Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1871-11-29
BLACK FOREST IRRIGATION.
aDescription of the system.

A Description of the System.
The traveller on the Baden Railway
passes between Heidelberg and Basic, a
dairy country almost unrivalled for
beauty and luxury Of pasturage. The
dark wooded mountains of the Black
Forest on one side and the widespread
ing Rhine on the other, the pretty vii
lagos, the vineyards and the well-kept
farms make picture that has been
sung and painted for years. Leaving
the landscape to be described by better
pens, let me tell you something con-
corning the means by which these
splendid meadows have been kept in
such good condition for so many years.
From the car window one sees that
the fields are everywhere intersected by
open bitches. Not deep, weedy, moi
some ditch, in the English fashion, but
small narrow troughs cut through the
land. The grass grows close up to the
edge, and hangs over the impid stream
of water flowing throughit Occasion
ally larger ditch or canal is passed.
Most of these water-courses are full OF
clear running water. Wherever the
railway or the fine country roads pass
these artificial brooks, stone bridges
are erected At intervals wooden dams
or gates cross the bitches to control the
flow or direct it to the various fields.
All the water seems to be flowing from
the Black Forest, westerly, towards the
Rhine
The American traveller at first sight
imagines that these constructions are
made for the purpose of getting rid of
II, - P71t univ thncn
wooden gates everywhere If the chan
nels are to carry the water away, why
retard it's flow ? A further inspection
makes it plain that these extensive
works are for irrigation not to get rid
| of the water but to save it have these
these patient: Germans mapped out
their country with these miles of water
courses.
One OF the most striking features of
| German scenery is the absence of trees
Except on the mountains, woods, in an
American sense, there are none. Long
years ago, the same plumbers we are
now committing deprived the land of
its forests, dried up its springs and
changed its climate. Now the springs
and brooks are only to be found in the
mountains. Water has become an ar
ticle of commercial value. Every brook
that flows from under the shadows
of the Black Forest is pri-
yate or corporate property.
is chained up, and made to
flow through these bitches. Very lit
tie of the water reaches the Rhine
From the main canals it flows into
smaller ones; then into the narrow
troughs, and lastly spreads in a thin
sheet over the grass in countless mead
ows. Everywhere along its course it is
tapped and turned aside to flow over
the farms. AS it goes it is divided
among many people, becoming less and
| less till all is consumed. The wooden
gates turn it aside, or act as dams to
cause it to overflow where the thirsty
grass greedily sucks it up.
Everything seems III perfect order
and ready for instant use. Should
long rain storms swell the streams,
ample provisions exsist for the remov-
al of the surplus. Should drouth
come on, every drop can be husbanded,
and when the parching fields demanp
it water can be supplied in abundance
| Damaging frosts can be guarded
against by sheet of flowing water
spread over the tender young plants5at
the critical moment. More than all.
the fields are maintained in perpetual
fertility and the meadows made to Weld
annual crops of grass by top dressing
of water.
The value of the common spring or
brook water as a fertilizing agent is not
understood by our farmers. How many
New England farms are baked into I'M
profitable barrenness every summer
with valuable brook running to waste
past the dusty fields The farmer be-
means the dry season and lets the
wealth bearing water flow away Tnno-
ticed. Many a now worthless farm, in
the hands of these Badeners and Ba-
varians, would sustain great drcves of
Attorneys and shorthorns.
Irrigation alone can save many Of ouT
farms from total loss. It is no longer a
doubtful experiment; simple spring
water contains plant-food. The Black
Forest brooks are Gmpid, and yet they
each sustain whole square miles of
meadows. In Eastern New England we
have plenty of water running red and
brown through our soil and under our
woods, that, spread in catch-water
meadows, would bear tons of grass,
where now the wild sorrel has a hard
fight to live. Generally these life-giving
brooks flow past our farms and are lost
in the sea, while the farmer stands on
their banks bemoaning his bad luck
and preparing to put Oh another mort
gage.