384 
IRRIGATION. 
the ditch, which conveys the water for diftribution, fhould 
be railed all that diftance, and kept high enough to carry 
tiie water to the aforefaid liigheft part. In this cafe, cut, 
in as direft a line as circumftances will allow, a wide ditch, 
or mafter-feeder, keeping up its banks, not upon a dead 
level, but with a gradual defcent from beginning to end.. 
Suppofing, for inftance, the higheft part of the meadow 
to be one hundred yards diftant from the ftream, and you 
have five inches fall in that diltance, you are to give to 
the whole length an equal degree of defcent, that is, to 
each twenty yards one inch fall, and then every drop of 
water will be kept in equable and conltant motion. Some¬ 
times the land has a very uneven furface, and there are 
two or more parts of it confiderably higher than the reft; 
it will then be neceffary to give to each higher part its 
refpeftive feeder. It will be found, that one feeder made 
diagonally, and two others in different direftions, will, in 
general, with the affiftance of the fmaller works, (what¬ 
ever be the form or fituation of the meadow,) be compe¬ 
tent to eft'eft a regular diftribution of the water over the 
whole furface of the land. The width of each feeder de¬ 
pends upon the number and length of the fmaller ditches, 
or floating gutters, which it is to fupply with water.” 
A ditch of ten feet wide and three deep will commonly 
water ten acres of land. When there are three works in 
a meadow, and flood-hatches at the mouth of each, when 
the water is not lufficient to cover the whole completely 
at once, it may be watered at three different times, by 
taking out one of the hatches, and keeping the other two 
in. In this cafe, when the water has run over one divi- 
fion of the land for ten days, it may then be taken off 
that and tumbled over to another, by taking up another 
hatch and letting down the former; by which means the 
three divifions will have a proper (hare of the water alter¬ 
nately, and each reap equal benefit. The bottom of the 
fir ft work ought to be as deep as the bottom of the river, 
when the fall in the meadow will admit of it; for, the 
deeper the water is drawn, the more mud it carries along 
with it. From the works, cut, at right angles, fmaller 
ditches or troughs, having a breadth proportioned to the 
diftance to which fome part of the water is to be carried, 
their diftance from each other being about twelve yards. 
A trough two feet wide and one foot deep, will water a 
furface twelve yards wide and forty feet long. In each 
trough as well as ditch place frequent (tops and obftruc- 
tions, efpecially when the water is rapid, to keep it high 
enough to flow through the notches or over the fides. 
Each ditch and trough is gradually contradted in width, 
as the quantity of water conftantly decreafes the farther 
they proceed. Between every two troughs, and at an equal 
diftance from both, cut a drain as deep as you pleafe pa¬ 
rallel to them, and wide enough to receive all the water 
that runs over the adjacent lands, and to carry it off into 
the mailer-drain with fuch rapidity as to keep the whole 
Iheet of water in conftant motion ; and, if poffible, not to 
fuft’er a drop to ftagnateupon the whole meadow. “ For a 
Jlagnation (though it is recommended by a Mr. D. Young 
for the improvement of arable land) is what we never ad¬ 
mit in our fvftem of watering ; for we find that it rots the 
turf, foaks and ftarves the land, and produces nothing 
but coarfe grafs and aquatic weeds. When a meadow lies 
cold, flat, and fwampy, the width of the bed, or the dif¬ 
tance between the trough and drain, ought to be very 
fmall, never exceeding fix yards: indeed, in this cafe, you 
can fcarcely cut your land too much, provided the water 
be plentiful; for the more you cut, the more water you 
require. The fall of the bed in every meadow fhould be 
half an inch in a foot: lefs will do, but more is definable; 
for, when the draught is quick, the herbage is always fine 
and fweet. The water ought never to flow more than two 
inches deep, nor lefs than one inch, except in the warm 
months.” 
In the beginning of November, all the ditches, troughs, 
and drains, fhould be thoroughly cleanfed, by ths fpade 
and breafl-plough, from weeds, grafs, and mud; and well 
repaired, if they have received any injury from cattle. 
After a fhovver, when the water is thick and muddy, turn 
over the meadow as much water as you can without in¬ 
juring the banks of the works, efpecially if the land be 
poor; as in this month, according to Mr. Wright, the 
water contains many more fertilizing particles, which he 
calls falls and richnefs, than later in the winter. In de¬ 
fence of this pofition, of which it feems the Monthly Re¬ 
viewers have doubted, our author urges, that, though he 
is not able to prove it by any chemical analylis, yet ic 
feems evident, that “ after the firft waffling of farm-yards, 
various finks, ditches, and the furface of all the adjoining 
fields, which have lain dry for fome time, the common 
ftream fhould then contain much more fatnefs than when 
the fame premifes have been repeatedly wafhed.” This 
is confirmed by the experience of the Gloucefterfhire far¬ 
mers; who, if they can at this feafon of the year procure 
plenty of muddy water to overflow their grounds for one 
week, look upon it to be equally valuable with what is 
procured during all the reft of the winter. In fupport of 
this, he quotes the following words of Mr. Forbes, in a 
treatife on watering: “ The water fhould be let in upon 
the meadow in November, when the firft great rains make 
it muddy, for then it is full of a rich fediment, brought 
down from the lands of the country through which it 
runs, and is wafhed into it by the rain; and, as the fedi- 
nient brought by the firft floods is the richeft, the carri¬ 
ages and drains of the meadow fhould all be fcoured clean 
and in order, before thefe floods come.” 
“ In oppolition (adds Mr. Wright) to the opinion of 
practical waterers, that the muddinef's of the water is of 
little confequence, I hefitate not to affirm, that the mud 
is of as much confequence in winter-watering as dung is 
in the improvement of a poor upland field. For each 
meadow in this neighbourhood is fruitful in proportion 
to the quantity of mud that it collects from the water. 
And, indeed, what can be conceived more enriching than 
the abundant particles of putrid matter which float in the 
water, and are diftributed over the furface of the land, 
and applied home to the roots of the grafs. It is true, 
that any the mod fimple water thrown over a meadow in 
proper quantity, and not fuffered to ftagnate, will flielter 
it in winter, and in the warmth of fpring w’ill force a crop ; 
but this unufual force muft exhauft the ftrength of the 
land, which will require an annual fupply of manure in 
fubftance, or in a courfe of years the foil will be impaired 
rather than improved. The meadows in this county, 
which lie next below a market-town or village, are inva¬ 
riably the beft; and thofe which receive the water after 
it has been two or three times ufed, reap proportionably 
lefs benefit from it: for every meadow that is well laid 
out, and has any quantity of grafs upon its furface, will 
aft as a fine fieve upon the water, which, though it flow 
in ever fo muddy, will be returned back to the ftream as 
clear as it came from the fountain. This circumflance, 
when there is a range of meadows to be vyatered, the pro¬ 
perty of different perfons, when water is fcarce, creates 
vehement contentions and ftruggles for the firft ufe of it. 
The proprietors are therefore compelled to agree among 
themfelves, either to have the firft ufe alternately, or for 
the higher meadows to dam up, and ufe only one half or 
a lefs portion of the river. Our farmers know the mud 
to be of fo much confequence in watering, that, whenever 
they find it collefted at the bottom of the river or the 
ditches, they hire men whole days to diflurb and raife it 
with rakes made for the purpofe, that it may be carried 
down by the water, and fpread upon their meadows. One 
meadow in South Cerney, 1 think, is an inconteftible 
proof of the confequence of muddy water. It is watered 
by a branch of the common ftream that runs for about 
half a mile down a public road. This water, by the mud 
on the road being continually difturbed by carriages and 
the feet of cattle, becomes very thick, and when it enters 
the meadow is almoft as white as milk. This field, which 
confifts of feven acres, was a few years ago let for ios. an 
acre, 
