18 
The Management of Grass Land. 
in their formation is the difficulty, — it being found too for- 
midable for the yearly tenant; and in many instances the land- 
lords object also to what they term an unnecessary expenditure; 
they are more commonly performed by occupiers under long 
leases, or by arrangement for the owners to receive an increased 
rent or per centage for the capital so invested. The modern 
and truly valuable water-meadows are found on the estate of the 
Duke of Portland at Clipstone Park, Notts, which are so ably 
described by Mr. Denison in the first volume of the Society's 
Journal. In fact, parties desirous to lay out new, or improve 
old water-meadows should visit these in order to become well 
grounded in their general management, as also to witness their 
real value. 
The watering of meadows for the purpose of promoting vegeta- 
tion was among the pursuits of the ancient cultivators of the then 
existing pasture lands. We find on record the following opinion 
of Cato — " As much as in your power make water-meadows;"' 
and Columella says — " Land that is naturally rich and in good 
heart does not need to have water set over it, because the hay pro- 
duced in a juicy soil is better than that excited by water; yet 
when the poverty of a soil requires it, however, water may be set 
over it." Again, from the observations of other authors, it is fair to 
infer that water-meadows were numerous in former ages, from the 
want of good herbage for their cattle ; while since the increased 
practice of sowing artificial grasses, and the general improved cul- 
ture, they have apparently been less in demand. It is important 
to notice, that even the coarser herbage of boggy meadows is by 
this process improved, as also that those of the cold and meagre 
soils are accelerated and increased by it, or supplanted by a ver- 
dant surface of improved grasses. Eventually, as improvements 
roll on in the other branches of agriculture, the forming of water- 
meadows must become a subject of importance, particularly when 
considered in connection with the breedmg and feeding of stock, 
which must ere long from necessity (as the population of this 
country increases) become more universal. It is consequently 
essential that there should be a bountiful and cheap supply of 
grasses of varied characters to meet the exigencies of the age. 
The soils best calculated for water-meadows are those of a 
gravelly friable nature, as the effect is immediate and more pow- 
erful than upon any other descriptions of soil. Those soils which 
produce the coarser grasses require considerably more water to 
effect a change in their character than the former, as a stream 
capable of watering fifteen or twenty acres of light dry land 
would be found far too small for even half the quantity of cold 
clayey ground abounding in coarser grasses : it is, in fact, desira- 
ble to form a body of water for the purpose of floating these soils 
