1873 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
T55 
pen, about six inches above the floor, and 
projecting about six inches from the side, 
for the purpose of preventing the young pigs 
from being overlaid by the sow and smothered. 
A large quantity of waste material may be 
worked up n these yards, and will add much 
Fig. 1.—IRRIGATING WITH PERFORATED PIPES. 
irrigate; in places where a spring is situated 
upon a hill-side its waters are gathered into a 
channel and allowed to meander through a 
patch of grass called a meadow. In the West, 
however, people are by necessity learning how 
to irrigate, and instinctively fall into the meth¬ 
ods used by the farmers 
of the Eastern conti¬ 
nent for many ages 
past. Curiously enough, 
it seems that every one 
begins to irrigate in this 
same old-fashioned way 
—viz.: by means of 
canals and a system of 
smaller channels, or by 
means of flood-gates 
retaining the overflow 
of freshets upon the 
level banks of the 
streams. But lately 
new methods of irriga¬ 
to the comfort and cleanliness of the pigs. The 
framework of these pens should be of 6 x 6 
timber for the sills, 4x4 for the posts, and 2x4 
for the girts and tops and bottoms of the par¬ 
titions. The whole quahtity of lumber needed 
for one complete pen would be 1,200 feet, con¬ 
sisting of 80 linear feet of 6x6, 61 linear feet 
of 4 x 4, and 77 linear feet of 2 x 4, 104 feet 
surface of 2-inch plank, and 500 feet of boards 
if the roof is of shingles; but we have found 
strips of half-inch chestnut or spruce boards 6 
inches wide laid so as to break joints, and 
painted with a coat of coal-tar, to make a light 
and excellent roof for such a building. A row 
of ten of these pens—making a building 80 
1 
Fig. 3. —IRRIGATING WITH UNDERGROUND PIPES. 
feet long, able to accommodate 50 or 60 pigs— 
would cost about $350 completed. 
Some Methods of Irrigation. 
It is strange that in our climate, where it can 
be so advantageously practiced, the art of irri- 
tion have been adopted in England in places 
where permanent works have been found desir¬ 
able. Notwithstanding the moist climate and 
the abundance of rain in England, the irrigation 
of grasslands has been found very profitable. 
One of the methods adopted there is shown in 
figure 1. It is called the Stoke Park irrigation 
system, because it was first applied to 40 acres of 
land upon the Stoke Park estate of Mr. E. J. 
Coleman. A twelve-liorse-power engine, work¬ 
ing a force-pump, draws water from a reservoir 
and forces it with a pressure of 75 pounds per 
square inch through a series of pipes perforated 
with small holes in the sides. A supply-pipe of 
iron is laid down beneath the surface. From 
this pipe the perforated 
leaden pipes are laid at 
right angles in parallel 
lines 16 yards apart. A 
piece of land of about 
an acre and a half is 
watered at one time by 
a shower of spray con¬ 
tinued for 15 minutes, 
during which time ten 
tons of water are ap¬ 
plied. Then certain 
cocks are turned, and 
the water is applied to 
another section, un¬ 
til the whole 40 acres are watered. The 
watering is done during the night, so as to 
avoid the ill effects which might occur from 
a hot sun immediately after the watering. The 
growth of grass thus produced, assisted by top- 
dressings of manure, is equal to one inch per 
day, and upon six acres of the land thus irri- 
by the same land without the irrigation. The 
annual profit resulting is equal to nearly $175 
per acre; the gross yield being equal to $231 
per acre, and the annual cost, allowing for rent 
of land, $7.50; manure, $30; interest upon cost 
of machinery and apparatus, with proper allow¬ 
ance for maintenance and repair, $15; with all 
other expenses equal to a total of $56.25 per 
acre. In another locality the same system ap¬ 
plied to Italian rye-grass for mowing produced 
70 tons, being 17 feet in length of growth, the 
crop being cut nine times. Another well-known 
farmer grew 80 tons per acre, and is assured 
that he could grow 100 tons, which would be 
equal to 20 tons of hay from one acre. 
Another English method of irrigation is 
shown at figure 2. This is applied to grass¬ 
land and also to market-gardens and grain 
crops. In this case the water may be forced 
by an engine or may be brought from an ele¬ 
vated reservoir. Less power will be necessary 
or a less head than would be needed for a pres¬ 
sure of 70 pounds per inch, or a head of 121 
feet as needed in the former system. It is also 
less costly. The pipes arc laid underground 
with ordinary hydrants 200 feet apart. A rub 
ber hose and sprinkler is fixed to the hydrant, 
and one man is able to water a ten-acre field in 
one night. The cost of this apparatus, includ- 
gating should be almost wholly unknown. At I gated 400 sheep may be fed for six months, I ing an engine and an elevated reservoir, is 
present we have only the rudest attempts to | which is ten times as many as could be carried | about $250 per acre for 10 acres. For smaller 
