New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-03-19
wHATIKNOW OF FARMING.
ny HORACE GREELEY.
,pK,GATION-MEANS AND ENp'.
XII.

~ for
CROWNS Pc" lie presented itself TO the i"i'n-
ti1hes, '''' ~ ,,y Of him o practical soiutou'
- Is, o,a keep il free oil suPoi""'''' ~
N''" ~ - Tenant water, he may Vi may A''
|'po''"''' .oossitv. but that, having pioNiueu io'
5i,,;,,c quay whatever Is eAces'''' " ;I .La.
~, corner and begin al ONE ~ .'s 80
So st.u be supplied TO DIS h,,u' '''u -"
%"noycr they may need IT, he Is oi..n 'lo" w or
--sbend Yet this piO''s'o" 80
ana .ross Europe to Venice, and noted with
n'' .ta admirable effective irrigation of tho
lutci0' y g Tombarly. before | could call any land
s''". l I saw there region perhaps thirty miles
'"y ~, no one hundred and fifty along the east bank
ttbe po rising very gently thence to the loot OF tue
Austrian Alps. which Providence seems TO nave
;,ll,. odapted 10 be improved by irrigation. The
.,.,o,+e of melted snow which in Spring leap and
Gam adov.n the southern face of the Alps ofihgiug
itb them the finer PARTICLES of soil. are suddenly
arrested and form lakes (Garda, MaggioIe' Como
Scl lust rs they emerge upon the pam ihesc
rotes slowly rising, often overflow their banks
with those Of the small rivers that bear th' waters
westward to the 20; and this overflow was ha'nrai
sn,ce of abiding fertility. To dam these Outlets
"a tins control their currents, was very simple
aud obyiou, device of long ago and was ProoaoS
begun hy very few individuals VI ny
more than Onel. whose success mci'." 'n
ulation. until the present extensive ana cosby
system of irrgating dams and canals was eIa"uohs
1eyeIopcd When | tmyused LomDaIdy III JulS'
ISL the beds of streams naturally aS large ~ 'o
Pemigc,yasSet Battonklll. Canada Creek Oh mum
oldt v,r. utterly dry; the water which would nat
I'll, how. .lo,yed therein being wholly transferred
rri,,tiog canal Tor Ia canals often two or three
IL distant The reservoirs thus created were
1ued IN Spring when the streams were fullest ana
their water richest. and gradually drawn upon
through, ut the later growing season TO cover me
carefully Icyeled and graded fields on either SIDE To
the depth OF an inch or two at time II any ialicd
20 be soon absorbed by the soil 1t was drawn OH as
here suprriuous and added TO the current employed
30 mosten and fertiEze the field next below IT. and
20 field AFTER field was refreshed and enriched TO the
.busbandtran's satisfaction and profit. 1t may be
sbat the lch gaies OF English Lancashire bear
heavier average crops but those of Lombardy are
rarely c,cellcd on the gobr.
why should not our Atlantic slope have its LOm-
bardy: Utah, Nevada. and California, exhibit raw,
crude Suggestions of such a system; but Why
should ihc irrigation Of the New World be confined
t. regions where 1t is Indispensable, when that of the
odd J., not. ] know no good reason whatever for
leaving AN American field unirrigated where water
o. flow % ut viii can be had at a moderate cost.
When [ FIST bought land lin 1859 fully pur-
posed TO provide for irigating my nearly level
acres Al viii. and | constructed two dams across
INV upland stream with that view; but they were so
badly planned that they went OFF in the Hood caused
J,y a tremendous rain the next SPRING and though
xobult one Of them, submitted to miscalculation
which provided for taking the water 10y means of
eyphon out of the pond at the top and over the
bank that fifteen or twenty feet above the sur
face of the water. OF course, air would work
iuto the pipe after it had carried a stream nneXcep-
fonaby for two or three days, and then the water
Il lad fuEp ~ bOt
tom OF The pond through my DAM it would have run
foreycr tor 50 long as there water covering Its
inlet in the pond; > but bad engineering flung me;
and have never since had the heart IOI The meansl
u revise and correct its errors.
NV next attempt Was a much humber scale,
and engineered il myself Toward the north end
of my farm the hillside which rises east OF my low
land is broken by swale or terrace, which gives Inc
three or four acres of tocably level upland, along
the upper edge of which five or six springs, which
never wholly fail burst from the rocks above and
unite 10 form petty runuc which dries up in very
hot OF dry weather but which usually preserved
Any stream 60 be lost in theswamp below. North oil
the gu ~ cut down the lower hillside by tins stream
Jet the hillside of some three acres is quite steep
etll partially wooded, and wholly devoted to pasfur-
aye. Making petty dam across tins runnel at the
top OF the lower ACTIVITY, turned the stream aside
$50 that it should hencefOrth run along the crest oil
this lower hll falling of gradually SO as to secure
free current and losing its contents at III
tervals through variable dopTessions IN its
lower bank. Dam and artificial wafer
course together cost me $50 which was about twice
what il should have been. That rude and petty CON
1riyaucc has now been ten years in operation, and
may have cost s. per annum for oversight ana
repairs. lis effect has been TO double the grass
9rowD ON The two acres it constantly iTigates for
which paid $<oJ or more than thrice the cost Of my
Srriglfon Hnt more: MY hillside while ii was
we'll gIassed in Spring, always gave out directly
after the Grst dry hot week so that, when most
needed feed, it afforded none; its heritage being
1arched up and dead and thus remaining till refreshed
by generous rains. judge therefore, that my iTrI.
cation has more than doubled the product OF those
1wo acres and that these likely TO lose nothing
IN yield Of value long that petty irgating ditch
eha0 DC maintained.
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