than the foregoing. The land applicable to 
this purpose being frequently a Hat morass, 
the first object to be considered is, how the 
water is to be got off when once brought on ; 
and in such situations this can seldom be 
done without throwing up the land in high 
ridges, with deep drains between them, as 
a, b, r, d, fig. 1 h. plate 6. A main carriage 
AB being then taken out of the. river at a 
higher level, so as to command the tops of 
these ridges, the water is carried by small 
•trenches or carriages along the top of each 
ridge, and by means of moveable stops of 
earth is thrown over on each side, and re- 
ceived in the drains below, from whence 
it is collected into a main drain CD, and 
carried on to water other meadows, or 
other parts of the same meadow below. One 
tier of these ridges being usually watered at 
once, is generally called <c a pitch of work,” 
and it is usual to make the ridges 30 or 40 
feet wide; or, if water is abundant, perhaps 
t50 feet, and 9 or 10 poles in length, or longer, 
according to the strength and plenty of the 
water. 
It is obvious, from this description, that as 
the water in this kind of meadow is not used 
again and again, in one pitch, as in the catch 
meadows, that this method is only applicable 
to large streams or to va'.lies subject to floods; 
and as these ridges must be formed by manual 
labour, the expence of this kind of meadow 
must necessarily exceed the more simple 
method first described ; and the hatches that 
are necessary to manage and temper the wa- 
ter or rivers, must be much more expensive 
than those in small brooks. 
Management of water meadows. As soon 
as the after-grass is eaten off as bare as can 
be, the manager of the mead, (provinclally 
“ the drowner”) begins cleaning out the 
main drain, then the main carriage, and then 
proceeds to “ right up the works,” that is, 
to make good all the water carriages that the 
cattle have trodden down, and open all the 
drains they may have trodden in, so as to 
have one tier or pitch of work ready for 
“ drowning,” and which is then put under 
water (if water be plenty enough) during the 
time the drowner is righting up the next 
pitch. In the flowing meadows this work is, 
or ought to be, done early enough in the au- 
tumn, to have the whole mead ready to catch, 
if possible, “ the first floods after Michael- 
mas,” the water being then “ thick and 
good,” being the first washing of the arable 
land @n the sides of the chalk Kills, as well as 
dirt from the roads, &c. 
The length of this autumn watering can- 
not always be determined, as it depends on 
situations and circumstances; but if water can 
be commanded in plenty, the rule Is to give 
it a good soaking at first; perhaps a fortnight 
or more, with a dry interval of a day or two, 
always taking the water off at the first ap- 
pearance of white scum ; after which, the 
works are made as dry as possible, to encou- 
rage the growth of grass, and to allow the 
land to pitch or sink dose together. 
Whilst the grass grows freely, a fresh wa- 
tering is not wanted, but as soon as it tlags, 
watering for a few days is necessary. In 
the months of October, November, or De- 
cember, some meadows will bear the water 
for three weeks, which in February or March 
will not bear it one week, and in April or 
May not three days. 
V OL. I. 
HUSBANDRY. 
In all cases where the watering system is 
undertaken, except in the time of floods, it 
may be highly useful to disturb the mud and 
dirt in the bottom of the main carriers, or 
drains, before watering; a practice frequently 
adopted ou the continent. Lime has also 
been thrown into these cuts by some irrigat- 
ing farmers, and raked with a heavy harrow, 
or other implement at the bottom, which is a 
process that will be found to add considerably 
to the manuring quality of the water. It is 
probable that many other substances might 
be employed in the same way, and be thus 
spread over the surface of grass lands in a 
minute state of division, with vast advantage 
in promoting vegetation. 
The great degree of verdure and luxuri- 
ance which almost immediately succeeds the 
occasional covering of grass lands with water, 
sufficiently demonstrate the [lower which it 
possesses in promoting vegetation. It is a 
means of fertility' that lias been employed for 
ages in more warm climates, with the most 
beneficial consequences in increasing the 
quantity of vegetable produce. But though 
it has been long in use in other countries, 
and of late more particularly attended to in 
this, the principle on which it produces its 
effects does not seem to be fully understood. 
In speaking of manure as the food of plants, 
we have already noticed some of the proper- 
ties of this fluid that may be useful in the ve- 
getable economy when taken up by the 
fibrous roots of plants; and there are still 
other ways in which it would seem to be ad- 
vantageous in forwarding the growth of grass 
crops. 
Winter and spring are the two seasons 
when meadows are usually watered, as from 
the month of November till the beginning of 
March ; the experience of the operator can 
alone regulate this proceeding as to the length 
of time they should remain under water. In 
some districts the water is allowed to flow 
over the fields for several weeks together, 
with only the interval of a day or two - occa- 
sionally ; in others, the practice is to flood 
them the alternate weeks. When frosts set 
in, floating is usually suspended ; but it has 
been remarked, that in such cases the suc- 
ceeding crop of grass has been abundant. 
As the spring advances, much less floating is 
found to be necessary. However, in all cases, 
when floating is performed to advantage, the 
meadows should be laid dry between every 
watering. 
Manures. An encreased population re- 
quires more abundant stores of food for man, 
and the beasts immediately under his com- 
mand, than were before necessary: to this 
end, where the extension of land cannot be 
obtained, recourse must be had to the en- 
riching of that which is already in possession, 
whenever it becomes deteriorated by con- 
stant and heavy cropping, with such plants as 
exhaust the pabulum of vegetables; and also 
to improve such soils as are by nature less 
adapted than others to the production of ad- 
vantageous crops. 
Besides the methods we have already 
spoken of for the improving of lands, man- 
kind have discovered various substances, 
which, when judiciously applied, possess the 
power of encreasing the fertility of soil in a 
wonderful degree. These substances are nu- 
merous, and always near at hand. They arise 
6 C 
m? 
from the decomposition of animal and vege- 
table matter, and from the agency of fossil 
and saline substances. 
From the changes that are constantly tak- 
ing place among bodies in nature, and the 
new combinations which are formed in con- 
sequence of those changes, a great variety 
of matters are unfolded, elaborated, and pre- 
pared for the nourishment and support ol ve- 
getable iife. 
Some of the substances which contribute 
in this way possess considerable fluidity and 
volatility, such as water, and various gaseous 
materials, as oxygen, hydrogen, azote, and 
carbon i ; acid, in different states of combina- 
tion. While others are more gross and heavy, 
and require to be applied and incorporated 
with soils, or spread out upon their surfaces, 
in order that they may produce their effects 
in promoting vegetation. It is principally 
to these, as being the means of sustaining dif- 
ferent sort of plants as crops, that the term 
manure has been given by practical writers on 
agriculture; though it is extremely obvious 
that they must undergo different changes, 
and be resolved into their more elementary 
principles, before they can be taken up, and 
contribute to the increase and support of ve- 
getables. In the various materials which the 
art and industry of mankind have rendered 
capable of being beneficially employed in this 
manner, there is great diversity ; some are 
found to yield the matters which are neces- 
sary for the support of plants much more rea- 
dily and more abundantly than others, as 
animal, vegetable, and all such substances as 
are rich in mucilage, saccharine matters, and 
calcareous earth, and readily afford carbon, 
phosphorus, and some aerial fluids ; while 
others that are greatly deficient in all or many 
of these principles, or do not readily part with 
them, are found to be of much less utility, 
when employed in the way of manures. This 
is probably a principal reason why some sorts 
of manures, or substances, when put upon 
grounds, are so greatly superior to others, 
used at the same time, and in the same man- 
ner and proportion. 
There are, however, many other ways in 
which substances, when applied to soils, "may 
render them more fertile and productive, 
and contribute to the aid of vegetation. 
Some, besides furnishing such matters as are 
suitable for the purpose of promoting the 
growth of plants, are known to add consider- 
ably to the quantity of vegetable and other 
matters contained in the soils on which they 
are placed, and thereby provide a more 
suitable and convenient bed for the reception 
of the roots of plants; others contribute little 
in this way, but operate chiefly upon such 
materials as are contained in them, breaking 
down their organization or texture, and thus 
setting at liberty different volatile and other 
ingredients, by which new compounds are 
formed, and brought to such states as are the 
most adapted to the support of vegetable 
file; others again act principally by produ- 
cing certain changes and alterations in the 
constitution or texture of soils, such as ren- 
dering them more open and porous, or more 
stiff and compact, and by such means bring- 
ing them into the most proper conditions for 
the bearing of different vegetable produc- 
tions; and there are still others that contribute 
in all or several of these ways at the same 
time. 
