X.-On Mr. Bickford's Method of Irrigation. From Mr. ARCHER. To Mr. Pusey. SIR, I HAVE just seen Mr. Bickford, who tells me that he has recently returned from Pusey, where he has been employed by you to introduce his new system of irrigation, and that you are desirous of receiving the opinion of its success from any who have put the system in practice. I should premise that, having a good deal of water meadow, or land capable of being watered, the water also being of excellent quality, issuing from the trap rock, I had previously turned a good deal of attention to the subject of irrigation; and some years ago laid out at some expense about 20 acres of my lawn on the "drop system," then supposed to be the most approved method. With this, however, after one winter's experience, I was thoroughly dissatisfied. It did not allow for heavy gushes of water from rain, &c., and was a cumbersome business, requiring an attendant constantly on the spot to regulate it. I then partially obviated the "gushing" evil, by cutting, as in Mr. Bickford's system-" watering" gutters, taken out of and parallel to the "carrying " gutters; but the slovenliness arising from the want of the even distribution of water as effected by his system, and the consequent requisite "looking after" the man in charge of the water meadows, proved such a constant source of discomfort and annoyance, that I had nearly determined in the present winter not to incur even the expense of cleaning up my gutters, when I read Mr. Bickford's article. On carefully perusing this, I was satisfied he had furnished to the Journal a very valuable article, and accordingly I went to Crediton to see Mr. Bickford, and visit in his company some of the meadows laid out on his system, the result of which was so conclusive to my mind, that I engaged him to come to me in November last, and experiment upon a small 2-acre meadow contiguous to my farmyard, reserved for weakly lambs in the spring, but which had never been irrigated, through fear of the lambs tumbling into the large gutters used under the old system. Half a wet winter's afternoon sufficed to cut the gutters with the plough used by him after being dialled out; and the water being laid on, distributed itself beautifully and evenly over the surface. It was interesting to watch the horizontal gutters gradually filling and discharging themselves, while at the same time a slight weep" would be just perceptible in the vertical gutters, insen sibly enlarging itself into a little stream, which, falling into the horizontal gutter next below, again filled that, and so on, until the whole slope was under water. The result has been surprising, converting a somewhat dry hungry meadow into a little oasis. It being obvious that a system so simply and entirely practical, which commanded success on a small scale, must answer equally to any extent, I proceeded to apply it to about twenty acres more, the result of which was equally happy; and, from the approbation the system has elicited from the many practical farmers who have come to witness the operation, I have no doubt of its becoming generally in use in this neighbourhood in another winter. Indeed, Mr. Bickford has been since employed on a contiguous estate (that of Mr. Rodd, of Trebartha Hall), so satisfied was the bailiff of that gentleman-an intelligent though somewhat prejudiced agriculturist-of the superiority of the system. Its merits may be briefly stated to be-an even distribution of the water, realising the long-desired acme of perfection in watering, viz., that you should be able to walk over the land without wetting your feet. It applies equally to a large or small stream, because, by removing the stops in the upright gutters, you can water (acting upon Mr. Bickford's advice, always to water in vertical and never in lateral sections) to the extreme or any part desired of such section. It can be effected at about half the expense of the old system; and last, not least-an especial recommendation to tenant farmers-requires but little superintendence. I should remark that, though it would be highly desirable to secure Mr. Bickford's services on first introducing his system into a new district, yet it is so simple, that any old "gutterer would acquire the system sufficiently in a week to be able to carry it out well enough for all practical purposes. Certain ingenuity appears to be required, as well as practice, for cutting the vertical gutters, but a few failures (and the consequences of failures are so perceptible when the water is laid on, and so easily remedied by the readiness with which the sods, being cut with a die, and therefore fitting exactly, may be transferred from one gutter to another) will soon put a man of common intelligence in full possession of the system. Mr. Bickford fully concurred with me in objecting to watering from the leading-in or carrying gutter, with a view to saving land by avoiding a second gutter. The latter should be always the *Mr. Bickford and Mr. Ellis have irrigated some meadows for me apparently with great success last winter, of which I hope to give some account in a succeeding Journal.-PH. PUSEY. running way of the water, and, where the stream is small, I should recommend each watering gutter to be just the length of each vertical section. With old "gutterers" there is an adage, "The more gutters the more grass;" and I cannot properly irrigate without the second gutter. am confident you On one point we are at issue: he prefers to irrigate with water fresh from the spring, whereas I greatly prefer a pond, conceiving that stagnation and exposure to sun and air has a tendency to soften and mellow the water, although it may be true that it is only the surface of the pond which is so exposed. Finally, I would say that, although Mr. Bickford does not claim the merit either of the discovery of the system or the implements he uses (the A level will be found delineated at the end of vol. i. of British Husbandry, there denominated a "rafter level "), yet he is entitled to the credit of having, by adaptation and application of those implements, "worked out" a system of the most signal advantage, from its simplicity and efficacy, to every man who has a bit of water-meadow on his estate. He has only further to consummate the benefit he has conferred on the irrigator, by teaching him how to consume the grass to the best advantage; and, on suggesting this to him, I was glad to find he was turning his attention to the subject. From November to March is a long time for the farmer to afford his land to remain unstocked with sheep; and, as our heaviest rains usually fall in the west of England from November to Christmas, this period is, of course, most favourable for the process of irrigation; in fact, in this district our grass grows naturally up to December, and often later. Farmers, therefore, generally make a practice of eating the "bite" thereby produced at once, which they say they may as well do as "allow the frost to eat it :" the consequence of which is, that, as the waters fail after Christmas, a second bite can hardly be got on for the time when it is most required, viz., in March, for the ewes and lambs. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, EDWARD ARcher. Trelaske, near Launceston, 12th March, 1853. |