The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1853-10-24
bouniifd1 picturesque Lombardy. The dark


suffice to dim It's natural loneliness and lux
ur!ance, 50 greatly improved by the labor pni
genious OF Man. II seems 20 have gr,..n
into its system Of almost universal Irrigation
by infperreptible and unmarked degrees, and
to be now producing double harvests annually
as the result o, some lortuitous impulse ra,h n
than of foresight an deliberate calculation.
The magnificent plain Of Upper Italy, which
has for 8, many centuries been the field of
colnbat where Goth and Latin, Frank and
Hun, Gaul and German. have struggled for
the mastery of Europe, slopes almost irnper-
ceptibly from the Alps the p, and the
impetuous torrents which ear the rocky
sides OF the snow-crowned precipices ar.
arrested and chasteped in the blue Lakes
which lie at tn loot Of The mountains, snil-
ing sereneIy out upon the plain. Thence the
waters proceed with a more g nile and meas.
ured cadence to the great River, and are
drawn off and stayed from point to point to
II the irrigating canals and ensure rich re-
ward to the husbandman's labors. Let any
stream rom heavy rains become a raging,
ioaming. milky torrent, and its waters have a
value which the pure element could not ~om-
mand, and are drawn of Oh every side until
'he canals and reservoirs are flied and all
danger OF indndati u precluded. Thus the y A.
tiers are most valuable for irrigation lust when
they are most easily and al undan,ly obtaina.
BILE for that purpose. The water which has ,rri
one fertile garden or field, far from being *.
hausted, has been rcnjered more nour,sh shin,
! thereby, and may now be drawn off to ,er,il.
ize the next Ge'd lying an inch SD lower.
thence to the next, and 80 on TO the river
enriching and gladdening all it touches OH its
way. Irrigation is the Iii,-blood vi L,mhar.
dy; shall it be nothing, teach n"lhing to us!
l. there be n country on earth which one
would suppose irrigation unsdlted TO. Great
/ Britain is that country. Her exeeedingl1
Inoist, cool climate, coupled 18th her COM
pact, clay subsoi mot universe, bu, very ex-
tersive) world seem to render deficiency
Of moisture one Ut the very last evils to be
unprecedented or guraded against in her A gri-
culture. And yet her best farmers are now
ehbsrking rapidly usdex.ensively In lrriga-
.ivn, Ending i, practicaslc- and nnm', sesy
profitable. Not here, as in LombarJy, is The
natural flow OF tire streairs, in their desc. nj
from the hills To the rivers, relied on but great
pumps are employed, raising water by steam
or other power from rivers, brooks and ponds,
To height whence il is carried by grayation
through metallic and gutta- percla pipes to
every point where il 10 needed. Mr.. Mechi,
the ex- London merchant, who retired from
.vade with competence 10 earn another by
scientific farming, takes the lead in this sp
plicatiun, aud his estimates OF the increased
lproduc,iveness of lands by reasons of iryiga-
ton aud the profits thus secured would seem
wild to any audience unfamiliar with the sub
feet. / may state, however, tina, he fiNes the
expense Of on, eying his manures in liquid
fr 10 Va ri To- inp f,f
equivalent TO one penny sterling or two
ceu's per c9rtload--;hit is to say, the fertil-
izing properties which were contained in a
tun Of muck or compost are now sonyey ed
To the soil that requires them at the cvst oil
one penny. That loade1ing, t..aryirg. IN
loading and spreading in the Old way mus,
have cost FAR more than this, You canno:
doubt: and beside, the feriiIizipg liquid, being
entirely fr e from sec s or .edy germs oil
any k,,.d, and in a condition to be readily
and totally absorbed by plants. must be worth
twice as much us if applied in the old way.
Now consider that this load o: manure has
been conveyed through and applied with
many tons OF water, just when the soil is most
thirsty, and the plants most needy, and you
can readily Judge that the tun of manure dis.
solved in water and applied through irrigat-
ng pipes at the cost of penny, must be-
worth at least thrice much the same tun
applied in the crude, solid state at cost vi
not less than thrice that sum. But I must
not dwell on details. You have the genera
idea, and can follow it out at your leisure in
to all its necessary results.
iii. What the Sister Arts teach as TO Agri-
culture, may be fair y summed up in this pro-
position: sslr 4rl
! The WORKMAN SHOULD BE COMPLETELY MAS
TER OF HIS MATE.IAL AND HIS IMPLEMENTS. He
should first trorouI nly und 'r.tand, in order
! that ne may in the next place thoroughly con-
troll the elements from which he is to evolve
v lue and sustenance. He who should un-
dertake 10 build -bip, in ignorance of the
relative tenacify and resistance to pressure Of
the various woods and metals, would rush IL
to pursuit for which he had no capacity;
SO would be who should undertake the run
ming OF a st. am engine in ignorance OF the
nature and power of steam. Yet the man
who attempts to farm with an imperfect
knowledge Of the nature and properties of
Soils in general, OF the laws Of Vegetation,
the qualities a nd pccuiiarities Of the partic-
uur soils whereof his farm is composed, and
the cheapest means OF rem. waiting their iertil-
| ity and producr, eness, stands on the same
platform with the ignUr mt shipwrght or en-
| gineer. and braves like disasters. whereof the
i; rgest sha e will naturally fall to himself
and his family. Agriculture is a pursuit SO
vast IN its scope, So various in it's processes
and objects, thai it ~ difficult to lay down a
general rule in regard tn il that will admit Of
no exceptions; yet win ventur to PROFOUND
one which is follows: "rhe cultivation
whose farm ID not more valuable and NOR.
productive than on, result of each years til.
iage, does not unders'a'd his vocation, and
ought 10 learn it or quit it." s