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draw the water out of it; neither is it of any use to make the bot-tom of the feeder any deeper than the last floating gutter willdraw it off. It is best to make the conductor straight from thedam to the meadow, if it can be done ; if it passes through anyhollow, the sides must be raised to keep the water up to its level;but sweeping round by the edge of a hill or bank, will, in gene-ral be found the best method in the North of Scotland , and inall other hilly countries. In forming the master-feeder, it willbe necessary to ascertain the breadth and depth that will hold allthe water that the conductor brings to it, and thence to the endof the feeder, where the last floating gutter goes out. Its breadthshould be diminished all the way ; and, whatever its breadth maybe at the beginning, it should end about 2 feet in breadth wherethe last floating gutter goes off. If the ridges or beds be 10 or12 yards wide, and about 100 yards long, with 6 or 8 inches offall, the breadth of the floating gutters should be about 18 inchesat the head, or 2 feet, according to the length of the gutter ; andabout 6 inches at the lower end of the ridge : This diminution ofthe gutter, serves to force the water out over the sides of thebeds; and as a part of the water is always going out of the gut-ter, it is always growing less, and consequently does not requireso much room to hold it. The stuff' that is taken out of the feed-er, should be laid smoothly upon its sides, with a slope outward-ly, and raised about 6 inches above the surface of the ground ;and in crossing ridges, the hollows must be filled up with super-fluous stuff from high places, or out of the drains, so that the topof the banks of the feeder may represent a straight horizontalline, f In making the floating-gutters, after both sides of it arecut with a spade, by a line, then cut again with a spade downthe inside of your lines on both sides, beginning at the head, a-bout 5 or 6 inches from your line; so diminishing all the waydown to the end, and pointing the edge of your spade, so as to 1make it intersect your outside cut. When both sides are done,the land in the breadth of the gutter will be divided into threestrips, the outsides of which will be loose, and will turn out wholem triangular furrows, which form the sides of the gutters, andkeep up the water above the surface of the ground. After thesides are cut, there will remain a first strip in the middle, whichmust be taken out and laid in equal portions on the outsides ofthe foresaid furrows, or into the lowest places. In taking outthe fast strip, it is best to leave here and there a piece unremov-ed, which serves for stops, and saves putting in afterwards ; andif you leave too many, it is quite easy to take out some of them,
. M ‘t is always better to have to take out than to put in. These
f This raising of the banks keeps up the water above the surface of theSound, , which is always necessary to make it How down atld over the sides ofthe floating gutters with proper effect.
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