The Greatest And Most Valuable Of All Improvements

George Alexander Cooke, in his Topographical And Statistical Description Of The County Of Wilts, published between 1802 and 1810, writes:

“There is, perhaps, no part of this kingdom where the system of watering meadows is so well understood, and carried to so great perfection, as in this district. This, which is so justly called by Mr Kent ‘the greatest and most valuable of all improvements,’ has been in general practice during the last century; and at present there is scarcely a river or brook in the district, that is not applied in some way or other to this purpose.”

“The first kind of Water-meadows is called in Wiltshire, ‘Catch-work Meadows;’ and the latter ‘Flowing Meadows.’ The latter are by far the most general in the district. The catch-water meadow is made by turning a spring, or small stream, along the side of a hill, and thereby watering the land between the New Cut (or, as it is provincially called, the Main Carriage) and the original water-course, which now becomes the ‘main drain.’ This is sometimes done in particular instances, merely by making the new cut level, and stopping it at the end, so that when it is full, the water may run out at the side, and flood the land below it. But as the water would soon cease to run equally for any great length, and would wash the land out in gutters, it has been found necessary to cut small parallel trenches, or carriages, at distances of 20 or 30 feet, to catch the water again; and each of these, being likewise stopped at its end, lets the water over its side, and distributes it until it is caught by the next, and so on, over all the intermediate beds, to the main drain at the bottom of the meadow, which receives the water, and carries it to water another meadow below; or, if it can be so contrived, another part of the same meadow on a lower level.”

“To draw the water out of these parallel trenches or carriages, and lay the intermediate beds dry, a narrow deep drain crosses them at right angles, at about every nine or ten pole’s length, and leads from the main carriage at top, to the main drain at the bottom of the meadow.”

“When this meadow is to be watered, the ends of the carriages adjoining the cross-drains are stopped with turf dug on the spot, and the water is thrown over as much of the meadow as it will cover well, at a time which the watermen call ‘a pitch of work;’ and when it is necessary to lay this pitch dry, they take out the turves, and let the water into the drains, and proceed to water another pitch.”

“This kind of water-meadow is seldom expensive; the stream of water being usually small and manageable, few hatches are necessary; and the land lying on a declivity, much less manual labour is required to throw the water over it regularly, and particularly to get it off again, than in the flowing meadows. The expence [sic] of making such a meadow is usually from three to five pounds per acre; the improvement, frequently from 15s. an acre, to at least 40s. The annual expence [sic] of keeping up the works, and watering the meadow, which is usually done by the acre, seldom so high as 7s. 6d. per acre.”

“Flowing Meadows require much more labour and system in their formation. The land applicable to this purpose being frequently a flat morass, the first object to be considered is, how the water is to got off, when once brought on; and in such situation this can seldom be done without throwing up the land in high ridges, with deep drains between them. A main carriage being then taken out of the river at a higher level, so as to command the tops of these ridges, the water is carried by small trenches or carriages along the top of each ridge, and, by means of moveable stops of earth, is thrown over on each side, and received in the drains below; from whence it is collected into a main drain, and carried on to water other meadows, or other parts of the same meadow below. One tier of these ridges being usually watered at once, is generally called ‘a pitch of work;’ and it is usual to make the ridges 30 or 40 feet wide; or, if the water is abundant, perhaps 60 feet, and nine or ten poles in length, or longer, according to the strength and plenty of the water.”

“The number of acres of land in this district, under this kind of management, has been computed, and with a tolerable degree of accuracy, to be between 15 and 20,000 acres.”

“The management of Water-meadows is as follows: As soon as the after-grass is eaten off as bare as can be, the manager of the mead (provincially, ‘the drowner’) begins cleaning out the main drain, then the main carriage, and then proceeds to ‘right up the works;’ that is, to make good all the water-carriages that the cattle have trodden in, so as to have one tier or pitch of work ready for ‘drowning;’ and which is then put under water (if water be plenty enough), during the time the drowner is righting up the next pitch. In the flowing meadows this work, is, or ought to be, done early enough in the autumn, to have the whole mead ready to catch, if possible, ‘the first floods after Michaelmas,’ the water being then ‘thick and good;’ being the first washing of the arable land on the sides of the chalk hills, as well as of the dirt from the roads, & c.”

“The length of this autumn watering cannot always be determined, as it depends on situations and circumstances; but if water can be commanded in plenty, the rule is to give it a ‘thorough good soaking at first, perhaps a fortnight or three weeks, with a dry interval of a day or two; and sometimes two fortnights, with a dry interval of a week; and then the works are made as dry as possible, to encourage the growth of grass. This first soaking is to make the land sink and pitch close together; a circumstance of great consequence, not only to the quantity, but to the quality of the grass, and, particularly, to encourage the shooting of the new roots, which the grass is continually forming to support the forced growth above.”

“While the grass grows freely, a fresh watering is not wanted, but as soon as it flags, the watering may be repeated for a few days at a time, whenever there is an opportunity of getting water, always keeping this fundamental rule in view: ‘to make the meadows as dry as possible between every watering;’ and to ‘stop the water the moment the appearance of any scum on the land shews that it has already had water enough.’ ”

“Some meadows that will bear the water three weeks in October, November, or December, will, perhaps, not bear it a week in February or March, and sometimes scarcely two days in April or May.”

“In the catch-meadows, watered by springs, the great object is to keep the ‘works of them’ as dry as possible between the intervals of watering; and as such situations are seldom affected by floods, and generally have too little water, care is necessary to make the most of the water, by catching and re-using it as often as possible; and, as the top-works of every tier or pitch will be liable to get more of the water than those lower down, care should be taken to give it to the latter a longer time, so as to make them as equal as possible.”

“It has already been said, that the great object in this district of an early crop of water-meadow grass, is to enable the farmer to breed early lambs.”

“As soon as the lambs are able to travel with the ewes (perhaps about the middle of March), they begin to feed the water-meadows. Care is, or ought to be taken, to make the meadow as dry as possible for some days before the sheep are let in.”

“The grass is hurdled out daily, in portions, according to what the number of sheep can eat in a day, to prevent their trampling the rest; at the same time leaving a few open spaces in the hurdles for the lambs to get through, and feed forward in the fresh grass.”

“One acre of good grass will be sufficient for 500 couples for a day.”

“On account of the quickness of this grass, it is not usual to allow the ewes and lambs to go into it with empty bellies, nor before the dew is off in the morning.”

“The hours of feeding are usually from 10 or 11 o’clock in the morning to about four or five in the evening, when the sheep are driven to fold; the fold being, generally, at that time of the year (as has been mentioned before), on the barley fallow; and the great object is to have the water-mead-grass sufficient for the ewes and lambs, till the barley-sowing is ended.”

“As soon as this first crop of grass is eaten off by the ewes and lambs, the water is immediately thrown over the meadows (at this time of the year, two or three days over ‘each pitch,’ is generally sufficient), and it is then made perfectly dry, and laid up for a hay-crop. Six weeks are usually sufficient for the growth of the crop. It seldom requires eight; and there have been instances of great crops being produced in five.”

“The hay of water-meadows, although large and coarse in nature, if cut young, and made well, has a peculiarly nourishing milky quality, either for ewes or dairy cows.”

“The cows remain in the meadows till the drowner begins to prepare for the winter watering.”

“Water-meadows are reckoned to be perfectly safe for sheep in the spring, even upon land that would rot sheep if it were not watered; but in the autumn the best water-meadows are supposed to be dangerous. This circumstance obliges the farmer to keep a few dairy cows to feed the water-meadows in autumn, and to provide artificial grasses or other green crops, for their sheep, during that period.”