LETTER OF SUBMITTAL. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 



Office of Experiment Stations, 



Washington, I). C, 2Lnj 20, 1903. 



Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith a report on Egyptian 

 irrigation, prepared by Clarence T. Johnston, assistant chief of irri- 

 gation investigations of this Office. Mr. Johnston spent the winter of 

 1901-2 in Egypt, making a study of irrigation methods and laws. 

 This report gives the results of his observations and inquiries. 



In the valley of the Nile irrigation has been practiced for thousands 

 of years, and if time and experience were in themselves sufficient we 

 ouoht to find water distributed with more skill and used with better 

 results there than in any other country. Such, however, is not the 

 case. On the contrary, the irrigators of this country have little to 

 learn from Egypt so far as practical methods are concerned. The 

 reasons for this are not obscure. One is the lack of inventive and 

 mechanical skill on the part of the fellah. Here every implement used 

 in agriculture has been subject to constant change and improvement; 

 the Egyptian still uses a crooked stic-k for a plow and beats out his 

 corn as did his ancestors in the time of the Pharaohs. In this country 

 we have already evolved special machinery for the construction of 

 canals, building of laterals, and cleaning out and enlarging of ditches; 

 in Egypt many canals are still cleaned by throwing the mud out by 

 hand. The lessons of Egypt, therefore, so far as irrigation practice 

 is concerned, are of negative value. There is another reason why this 

 is so. Irrigators in Egypt are paid 15 cents a day. Their methods 

 are possible onl}^ with this low wage rate, hence they can not be 

 adopted in a countr}' like ours, where higher wages are paid. 



The showing of the yield and profits of irrigated land in Egypt is, 

 however, full of significance and promise to the arid conmionwealths. 

 It is only on irrigated land that the average net return from sugar 

 cane reaches |80 to $85 an acre. The revenues of the Egyptian Gov- 

 ernment from the areas devoted to dates runs from $lo to $1:5 an acre, 

 and the net profit to the cultivator approximates J^150 an acre. This 

 little tract of agricultural land, no larger than the irrigable area of 



