Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1872-09-30

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be modified. Here are two strips of
rich, arabic soil, with a swampy inter-
vale separating them. Drain that eff
hclently, and you have a field of fifteen
OF twenty acres, all of which may be
this year in potatoes, next year in corn,
then IN oats, and then laid down in
grass, or cropped in whatever rotation
experience may suggest. If the arabic
felds OF this state were thus enlarged,
by the sweeping away of fences, the re-
moval of superficial rocks, and draining
OF bogs, until ten to forty acres might
be gwen to one crop, instead of patch
OF one to five acres as at present, she
j Ua aietstssroW lar Inore gram, ana TO
gfeauer profit. than is r.-.Aa---
Let ne indicate few more points at
which Improvement seems to me feasible
and comnendable -
l, IrrWatiom.-This, the original ba-
sis and ineitement of tillage, is, in my
view, one tf its later requirements also.
God taught men to prepare the earth
and sow seel by setting them the ex.
ample in the annually inundated valleys
of the lower Nile and other rivers.
From this to damming back water and
thus keeping it for application to the
soil when thirsty, is but step yet
man was long in taking that step. At
present the great plain of Lombardy or
upper Italy, sloping from the Alps to
the Po, and crossed by the Adige, Min
clio, and many smaller tributaries, af-
fords the best subsisting example of
comprehensive, successful irrigation !;
though Utah follows at some distance,
and Colorado is following rather timidly
in Utah's footsteps. That irrigation is
desirable in itself, no ore doubts the
practical question to be answered is,
; "Will it pay = On this point, l prof.
er some suggestions based on extensive
observation and some little experience: ::
Follow any of the streams that start
near the crest of the Green Mountains
, down to the Connecticut on the one
, hand, or to Lake Champlain or the Hoo
l sac on the other, and you will note many
places where water might be taken out,
< by the help of a cheap dam or ditch,
r and conducted along a hillside or across
5 a swale or valley so as to be gradually
| let eff in rills or petty rivulets to moist
en- and fertilize the slope between it and
a the stream whence it was taken. Very
I1utle OF IL WouIu reICu t.~-------~.vIi
as the thirsty earth would drink it uE
G by the way. l estimate that of the to-
/ tai area of this state. 100000 acres i'm
: mediately, 100000 ultimately, NIGH
: thus be irrigated at an average cost o
= $40 per acre and with an average in
# crease of their annual product by a
h least So per acre, or an interest on tn
l. investment of % per cent. There ar
o doubtless gold mines in Utah or Color
p ado, as there possibly may be damon,
1t mines in Arizona that would pay bette
e interest than this, but | should prefe
lie not to designate them. In fact, l d
d not know another enterprise which seem
er to me so certain to yield large prof
or as that of irrigating the hillsides an
D. intervales of this same Vermont.
lg Almost any one who has on his far1
De even the smallest streamlet with COL
N siderable fall in it may experiment i
irrigation ON small scale, as | hay
tn done, and satisfy himself that it pay
en- before proceeding farther You do NJ
n need an engineer; if you had one,
IN could not make the water run up hill
ed whereas it will run down hill at vol
so solicitation as readily as though yo
of were the best engineer on earth. If VIC
by try to make it run up hill, it will pro,
rs, obstinate; respect nature and her Law
to and you will find her trusty servant al
d. friend. Your own observation will SOC
ID tell you where you can most easily da
nd your stream so as to have considerab
n body of water in spring and rainy weat
Die er, in order to have it ready for appl
it cation when needed, and how you C;
nd lead it off so as to irrigate the large
ny area at moderate cost. Begin by irl
be eating two or three acres, and you W
on be satisfied that you can do mo
er- and still more, until all your land viii
,an lies lower than the highest point
ta- which you can fill a reservoir shall
av- occasionally refreshed by the vivifyi
he appliance.
in Irrigation necessarily fertilizes.
in saves to the land much of the nouri;
Vi ing juices that would naturally pass {
tile especially in times of thaw or flood,
one be squandered upon rivers, bays and
ook ocean. [ doubt that any irrigated fl
for is less fertile, or less productive tod
Our than it was on the morning of creati
y Ultimately, we shall supplement
5 | flow of our streams by digging wells
mer the highest point in a large swale
his plain and placing self-acting wi
rie, mill over each, shall set it to pump
low up water by night or by day when W
2" serves, into shallow reservoir by
p?' side, whence, after being thoroug
t in warmed by the sun, it will be gradu;
,,,ld drawn AWAY to ir,.ina ta the field or fif