196 Transactions op the 



gated lands, over dry cultivation, is from one hundred to four hundred 

 per cent, and that in India the second crop pays the farmer forty-six 

 per cent profit. 



In all the country irrigated in India, the revenue derived by the Gov- 

 ernment from taxation is six hundred and fifteen dollars per square 

 mile; while in the unirrigated district, equally well located in other re- 

 spects, it is three hundred and eighty-five dollars per square mile. The 

 population is nearly one half greater in irrigated than in unirrigated 

 districts. 



The Eastern Jumna Canal has paid the Government, directly and 

 indirectly, twenty-four per cent per annum on the investment. 



In Italy the profits have not been so large; in truth, many of the 

 canals there have only paid small interest. This is attributable to many 

 causes; chief among them are the roughness of the country, and hence 

 the vast expense for leveling the land and constructing canals, the 

 natural moisture of the climate, imperfect and expensive transportation 

 of produce, and an old-time unprogressive system of cultivation, which 

 is slow, laborious, and expensive. Few or none of the labor-saving 

 machines so common in England and America are used by the Italians. 



Says a leading author on Italian irrigation: "The small canals of 

 Italy have never paid a handsome interest. It is to the indirect returns, 

 such as the improvement of the soil, the replacing of inferior by superior 

 kinds of cultivation, that the proprietors look in the first instance for 

 their reward;" and this, even in Italy, has been immense. 



The second generation, and not the constructors of these canals, has 

 reaped the benefit. In few instances has an irrigating canal paid for 

 the first few years after its construction. 



The financial history of some of them has been a continuous struggle, 

 while a majority, and those the large canals, have, after a few years, 

 been an unvarying success, much depending upon the character of their 

 superintendence. 



FLUCTUATIONS OF ANNUAL PRODUCTIONS. 



There is very little difference in the annual production of irrigated 

 districts, while on dry, unirrigated lands, as shown by years of experi- 

 ment, it amounts to about fifty-two per cent — that is, in some years the 

 production will be fifty-two per cent less than in others; while in irri- 

 gated districts it'only varies from three to four per cent per annum. 

 This has nothing to do with values; I refer only to the amount of pro- 

 duction. The statistics to prepare this estimate were obtained through 

 a term of years, especially for the British Government, and the result 

 may be taken as correct. They show that with irrigation there can 

 never be a failure of crops, while in dry culture the chances are that 

 every other crop will not pay a profit. 



This does not apply to fruit raising, but especially to the production 

 of the cereals. Of iiself it is a sufficient argument to sustain irrigation 

 in a climate like California, if argument be needed. 



THE NUMBER OF CROPS PLANTED ANNUALLY. 



In very few of the irrigated districts do the farmers plant less than 

 two crops a year, and in many places in Northern Italy, three, four, 

 and five. Indeed, seven crops of Marcite grass are cut for ha} 7 in what 

 is known as the Winter meadow lands of Italy, and what to us seems 



