The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1853-11-18

But most Of II falls dhrihg the seasons wher
least is wanted, and is suffered to run off t;
the rivers and the ocean, carrying very muci
of the best juices Of the soil along with it
when it should be retained in ponds and re-
servoirs to be pumped into barn-yards Of
drawn Off to irrigate the fields during the ferviC
heats Of summer. The apparent difficulty o.
doing this would vanish and the presumed ex.
pense be materially lessened on careful con.
sideration. . .. ..
know not that have trayersed any coun-
try with more lively interest than beautiful
picturesque Lombardy. The dark pail OF
Austrian despotism enveloping it did not suf-
fee to dim :,ts natural loveliness and lux
uriance, so greatly improved by the labor &
genius of Man. 1t seems to have grown in
to its system Of almost universal irrigation
by imperceptible and unmarked degrees, and
to be now producing double harvests annual
| ly as the result Of some ,fortui.ous impulse
rather than of foresight and deliberate calcu-
lation. The magnificent plain of Upper Italy,
which has for SO many centuries been the
| field of combat where Goth and Latin, Frank
and Hun, Gaul and German, have struggled
for the mastery of Europe, slopes almost i'm
perceptiby from the Alps to the Pc, and the
mpetuous torrents which tear the rocky sides
of the snow-crowned precipiccs are arrested
and chastened in blue Lakes which lie at the
foot Of the mountains, smiling serenely out
upon the plain. Thence :he waters proceed
with more gentle and measured cadence to
the great River, and are drawn off and stayed
from point to point to fill the irrigating canals
and ensure a rich reward to the husbandman's
labors. Let any stream from heavy rains be-
come raging, foaming, milky torrent, and
its waters have a value which the pure
element could not command, and are drawn
of on every side until the canals g. reservoirs
are filled and all danger of inundation pre-
cluded. Thus the waters are most valuable
for irrigation just when they are most easily
and abundantly obtainable for that purpose.
The water which, has irrigated one fertile
garden or field, far from being exhausted, has
been rendered more nourishing thereby, and
may now be drawn off to fertlize the next
field lying an inch or SO lower, and thence TO
the next. and so on to the river, enriching g.
gladdening all it touches on its way. Irriga-
tion is the life-blood of Lombardy; shall it be
nothing, teach nothing, to us!
If there be country on earth which one
would suppose irrigation unsui,ed to Great
Britain is that country. Her exceedingly
moist, cool climate, coupled with her compact,
clay subsoi (not universal, utvery. .extcnsive)
would seem to render deficiency Of moisture
one of the very last evils to be apprehended
or guarded against in her Agriculture. And
yet her best farmers are now embarkng
rapidly and extensively in Irrigation, finding
it practicable and immensely profitable. Not
in LombaHiy. is tsee pstusal flow of
the streams, in their descent 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 a
height whence it is carried by gravitation
through metallic and gutto-percha pipes to
every point where it is needed. Mr.. Mechi,
the ex-London merchant, who retired from
trade with a competency to earn another by
scientific farming, takes the lead in this ap-
plicaton, and his estimates of the increased
productiveness OF lands by reason of irrega-
ton and the profits thus secured would seem
wild to any audience unfamiliar with the sub
ject. may state, however, that he fixes the
expense of conveying his manures in liquid
form from his yard to every portion of his es-
tate as equivalent to one, penny sterling or
two cents per cartload--that is to say, the
fertilizing properties which were contained
in q tun of muck or compost are now con-
veyed to the soil that requires them at the
cost of one penny. That loading, teaming,
unloading and spreading il the old way must
have cost far more than this, you cannot
doubt; and beside; the fertilizing liquid, being
entirely free from seeds or weedy germs of
any kind, and in condition to be readily and
totally absorbed by plants, must be worth
twice as much as if applied in the old way.
Now consider that this load of manure has
been conveyed through and applied with many
tuns 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 irrigating
pipes at the cost of penny, must be worth
at least thrice as much as the same tun ap-
piled in the crude, solid state, at n cost of not
less than thrice that sum. But ! must not
dwell on details. You have the general idea,
and can follow it out at your leisure into all
its necessary results. -.., ..
iii. What the Sister Arts teach as to Ag-
rculture may be fairly summoned up in this
proposition: .F
THE WORKMAN SHOULD BE COMPLETELY
MASTER OF HIS MATERIALS AND HIS IMPLE-
MENrs. He should first thoroughly under
stand, in order that he may in the next place
thoroughly control, the elements from which
he is to evolve value and sustenance. He
who should undertake to build ship, in ig-
norance of the relative tenacity and resistance
to pressure of the various woods and metals,
would rush into pursuit for which he had
no capacity; so would he who should under.
take the running of a steam-engine in ignor-
ance of the nature and power of steam. Yet
the man who attempts to farm with an imper-
| feet knowledge of the nature and and proper
ties of Soils in general, of the laws of Vege-
tation, the qualities and pecularities OF
the particular soils whereof his farm is COM
posed and the cheapest means OF renovatng
and increasing their fertility and productive
| ness, stands on the same platform with the
| :s.ht anuinanr and hrOVns