ART. VIII. A Treatise on Watering Meadows.

Wherein are fhewn fome of the many Advantages arifing from that Mode of Practice, particularly on coarfe, boggy, or barren Lands. With Four Copper-plates. 8vo. 2 s. 6d. Printed for the Author, and fold by Almon. 1780.

HE practice of making water-meadows, one of the most beneficial and lafting improvements, where the fituation of the ground will admit of it, that can poffibly be adopted, is at prefent chiefly confined to the Weft of England. Of late years, indeed, it has been extended, in fome few inftances, to other parts of the kingdom; particularly to Halifax in Yorkfhire, where land, that in its uncultivated ftate was of very trifling value, has been improved by this method fo as to fetch a higher rent than any other grounds in that neighbourhood. It is much to be lamented that a practice, replete with fo many advantages, fhould not be more general. There are few diftricts in the kingdom that might not in fome degree or other be benefited by it. One circumftance, which poffibly may have retarded its progrefs, has been the want of fome inteiligent guide to direct the procefs, and to explain the principles upon which the neceflary works are to be conftructed. This excufe, however, can now no longer be pleaded. Whatever information may be neceffary in this bufinefs, feems to be amply fupplied in the work before us. The Author, Mr. George Bofwell, appears to be a fenfible understanding man, who writes, which cannot be faid of all our de re rufticâ authors, about what he really is acquainted with. Whoever has land capable of being converted into water-meadows, though it were but a fingle acre, will do well to read the prefent treatife. That our Readers may know what lands will admit of the improvement here recommended, we fhall give them an extract from that part of the work which treats of lands capable of being watered.

All lands, which lie low and near the banks of rivulets. brooks and fprings, are capable of being watered, wherever the water is already higher than the lands, and kept within its courfe by the banks. If the rivulet, &c. have a very quick defcent, the improvement by watering will be very great, and the expences fmall, for the greater the defcent, the quicker the improvement. In all level lands the water runs flowly, which in general is the cafe alfo in large rivers; therefore but little land can be flooded by them, in comparison of what may be by fmaller ftreams. But whenever large rivers run rapidly, are capable of being controuled, and can be brought over the abjacent lands, the advantage is far greater than can be obtained from rivulets.

The water in large rivers is generally the most fruitful, for more land floods falling into them, they are fatter, and confequently more enriching to the meadows; but in many parts of the kingdom, where

the

the great rivers are navigable, or have mills erected upon them,* thefe are capital objections to the perfect improvement of the contiguous lands. By fmall rivulets and fprings ufually the moft land may be watered, and certainly with the least expence.

The various forts of foils to be found near the banks of rivers, brooks, &c. may all be reduced under the three following heads: First, A gravelly, or found, warm, firm, fandy foil, or, which often happens, a mixture of fuch, or indeed almost any foil that partakes of fuch qualities.

Thefe foils, when there happens to be a defcent from the river, make an almoft inftantaneous improvement; the faster the water runs over thefe foils the better. "Should there happen, fays Blythe, to be a quantity of land that comes under this defcription, not one moment's hefitation fhould be made about the fuccefs, for the advantage is the greatest that can be obtained by any mode of husbandry, with the least expence, and the greatest degree of certainty."

Second, Boggy, miry, and rufhy foils (which always are found by the banks of rivers, where the land lies pretty level) are certainly to be greatly improved; perhaps equally fo with the other already defcribed, when the value of each in their unimproved itate is confidered; for this fort of land is fcarcely worth any thing in that ftate; but by being properly watered, may be made to produce a large quantity of hay that will winter, and greatly forward horned cattle; although in its uncultivated form, it would not maintain any kind of flock all the winter, and but very little in the fummer months. It must be observed, that to bring this fort of land into a proper flate, much more expence and judgment is neceffary, than in the former.

Third, Strong, wet, cold, clay foils are the most difficult to be improved, as well from their fituation, which is mostly a dead level, as from their tenacity, which will not admit of draining, but with great expence, much care and attention, and even then, unless a trong body of water can be procured to throw over them, and that from a river, whofe water is fruitful, little advantage will be reaped; but whenever thofe advantages can be had in the winter, and a warm fpring fucceeds, the crops of grafs upon these lands are immenfe.

• Rivulets and brooks are the ftreams that can be used to the greatest advantage, because the expence of erecting wares across them, will not be great, neither are there any of those objections to which large rivers are liable; befides, if they run through a cultivated country, the land floods, occafioned by violent rains, bring a very large quantity of manure, fuch as chalk water, fheeps dung, and the training of the arable fields, as well as the fcourings of the roads and ditches, the runnings of the farm-yards, the drains and finks from the towns and villages; all of which are otherwile carried, by the rains, into the leffer, and from thence into the larger Atreams, and are totally loft to the farmer.'

After pointing out fome very important advantages to be derived from water-meadows, fuch as increafing the quantity of winter-food, and confequently the quantity of manure for the

ufes

ufes of the farm, &c. he takes notice of what we think the most important advantage of all, which is, the guarding against the danger of a dry fummer, where the lands are fo fituated, that they can be watered at any feason.

It is inconceivable, what twenty-four hours water properly conveyed over the lands will do, in fuch feafon; a beautiful verdure will arife in a few days, where a parched, rufty foil could only be feen; and one acre will then be found to maintain more stock than ten would before. The peculiar benefit of fuch feed at fuch time, let those farmers eftimate, who have experienced a dry fummer with a large flock, and no meadows. A third advantage muft not be paffed over, as it may poffibly ftimulate fome farmers to attempt to water their coarfe lauds. Every perfon who has a breeding stock of ewes knows the difficulty of procuring proper food for the lambs in February, March and April, after the turnips are eaten, or when they have failed, and before the natural or artificial graffes are fit to take them. This difficulty is effectually remedied by the Water Meadows, which, when laid up in time, properly watered, and drained, will have a fufficient bite for the ewes and lambs by the end of February, and they may be kept in them with perfect fafety, till the end of April; nothing makes the ewe thrive better than this fpring grafs, or produces more milk; this is called fpring feeding the meadows. To thefe advantages another may be addreffed to the gentleman, who wishes to improve his eftate; and whofe benevolent heart prompts him to extend a charitable hand to the relief of the induftrious poor, and not to the encouragement of idleness and vice; almost the whole of the expences in this mode of cultivation is the actual manual labour of a clafs of people, who have no genius to employ their bodily ftrength otherways, for their's and their families fupport; confequently viewed in this light, the expences can be comparatively but fmall, the improvement great and durable.' C-r-t.

C

ART. IX. Elegy on Captain Cock. To which is added, an Ode to
the Sun. By Mifs Seward.
4:0. 1 s. 6d. Dodfley. 1780.
APTAIN COOK's fingular and unfortunate death has
been lamented, and indeed moft juftly, by every one who
has regard either for perfonal merit, the enlargement of know-
ledge, or the general interefts of humanity. No teftimony of
gratitude to his memory, or veneration for his character, has been
with-held by thofe who had power to do juftice to either. His
furviving family has been marked out by Royal munificence,
and the celebration of his fame has been propofed as the fubject
of poetical conteft at both univerfities.

The firft, however, who has ftarted in this poetic race is the ingenious Authorefs of the Elegy before us-an Atalanta, if we may judge from her prefent career, that will not eafily be

overtaken.

While o'er the deep, in many a dreadful form,
The giant Danger howls along the form,

Furling

Furling the iron fails with numbed hands,
Firm on the deck the great Adventurer stands;
Round glitt'ring mountains hears the billows rave,
And the + vaft ruin thunder on the wave.-
Appall'd he hears !-but checks the rifing figh,
And turns on his firm band a glift'ning eye.-
Not for himself the fighs unbidden break,
Amid the terrors of the icy wreck;

Not for himself starts the impaffion'd tear,
Congealing as it falls ;-nor pain, nor fear,
Nor Death's dread darts, impede the great defign,
Till Nature draws the circumfcribing line.
Huge rocks of ice th' arrested ship embay,
And bar the gallant Wanderer's dangerous way.-
His eye regretful marks the Goddels turn

Th' affiduous prow from its relentless bourn.

The following paffage is embellished by imagery truly poetic, original, and juft.

On a lone beach a || rock-built temple ftands,
Stupendous pile! unwrought by mortal hands;
Sublime the ponderous turrets rife in air,
And the wide roof bafaltic columns bear;

Thro' the long aifles the murm'ring tempefts blow,
And Ocean chides his dashing waves below.
From this fair fane, along the filver fands,
Two fifter-virgins wave their snowy hands;
First § gentle Flora-round her smiling brow
Leaves of new forms, and flow'rs uncultur'd glow;
Thin folds of ** vegetable filk, behind,

Shade her white neck, and wanton in the wind;

Strange

Furling the iron fails.-" Our fails and rigging were so frozen, that they seemed plates of iron."

+ And the vast ruin.-The breaking of one of these immense mountains of ice, and the prodigious noife it made, is particularly defcribed in Cook's fecond voyage to the South Pole.

I Till Nature, &c." After running four leagues this courfe, with the ice on our ftarboard fide, we found ourfelves quite embayed, the ice extending from north-north-east, round by the weft and fouth, to eaft, in one compact body; the weather was tolerably clear, yet we could fee no end to it."

|| A rock-built temple.-" On one part of this ifle there was a folitary rock, rifing on the coaft with arched cavities, like a majeftic temple."

Firft gentle Flora.-Flora is the Goddess of modern Botany, and Fauna of modern Zoology: hence the pupils of Linnæus call their books Flora Anglica-Fauna Danica, &c." The Flora of one of these islands contained thirty new plants."

** Vegetable filk.-In New-Zealand is a flag of which the natives make their nets and cordage. The fibres of this vegetable are longer and stronger than our hemp and flax; and fome, manufactured in

London,

Strange fweets, where'er fhe turns, perfume the glades,
And fruits unnam'd adorn the bending fhades.
-Next Fauna treads, in youthful beauty's pride,
A playful Kangroo bounding by her fide;
Around the Nymph her beauteous + Pois difplay
Their varied plumes, and trill the dulcet lay;
At Giant-bat, with leathern wings outfpread,
Umbrella light, hangs quiv'ring o'er her head.
As o'er the cliff her graceful ftep the bends,
On glittring wing her infect-train attends.
With diamond-eye her fcaly tribes furvey

Their Goddefs nymph, and gambol in the fpray.'

The allufion to the funeral ceremonies at Otaheite is introduced with great happiness and propriety:

Gay Eden of the fouth, thy tribute pay,

And raife, in pomp of woe, thy Cook's | Morai!
Bid mild Omiah bring his choiceft stores,
The juicy fruits, and the luxuriant flow'rs;
Bring the bright plumes, that drink the torrid ray,
And firew each lavish fpoil on Cook's Morai!
Come, Oberea, hapless fair-one! come,
With piercing shrieks bewail thy Hero's doom!-
She comes!-the gazes round with dire furvey !—
Oh! fly the mourner on her frantic way.
See! fee! the pointed ivory wounds that head,
Where late the Loves impurpled rofes fpread;
Now ftain'd with gore, her raven treffes flow,
In ruthlefs negligence of madd'ning woe;

London, is as white and gloffy as fine filk. will probably grow in our climate.

This valuable vegetable

A playful Kangroo. The kangroo is an animal peculiar to thofe climates. It is perpetually jumping along on its hind legs, its fore legs being too fhort to be used in the manner of other quadrupeds.

+ Beauteous Pois." The poi-bird, common in thofe countries, has feathers of a fine mazarine blue, except thofe of the neck, which are of a beautiful filver grey; and two or three short white ones, which are in the pinion-joint of the wing. Under its throat hang two little tufts of curled white feathers, called its poies, which, being the Otaheitean word for car-rings, occafioned our giving that name to the bird; which is not more remarkable for the beauty of its plumage, than for the exquifite melody of its note."

A Giant-bat.-The bats which Captain Cook faw in fome of thefe countries were of incredible dimenfions, measuring three feet and an half in breadth, when their wings were extended.

Morai.-The Morai is a kind of funeral altar, which the people of Otaheite raife to the memory of their deceafed friends. They bring to it a daily tribute of fruits, flowers, and the plumage of birds. The chief mourner wanders around it in a ftate of apparent distraction, fhrieking furiously, and ftriking at intervals a thark's tooth into her head. All people fly her, as the aims at wounding not only herfelf, but others.

Loud