In mid-winter greatattention should be appli ed to keeping wate red land sheltered by the water from the rigour of ni ght frosts; but during the whole winter it should be withdrawn once in every twelve days, to prevent its rotting and destroying the roots of the grass. Everymeadow should also be attentively inspected, to preserve the equal distribution of the water over it, and to remove obstacles arising from the influx of weeds and sticks, and other similar causes. In the month of Febru ary particular caution is requisite. If the water be suffered to remain many days together upon the land, a white sewn, ex tremely pernicious, is the consequence; and if the land be exposed, without dry ing during the course of the day, to one severe night frost, the herbage will often be completely cut off. Both these causes of injury must be carefully avoided. A bout the middle of February half the quantity of water previously used will be better than more, all that is requisite now being to keep the ground moist and warm, and to hasten the progress of vegetation : and in proportion as the weather becomes warmer the quantity introduced should proportionally be diminished. An import ant maxim in the application of water is, to bring it on as plentifully as possible, but to let it pass off by a brisk and nim ble course, as not only its stagnation is injurious, but by indolently creeping over the land, it is ofmuch less advantage than when passing off quickly. The spring feeding ought never to be done by heavier pattle than sheep or calves, as others would do extreme injury, by poaching the ground with their feet, and spoiling. the trenches. The barer the meadows are fed towards the close of April, the better. After clearing, they should have a week's watering, with a careful atten tion to every sluice or drain.
With respect to the application of floods, a general rule, of no slight importance, is, that the farmer should avail himself of them whenever the grass cannot be used, as the sand and mud brought down by them increase and enrich the soil; but that he should avoid them when the grass is long, or SOOR to be cut, as in flat countries it is frequently spoiled by them, and much of the matter which they bring down, sticking to the grass, renders it peculiar ly unpleasant to cattle, 1.vhich have been known in sorne instances rather to starve than use it.
So great is thd importance of irrigation, that goventments would be fully justified in giving facility to undertakings for con. ducting it on an extensive plan. The fer tility, or, in other words, the national wealth, capable of being derived from the application of cold water, which is at present allowed to flow uselessly away, to the purposes of agriculture, is well wor thy the attention of the enlightened and benevolent statesman. In the neighbour hood of the cities of Milan and. Lodi, Mr. Young observes, that the exertions in ir rigation are truly great and even astonish ing. " Canals are not only numerous and utuntcrrupted, but conducted with great skill and expense. Along the public roads, ahnost every where, there is one canal on the side of the road, and some timestherearetwo. Crossones are thrown over these on arches, and pass in trunks of brick or stone under the road. A very
considerable one, after pa.ssing for seve ral miles by the side of the highway, sinks under it, and also under two other canals, carried in stone troughs a foot wide. The variety of directions in which the water is carried, the ease with which it is made to flow in opposite directions, and the ob stacles which are overcome, are objects of admiration. The expense thus em ployed in the twenty iniles from Milan to Lodi is immense ; and meritorious as ma ny undertakings in England are, they sink to nothing in comparison with these truly great and noble works. So well under stood is the value of water in this country, that it is brought by the farmer (who has the power of conducting it through his neighbour's ground, for a stipulatetl sum, and under certain regulations, to any, dis. tance that may suit him) from a canal ofa certain size, at so much an hour per week, and even from an hour down to a quarter, The usual price for an hour per week in perpetuity is fifteen hundred livres." Manure, E., c.
Ingenious theories have too often, in agricultural treatises, usurped the place of recitals of attentive and patient expe rience. To the latter, the judicious rea der will ever bend his attention with plea sure and advantage, rejoicing that, while the systems of men are seen to vanish, one after another, in rapid succession,ffike the waves of the ocean, the course of na ture is constant, and may be depended upon through all generations and ages. Of all the expenses incurred by the hus bandman, none so rarely- disappoints its object as that which he employs in ma nures. The use of lime in this connec tion has been long decidedly established. It reduces to mould all the dead roots of vegetables, with which the soil abounds. Its useful operation depends upon its in timate mixture with the land ; and the proper time therefore to apply it is, when both are in that pulverized state in which this union can be best completed. If left to be slaked by humid air, or casual rain, it is seldom perfectly reduced to powder. The proper method is, to place it in heaps on the ground on which it is intended to be spread, to slake it there with a due quantity of water, and after wards to cover it with sod, to preserve it from the rain. If long slaked, however, before it is spread, it runs into clots, and becomes less operative for its purpose ; besides which, it loses in such circumstan ces its caustic quality, on which account it should be brought home as short a time as possible before its intended application. Lime should not be permitted to lie all winter on the surface of the gmund after being spread, for a similar reason, as also because it is washed down into the fur rows ; and on the sides of hills the.whole is apt to be carried offby the minter tor rents. It should be spread, and mixed with the soil immediately before sowing. The quantity to be laid on depends upon the nature of the lands, which, if stnntg, will easily bear a hundred bolls per acre, while thin and gravelly ones will require only thirty or forty, and upon meadow ones fifty or sixty will be found sufficient.