. 



of the proper width, and the furrow-slice, Z>, scoops it out at 

 the proper depth. The width of the slice is regulated by the 

 screws, cc, which attach the right-hand knife to the implement; 

 the left-hand knife is fixed, but the right-hand knife may be taken 

 off by unscrewing it at c c. When put on, it may either be 

 screv*^ed close up, or a space may be left, so as to leave 6 inches 

 between the knives ; when screwed up close the distance is 4 

 inches. In cutting a carriage gutter of a foot wide, it is necessary 

 to go over the line twice. The price of the implement is £3. 



Having thus described the chief points in Mr. Bickford's 

 system, I must add, what will perhaps be obvious, that its success 

 much depends upon the judgment with which it is applied. 

 Although the level catch-gutters can be laid out with mecha- 

 nical accuracy by any intelligent person capable of using the 

 plumb-line, yet, in order to give the best direction both to them 

 and to the carriers, a practised eye is an essential requisite. The 

 gutterers in this part of the country are quick in perceiving irre- 

 gularities in the ground which would escape an ordinary observer, 

 and can tell, almost at a glance, in what direction the gutters can 

 be laid out so as to economise both ground and labour. They 

 use the plumb-line rather to correct and verify than to guide the 

 formation of the levels. When a water-meadow has once been 

 laid out, there is no difficulty in cutting fresh gutters with the 

 plough along the course indicated by the original ones, and it is 

 recomm.ended that this should be done every season, in preference 

 to cleaning out the old gutters. The expense is not greater ; the 

 earth v/hich comes out of the new furrow is used for filling the 

 old one by its side, and the growth of coarse grasses along the 

 gutters is thus prevented. In the first laying out of a meadow, 

 however, the services of a practised gutterer should be put in 

 requisition. The expense — an important question — is very mo- 

 derate. In the work which I have been executing in my own 

 meadows, I have employed Mr. Edward Ellis, of Newton St. 

 Cyres, whose charge for " irrigating, cutting, and regulating 23 

 acres of marsh land," amounts only to £8. 125. ^d. or 7^. ^d. per 

 acre. In addition to this, I paid £3. 85. 6<:/. to my own labourers 



