278 
Irrigation and the Storage of Water 
in Vol. VI. 1st Series of the Journal (1845), Mr. R. W. Cor- 
ringham wrote (p. 40) as follows : — 
These meadows comprise an area of 300 acres of land, extending over a dis- 
tance of about 7 miles in length. The value of the land has been raised from 
the annual sum of 80/. to that of 3,660/. at a cost (from their commencement 
in 1816 to their completion in 1837) of 40,000/. The profit upon each acre, 
after defraying all expenses, is computed at nearly 12/. a year, without taking 
into consideration the great benefit they are to the arable land adjoining them, 
which, in the words of Mr. Denison, they “ enrich to an extent of five times 
that of their own.” Stretching through a dry sandy district for so long a 
distance, and thus fertilising increasingly land so dependent on foreign aid, 
must show at a glance their almost incalculable value. As a triumph of art 
they must be considered one of the most brilliant and complete of any 
that is known. 
Advantages of Irrigation. 
Attentive consideration of the subject naturally leads to 
the conclusion that the manurial is only one of at least three 
beneficial influences calculated to be imparted when grass lands 
are irrigated. The thin water covering causes a higher tem- 
perature than the chill atmosphere, and the moisture supplied 
to the roots permits growth to be active even in the midst 
of winter under such conditions. In a summer drought the 
chief benefit derived would of course be that of bringing 
abundant moisture to excite active growth. All waters except 
those possessed of properties absolutely pernicious to vegeta- 
tion would have been ardently prized could they have been 
utilised for irrigation inthedrought season of 1893, whetherbring- 
ing minerals in solution or not. Gardeners by watering their 
plants are well known to grow three or four times the amount 
of produce they would otherwise be enabled to do, and of course 
the same resource is open to the agriculturist. 
The provision of shelter and warmth by a thin covering of 
water in winter or early spring is great also — much more, 
indeed, than is generally understood. Sir Humphry Davy in 
one of his lectures 1 observed : — 
Even in case9 where the water used for flooding is pure, and free from 
animal or vegetable substances, it acts by causing the more equable diffusion 
of nutritive matter existing in the land, and in very cold seasons it preserves 
the tender roots and leave? of the grass from being affected by frost. In 
1804, in the month of March, I examined the temperature in a water 
meadow near Hungerford by a very delicate thermometer. The temperature 
of the air at 7 a.m. was 29°. The water was frozen above the grass. The 
temperature of the soil below the water in which the roots of the grass were 
fixed was 43°. 
As to the shelter afforded in winter a coating of snow will 
often provide it, so as to have the same magical effect in causing 
1 Davy’s Elements of Agricultural Chemistry (1846 ed.). P. 277. 
