THE CULTIVATOR. 
21 
IRRIGATION. 
The benefits of thorough draining are becoming well 
understood by good farmers; but the mode of improving 
crops by irrigation, or watering soils by artificial chan¬ 
nels, remains as yet almost unknown among them. With 
the hope of throwing some light and awakening some 
interest, we offer a few remarks on the subject. 
The chief advantages of irrigation are of course to be 
looked for on grass lands. Every farmer must have no¬ 
ticed the greatly increased product of meadows where 
streams have passed across them. This may be in some 
degree owing to the greater richness of the soil in those 
low places, but it is by no means the chief reason. The 
few experiments which have been made, most conclu¬ 
sively show that dry upland, when watered by such 
streams as may be thrown upon it, and the soil enriched 
by such matters as they deposit, is improved in fertility 
to a very high degree. A few instances of such benefi¬ 
cial results may be mentioned. 
S. Williams of Waterloo, N. Y., states that in the year 
1840, during a season of severe drouth, he admitted wa¬ 
ter in small gutters between the hills and rows of vegeta¬ 
bles in his garden. “ In ten days, early potatoes grew 
two-thirds in size.” In fact, he had never obtained a 
good crop of potatoes before. Other vegetables were 
greatly benefited. 
E. Wilbur, now a resident of Macedon, N. Y., tried an 
experiment many years ago in Yates county, as follows: 
A field of seven acres lay on each side of a small valley 
through which a stream passed. This field was so un¬ 
productive, that to use the owner's own expression, “ it 
was as dry and barren almost as a road.” It was plow¬ 
ed and seeded. Channels were plowed from the stream, 
to carry the water on either side to the dry portions of 
the field. Successive furrows below, spread the water 
evenly over the surface as it escaped from the sides of 
the upper to the next below. Channels were also made 
from the side ditches of a road which crossed this valley, 
to carry the wash from them to the meadow. About a 
day’s work was needed for the whole. And what was 
the result ? “ The effect was such,” said he, “ that it 
paid me a hundred fold for the seven acres after the first 
year. It produced for several years while I owned it, 
from two and a half to three tons of hay to the acre; and 
the man I sold it to, told me last year that he hardly ever 
saw such grass—there was hardly room on the ground to 
make the hay after it was mowed.”* 
E. D. Andrews, of Pittsford, N. Y., states, “In the 
hilly country of Vermont, I owned a farm, over which I 
carried the water of a small stream, in artificial channels, 
more than a mile. Lands that did not yield half a ton to 
the acre, were thus made at once to yield two tons; by 
which means I added to my crop six or eight tons. A 
little experience taught me I could carry water where I 
had not the least suspicion it could be earned. Every 
stream that runs with any rapidity, may be used for this 
purpose.”* 
Some farmers in the vicinity of Philadelphia, have 
long been in the practice of irrigation, by selecting per¬ 
manent meadows on the sloping lands on each side of a 
stream, from which the water is diverted by channels, 
carrying it as high up the sides of the valley as the head 
of water will admit. Two tons and a half of hay are a 
common crop on such meadows. 
In the southern portions of England, where irrigation 
is extensively and very successfully practiced, and in a 
much moister climate than our own, the chief benefits of 
the operation appear to be the deposition of fertilizing- 
matters held in solution or suspension by the water. 
Some striking illustrations of this fact are given. A gen¬ 
tleman who owns meadows on the banks of the stream 
which passes through Winchester, has observed the great 
superiority of the waters below the city which have re¬ 
ceived the drainage of the sewers; and has also found 
that waters once used for irrigation, have their value 
greatly reduced by the deposit of the materials they con¬ 
tain. On one occasion, having long enjoyed the exclu¬ 
sive use of a stream, his neighbor, higher up, imitated 
his example, and the water became so deteriorated, that 
he thought of disputing the right with him. But the 
most extraordinary instance of the excellence of this 
mode of manuring, is furnished by the meadows of the 
Earl of Moray and others near Edinburgh. The spring 
water, which supplies that city, before it flows off, be¬ 
comes saturated with all the enriching matters which the 
city affords. Such are the wonderful effects which after 
many years, these waters have had upon the meadows, 
that the grass which is cut and given green to cows, is 
mowed sometimes six times a year; it is sold by the quar¬ 
ter acre and upwards, and generally brings from £24 to 
£30 per acre per annum, or from $120 to $150. A part 
of the Earl of Moray’s meadow brought £57 per acre, or 
about $280.f 
It is true that such are rare instances, and that the com¬ 
mand of such water is not very often obtained. But near¬ 
ly all water of running streams contains fertilizing ma¬ 
nures. Several analyses have shown that most of them 
contain considerable portions of carbonate of lime and 
gypsum; hard waters especially, containing the latter. 
Supposing then, as is often the case, that one part of gyp¬ 
sum is contained in every two thousand parts of river wa¬ 
ter, and that every square yard of dry meadow soil ab¬ 
sorbs only eight gallons of water, (many soils absorb 
more) then more than a hundred weight and a half of 
gypsum per acre is diffused through the soil by the wa¬ 
ter. J The same reasoning is equally applicable to seve¬ 
ral other enriching materials. 
Equal success has not always attended irrigation; some 
waters are doubtless much preferable to others; and on 
the other hand, some soils are vastly more benefited than 
others by the same stream, from a difference of composi¬ 
tion. It has been found in some cases, that even heavy 
deposits from turbid streams have been of less utility, 
than the application of clear water in other cases, when 
that deposit consisted merely of sand and clay without a 
mixture of animal and vegetable substances and salts, and 
when, too, such clear water contained the latter substan¬ 
ces in solution. But such, are rather exceptions to the 
general rule. 
Heavy clays are generally least benefited, and sand 
and porous gravels most benefited by irrigation. On the 
latter, the water finds freer passage through the soil in 
depositing its impurities. 
Two modes of 
watering the sur¬ 
face of lands are 
adopted, one for 
flat & nearly level 
land, and the oth¬ 
er for land pos¬ 
sessing considera¬ 
ble slope or steep 
acclivities. The 
annexed figure, 
(fig. 5) represents 
both these modes, 
where A B is the 
stream, and the 
side C is supposed 
to be a very gentle slope, and the side D much steeper. 
A dam is made at A, and the water carried by a main 
conductor to C, and from which it is distributed over the 
surface descending from it, by the feeders e. e. e. But it 
is important that the water should not collect nor become 
stagnant on any part; hence the main drain F is made on 
the lower side of the field, and from it lesser drains g. g. 
pass upwards between the feeders, and carry off the sur¬ 
plus water. But where the slope is more steep, as on the 
side D, feeders are made as represented in the figure, the 
water escaping from the upper one to each successive 
feeder below, as indicated by the dotted lines. Small 
pieces of boards placed in the lower sides ot these feed¬ 
ers with holes bored through to admit the escape of the 
water, is the most perfect way of distributing it over the 
surface. 
It is obvious that irrigation is chiefly useful on perma¬ 
nent pastures and meadows; but it may sometimes be em¬ 
ployed on lands subjected to regular rotation, which lie 
* Genesee Farmer, vols 3 and 6. 
t C. W. Johnson.—f lb. 
