Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-03-04

We find the following interesting article
in the Boston Journal of Chemistry:
Owing t. the increasing dryness of our
summers, farmers will be forced once more
to irrigate their meadow lands. This was a
very common practice in former times,
and on almost any old farm traces may be
found of the bitches and dams, which were
used for Giverting the water from its natur
al course. The introduction of timothy
and clover as forage crops obviated the
necessity of paying much attention to the
Weld of native grasses, and the dams We're
allowed to become broken and the bitches
filed up. While it is very convenient
to employ a skilled engineer to lay out lev
els and construct system of bitches and
dams, the expense is greater than most
farmers are willing to invest in such works
But almost any farmer, by aid of Il simple
level which he can construct for himself,
can lay out his own bitches, and few days
labor will enable him to double his hay
crop To construct the level, two pieces
of board, an inch and Il half wide by three
fourths of an inch thick and ten feet long.
are fastened together at one end by rivet; ;
the other ends are then placed so that they
form IN inverted V, the legs of which
should be Just g. feet apart. A cross bar
about ten feet long is then riveted on to
these legs in such Il maner as to form an A
out of the V. Place this upright on a level
floor, and attach a string on the apex of
the A, and hang piece of lead weighing
about pound on the lower end of the
string, in such a manner that it hangs
within six inches of the ground; mark
where the string crosses the bar, then re-
verse the A, placing one foot where the
other was, and again mark the place where
the string crosses the bar. These two
marks should coincide; if they do not the
floor is not level, and one end of the \
must be raised by putting a thin piece OF
board under it. When the Il or has been
SO adjusted that the level can be reversed
and the line always crosses the bar ut the
same point, place a block an inch thick
I'm er one leo of the level and mark where
the line crosses the bar, and then place one
two inches thick under the same leg. and
so on until five or six have been thus placed
and the position of the line plainly marked.
/ Perform the same operation with the other
! Leo You will then have light and pOr-
| table instrument with which you can lay IA
ditch perfectly vel, or give it an inclina-
ton of one, two, three, or more inches to
the rod. To use it, place one leg on Il
stake at the level to which you can raise
the water in your dam, and then bringing
the other to such a height that the string
| Just CT sses the mark which gives the right
fall for the ditch, swing it aronnd till just
strikes the ground; drive in stake there,
and adjust it so that the top is just at the
right level. then set the first LEG on this
stake, and proceed in the same manner
until the ditch has been CARRIED the re
quired distance. In order to open the
ditch, run plow so that it just grazes the
lower edge of these stakes; Il very little
work with shovel will now finish the
ditch. A very common mistake in such
work is building the dam too large. 1t
should be built as small as possible, putting
it as near the source of the stream rs it
can be well done, as the only object Of the
dam is to divert the water from its natural
channel We have seen bitches in Color
RADIO that were constructed in this manner
that were miles in length. If the distance
is too great between the ditch and the bed
of the stream, or if the hill is too steep,
one or more parallel bitches may be run
at lower levels, these serving to redistrib-
ute the water. At any point at which it
is desired to use the water, a temporary
dam is placed across the ditch, thus over
flowing it and allowing the water to run
over the land One inch fall in every rod
will generally be found quite sufficient.