230 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
July, 
that he never irrigated during the full moon, as lie had 
always observed that when the meadows were allowed to 
remain in water during the clear moonlight nights, that 
the grass was perceptibly weakened, and that its very color 
was affected. He had applied water to different parts 
of the same meadow during the full and new moon, and 
had experimentally verified this fact. 
During the extreme heat of the summer the water is 
not left on the meadows by day, but is turned on during 
the night. 
The water is supposed to act as a species of manure. 
The tests of that description of water which may be ap¬ 
plied with advantage to the purposes of irrigation are—■ 
1. The power of dissolving soap. 
2. The good quality of the trout that inhabit the 
stream. 
3. The growth of the water-cress and weeds at the bot¬ 
tom of the water. 
Spring water, from a source warm in winter and cool 
in summer, is by some persons considered more produc¬ 
tive than the water of streams. 
Streams that leave calcareous deposits on their banks, 
or that form petrifactions, are always injurious, and those 
inhabited by coarse fish alone, are generally bad. 
M. Herzog’s method of treatment of his water-mea¬ 
dows, is as follows:—After the last crop of grass is cut, 
which generally takes place in the beginning of October, 
the water-courses are cleared out, the hollows are thus 
filled up, and the meadows are irrigated during the 
months of October, November and December, till the 
hard frosts commence, and the winter snows fall. 
Should there be snow, and the weather not very severe, 
the water is still kept flowing over the meadows in order 
to melt the snow; but as soon as there is any danger of 
•the water freezing, irrigation is discontinued. 
The water is made to flow over the land for two or 
three days. It is then turned off and employed in irri¬ 
gation elsewhere; and after the interval of a week or a 
fortnight, according to the appearance of the grass, it is 
again .made to flow over the same land for a similar 
period. This system is continued till the irrigation is 
stopped by the frost and snow, and the irrigation during 
the months of October, November, and December is con¬ 
sidered as the most beneficial to the land. During the 
spring when the streams are swollen with the melting of 
the snows, irrigation is discontinued. In March the sys¬ 
tem is recommenced, but the land is left dry for longer 
intervals. In April the first crop of grass is cut. This 
crop of grass is made use of for the stall-feeding of the 
cattle; it is so rich that hay is always mixed with it. 
After cutting, the water is again turned on for two or 
three days, and this is repeated at intervals of a fortnight 
or three weeks till the end of May or beginning of June, 
when the grass is cut for hay. After this crop has been 
got in, the land is.left dry for ten or twelve days, when 
the same system of irrigation is again pursued, except 
that a somewhat longer period is allowed to elapse be¬ 
tween each successive watering. The second hay-crop 
is generally cut in August r the land is then subjected 
to a similar kind of treatment, and the grass is cut 
for the fourth time about the end of September or 
beginning of October; and this last crop is also general¬ 
ly made use of for the stall-feeding of the cattle who 
are never turned out into the water-meadows. From 
this method of treatment it appears that four crops of 
grass are usually raised, and in very favorable seasons 
an additional crop may be obtained. The quantity of 
hay produced by an acre of water-meadow varies from 
53 to 63 cwt. 
Water-meadows are sometimes, (I-do not imagine the 
practice to be at all general,) broken up after a period 
of four or five years, and potatoes, corn, clover, &c. 
are grown for a few seasons, when the land is again con¬ 
verted into water-meadow. 
With regard to land where irrigation cannot be prac¬ 
ticed. very much the same system of cultivation is pur¬ 
sued as in the better managed farms in England—solid 
manure being applied in autumn, and liquid manure in 
spring, and after each crop of grass. Liquid manure is 
mixed with water only in very hot weather. I saw a 
afield on M. Herzog’s farm which he had already cut 
four times this year. There was then, September 23, a 
rich crop of grass which "would be fit to cut in the be¬ 
ginning of October. 
In the Canton of Berne, the system of irrigation is 
not so generally or so exclusively employed. Through 
M. Zelhveger’s kindness 1 had introductions to M. Rob¬ 
ert d’Erlach of Chateau d’Hildelbank, and M. Emile de 
Fellenberg of Hofwyl. M. d’Erlach farms at Hildelbank 
about 180 acres, 45 of which are arable and the rest 
grass land. He pursues nearly the same system as that 
which I have already described as practiced in the Can¬ 
ton of Aargau, except that after May he never leaves 
the water on the meadows during the day, but irrigates 
only by night. He does not often get more than two 
crops of hay, the first being generally cut in the begin¬ 
ning of June. He turns his catrle out in the autumn, 
and does not feed them when in the stable with grass 
cut from the water-meadows, but with grass cut from 
the fields which have been manured. There is a spring 
on his estate which contains a large amount of carbonic 
acid gas; indeed the poor often drink it as a mineral 
water, and the water from this spring possesses remark¬ 
able fertilizing qualities. M. d’Erlach also told me that 
water which is previously useless for irrigation, after 
passing through mills or villages, generally becomes 
available. 
I also paid a visit to M. de Fellenberg’s farm at Hof¬ 
wyl. This is situated on a conical hill, the sides of which 
slope gradually away. When the late M.de Fellenberg 
first came there, this hill was little better than a swamp, 
while the low ground was frequently under water. Forty 
feet from the top of the hill there exists a stratum of 
gravel, at which depth springs were discovered. M. de 
Fellenberg conceived the idea of draining the whole 
farm, and applying the water which existed on the gra¬ 
vel bed to the irrigation of the sides of the hill. He 
formed drains mostly from 10 to 12 feet in depth, cover¬ 
ing them above with flat stones, and filling them up with 
loose stones till within three feet of the surface, where 
he placed a layer of moss to prevent the soil from being 
carried away by the drains. A constant supply of "water 
is derived by means of the drains constructed on the hill¬ 
side, and is carried along the hill-side to the different 
parts of the farm. The water-course that conveys the 
water to the more distant localities is covered over, so 
that the water may not be affected by the temperature 
of the air; thus when applied to the land it is warm in 
winter and cool in summer. It is the intention of M. de 
Fellenberg to convert the whole hill-side into water-mea¬ 
dows: (part is now arable land.) To effect this he re¬ 
moves the subsoil so as to make the surface even, taking 
care, however, to replace, the surface soil: the subsoil 
so removed is exposed to the action of the air, and is 
then mixed with solid manure, and applied as dressing. 
M. de Fellenberg thinks he cannot irrigate too much. 
I never saw fields look brighter or greener than the 
water-meadows on his farm ; and the grass was thick, as 
M. de Fellenberg expressed himself, “ like a brush.” 
The greater the fall the quicker the grass grows (though 
I should observe that the fall was in no part very ex¬ 
cessive.) M. de Fellenberg irrigates as late as possible 
in the year, and only stops when there is danger of the 
water freezing in a mass on the land: as long as the 
water trickles underneath a surface of ice he continues 
watering, and considers that this surface of ice protects 
the roots of the grass. The water is made to flow over 
a certain portion of land for twenty-four hours. It is 
then shifted further on, and in about a week they return 
to the point where they commenced. This shifting is 
occasioned solely by the scanty supply of water, and 
were there a sufficiency of water, M. de Fellenberg 
would let it flow constantly over the meadows, except 
immediately before cutting the grass. Irrigation is dis¬ 
continued from the period when the severe frosts set in 
until such time as the "snows have melted. Generally 
irrigation is recommenced in the month of March, and, 
as I have before stated, the extent to which, the irriga¬ 
tion is carried is only limited by the supply of water. 
M. de Fellenberg generally has four crops of grass; the 
first and last are employed for the stall feeding of the 
cattle; the two intermediate cropsforhay. Seme years 
