10 
The Economical Application 
into tlio soil, -will be found useful in bringing up the land to a 
high state of fertility ; and this should not be overlooked, espe- 
cially where the land is at all below par. 
It will be found then that, beyond the water wanted for the 
actual dilution and conveyance of the manure, a large additional 
supply can be used witli the greatest advantage and profit. A 
good soaking of 1 inch in depth, equalling 22,000 gallons, or 100 
tons per acre, after each dressing of diluted liquid, will amply 
repay the cost ; and five such dressings on the acre would, for* 
the 10 acres, raise a further demand for a million gallons, or 
over 5000 tons ; and on many soils a larger quantity than this 
would greatly increase the results, the lighter land taking a more 
frequent and plentiful supply than the more compact and clayey 
soils. 
The best mode of cropping the 20 acres intended to be irri- 
gated will be by adopting a four-course system, thus — 1st, early 
potatoes or peas ; 2nd, Italian rye-grass ; 3rd, Italian rye-grass ; 
4th, oats. At the commencement the land should be well culti- 
vated and highly manured for potatoes, which will come off the 
land by the end of July ; it is then to be well scarified and 
harrowed, so as to form a fine seed-bed : the grass-seed, at the 
rate of 3 bushels to the acre, is then sown, and covered in with 
a light seed-harrow, and afterwards rolled : if the land is not in 
high condition, 2 cwts. of guano will assist in bringing forward 
the plant, which will by this means be tolerably strong before 
winter. Early in spring it will receive a good dressing of liquid 
manure, and should be fit to cut from the middle of April to 
the middle of May, varying according to situation and clittiate. 
I was not able to adopt this system in Kincardineshire, as no 
green-crop that I could grow would come off the ground early 
enough to allow the grass-seed to be sown with a fair chance 
of standing the winter in that northern climate ; but I know it 
is adopted with success even as far north as the neighbourhood 
of Edinburgh. I there followed a three-course system on my 
irrigated ground — viz., 1st, turnips or potatoes; 2nd, grass; 3rd, 
gi"ass, a portion of which was at times allowed to seed. The 
grass was laid down in two sowings, during the spring, at an 
interval of three weeks or a month, with 3 bushels of grass-seed 
and 1^ bushels of oats per acre, all to be cut green. The addi- 
tion of the oats greatly augmented the bulk of the first and 
second cuttings, and at the same time- nursed up the young 
grass. In Scotland there was a risk in sowing down the Italian 
rye-grass with a grain-crop which was to be allowed to ripen, 
as in a rainy season the grass will grow as rank as the crop 
with which it is sown. Another disadvantage arises from the 
liability of the grain-crop to lodge, thus destroying large patches 
