132
AGKICUbTURE ON THE RHINE.
what assists the miner, or serves as fodder for beasts of
burthen.
The water-meadows are now systematically laid down
in three different manners according to the slope the
ground commands, and the abundance or scarcity of
water. The engineers are usually the peasants of the
neighbourhood, who by practice have acquired great skill.
The surveying instruments may be seen in their houses
in all the villages, and the precision with which their
levels are taken and the flow of water promoted is not
a little surprising. The three modes consist in ter-
raced beds, and in broad and narrow beds with an ele-
vated ridge in the middle. The following are the direc-
tions given by the Oberforster Vorlander. The chief
canal should be carried as high above the level of the
meadow to be irrigated as possible. Where circumstances
do not favour the laying down of the canal at a sufficient
elevation, and the soil is too soft to allow of the construc-
tion of a high dam without great expense, the level of the
meadow may be lowered sufficiently to answer the purpose.
It must be kept in mind, that by constant watering the
level of the meadow is raised in time, for the soil swells in
consequence of the accumulation of roots and the addition
of particles of humus, as well as from the depth to which
vegetation is promoted. When the surface reaches the
level of the water-course from which it is irrigated, it
becomes necessary to break up the meadow and to lower
its surface.
The mode adopted either to alter the level or to regu-
late the unequal surface of a meadow, is not to plough
up the ground and crop it with corn or potatoes, although
one would expect to obtain rich returns, especially of
AGRICULTURE ON THE RHINE.
133
oats, from a lay of 16 or 20 years’ standing. The sods on
the surface are pared off with a peculiar kind of narrow
spade (Fig. 6, p. 139) 2 feet 2⅜ inches deep. Strips are
previously cut in the surface with the axe, and the strips
when rolled up are carried on a stick passed through the
middle of the roll. One man usually marks the strips,
two pare them from the surface, and a fourth rolls them
up. These rolls are recommended in the place of square
or oblong cuttings ; amongst other advantages they insure
a sufficient quantity of sod to cover the field when it is
levelled. If the turf be cut off in small pieces, the quan-
tity often proves somewhat deficient. The beginning is
generally made with those parts of the meadow which
being highest have the greatest quantity of ground to
spare, and with those which are hollow and require
filling up. The turf being removed the ground below is
dug up and carried from the one to the other. Care is,
however, taken by good meadowers not to carry away the
soil that lies immediately under the turf-paring. Of this
a portion is reserved to form the bed on which the turf
is to be relaid. The ground transferred from one place
to another is taken from the subsoil, unless the good
ground be very deep. When the level of the whole
meadow has to be lowered, the stuff taken from the sub-
soil that becomes useless must be carted and thrown away.
Where the surface, at a sufficient depth under the
chief water-course, still offers a fall of ⅛th of the length of
the meadow, and there is plenty of water, the meadow’
is laid down in what at Siegen is called the terrace-mode
of irrigation (Hangbau).
If the slope is less and there are marshy spots the
meadow is laid dowτn with narrow’ ridges.