Tlie Agriculture of Staffordshire. 
297 
"highland" has its stream, and they all run south, or south-east, 
and join the waters of the Trent, the Churnet, or the Dove ; and 
while the configuration of the land prevents the escape of any of 
the native springs, Staffordshire gains a further water supply from 
the limestone hills of Derbyshire. Probably the great under- 
ground reservoir of hard water, beneath the town of Burton, now 
tapped by the Avells of the great breweries, is partly filled from 
this source. It is remarkable that the limestone district is not 
drained by the streams that pass through it, which are very 
slightly fed during their course through that formation. This is 
owing to the numerous fissures in the rock, into which the water 
drains away. There are two streams, the Hamps and the Many- 
fold, that disappear by cracks in the earth, and find a subterranean 
passage of two or three miles in the limestone beds. They rise 
together in Ham gardens. The millstone grit and coal measures, 
which form a large portion of the high land, throw off the greater 
part of the 35 inches of annual rainfall ; and by simply embanking 
the narrow valleys at Rudyard, Stanley, and Knypersley, three 
reservoirs have been formed, which feed the Trent and Mersey 
Canal. This partly fulfils a suggestion of Pitt for retaining 
flood-water in reservoirs to irrigate the sloping sides of the vales. 
Our notes on the application of water naturally commence with 
the River Dove, of which an old doggrel declares that — 
" In April Dove's flood 
Is worth a king's good." 
The Dove has also been called the " Nile of England," The 
verses are privileged, but the other old saying must be pronounced 
untrue. The river valiey is a deep alluvial soil, rich everywhere, 
but more valuable when out of reach of floods, because the deposit 
of mud, washed from the steep valley banks, above Uttoxeter, 
chokes the herbage with silt and dirts the hay. The floods, 
therefore, are exceedingly injurious in spring and summer, and 
are carefully shut out when practicable. On one farm 170 acres 
of meadow were formerly under water in time of flood ; now 
50 or 60 acres is a large flood, owing to the combined outlay of 
tenant and landlord in embanking the river. On Lord Lichfield's 
estate, on the Trent, between Lichfield A Ire was and King's 
Bromley, the flood-water has been excluded from 200 acres, with 
power to admit it at the proper time, by means of flood-gates, for 
the purpose of irrigation. An August flood, in a dry season, is 
no doubt useful ; but, in general, flooded grass encourages rot in 
sheep, and diarrhcea and abortion in cattle. 
The richest part of the valley of the Dove is that between 
Piocester and Rolleston and Marston (below Tutbury). Farther 
down, the valley is wider, more subject to floods, and not so rich. 
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