he uses to which drainage-water has been
applied, for the advantage of lower lands. In many cases, in Great
Britain, the water of drainage has been preserved in reservoirs, or
artificial ponds, and applied for the irrigation of water meadows; and
as is suggested by Lieut. Maury, in a letter quoted in our introductory
chapter, the same may, in many localities, be done in this country, and
thus our crops of grass be often tripled, on our low meadows. In many
cases, water from deep drains, will furnish the most convenient supply
for barn yards and pastures. It is usually sufficiently pure and cool in
Summer, and is preferred by cattle to the water of running streams.

On Mr. Mechi's farm at Tiptree Hall, in England, we observed a large
cistern, in which all the manure necessary for the highest culture of
170 acres of land, is liquified, and from which it is pumped out by a
steam engine, over the farm. All the water, which supplies the cistern,
is collected from tile drains on the farm, where there had before been
no running water.

CHAPTER XXI.

LEGISLATION--DRAINAGE COMPANIES.

England protects her Farmers.--Meadows ruined by Corporation
dams.--Old Mills often Nuisances.--Factory Reservoirs.--Flowage
extends above level of Dam.--Rye and Derwent Drainage.--Give Steam
for Water-Power.--Right to Drain through land of others.--Right to
natural flow of Water.--Laws of Mass.--Right to Flow; why not to
Drain?--Land-drainage Companies in England.--Lincolnshire
Fens.--Government Loans for Drainage.

Nothing more clearly shows the universal interest and confidence of the
people of Great Britain, in the operation of land-drainage, than the
acts of Parliament in relation to the subject. The conservatism of
England, in the view of an American, is striking. She never takes a step
till she is sure she is right. Justly proud of her position among the
nations, she deems change an unsafe experiment, and what has been, much
safer than what might be. Vested rights are sacred in England, and
especially rights in lands, which are emphatically real estate there.

Such are the sentiments of the people, and such the sentiments of their
representatives and exponents, the Lords and Commons.

Yet England has been so impressed with the importance of improving the
condition of the people, of increasing the wealth of the nation, of
enriching both tenant and landlord, by draining the land, that the
histor