On the Italian Rye-grass. 
287 
dence to confirm what I have said on the two points, of the cattle eating 
them where we have fed, and likewise of the beautiful bottom which the 
brown grass forms both where we have fed and where we have not fed. 
I am, Sir, your humble servant, 
Thomas Scotchmf.r, Farming Bailiff. 
To. J. Rodwell, Esq., 
Alderton Hall. 
IX. — Mode of procuring Water for Irrigation in Affghanistan. 
All the high mountain peaks iu the valley of Kojuk and Pisheen are 
covered with snow in March and April. The valley slopes from north 
to south, and also from east to west. It is studded with villages, which 
are hid amongst gardens and orchards, and is a lovely plain, being re- 
freshed with sweet waters, and clothed with lu.\urianl vegetation. It is 
intersected by numerous small canals and water-cuts, which are supplied 
by means of khareez. These khareez, upon which so much depends in 
Affghanistan, consist of a number of shafts or wells sunk in the upper 
part of the plain where there is water, until they meet with springs. 
They are connected at the bottom by subterraneous galleries, and the 
whole united in one canal, which is carried under ground down the valley 
at nearly the same level, or at least with only sufficient slope, so as fo 
cause the water to flow ; while the slope of the country being much 
greater, the canal, of course, gradually emerges to the surface. Wells 
are sunk along the line at the distance of every 15 or 20 yards, through 
which the soil is brought up from the canal, and air admitted to the 
workmen. They are never closed, but remain a line of open welts, 
marking the course of the canal underground, which are often of great 
length, being many miles. When the caiial makes its appearance on 
the surface of the country, and becomes an open water-course, it is often 
carried for 20 or 30 miles, fertilizing the country through which it 
passes. A number of these khareez, which unite together at a place 
called Sir-i-^ib, or Head of the Spring, a few miles south of Kwettah, 
form the source of the Shadeezy Lora river, a considerable stream, of 
great importance to the country, being thus in a manner artificially 
formed. 
X. — On the Analysis of Guano. By Andrew Ure, M.D., 
F.R.S., &c. 
This extraordinary excrementitious deposit of certain sea-fowls, which 
occurs in immense quantities upon some parts of the coasts of Peru, 
Bolivia, and Africa, has lately become an object of great commercial 
enterprise, and of intense interest to our agricultural world. Four or 
five years ago it was exhibited and talked of merely as a natural curiosity. 
No one could then have imagined that in a short period it would be 
imported from the coasts of the Pacific in such abundance, and at such 
a moderate price, as to cheer by its fertilizing powers the languid and 
depressed spirits of the farmers throughout the United Kingdom. Such, 
