184 EXPERIMENT STATION RECOKD. [Vol.87 



Besides acting as an insurance against failure of crops in bad years, it generally 

 doubles or more than doubles the normal crops, or it permits of the cultivation 

 of crops of higher commercial value. It represents also a very important factor 

 of progress for the district in which it is applied. But it is not equally bene- 

 ficial for the corporations that carry out the irrigation works, because generally 

 many years are required before all the water can be disposed of and thus there 

 is a dead loss for a period of about 20 years, or even more, during which the 

 State must grant some subsidy. ... It is only just that the State should 

 either carry out these works at its own expense or grant some substantial 

 financial help to encourage irrigation projects." 



A bibliography is included. 



Irrigation in Libia, L. LuiGGi {Trans. Intemat. Engirt. Cong., 1915, ^Vater- 

 tcays and Irrig., pp. 583-590, figs. 4)- — This Is a brief general description of 

 irrigation as practiced in Libia. It is stated that the future of Libia depends 

 on the development of agriculture aided by irrigation. 



The distribution of water in irrigation in Australia, E. Mead (Trans. In 

 tcmat. Engin. Cong., 1915, Watertiays and Irrig., pp. 611-6^2, pi. 1, figs. 7). — 

 The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods employed and the results 

 obtained in distributing water for irrigation in Australia, special reference being 

 made to water measurement devices. 



Recent developments of irrigation in India, M. Nether.sole (Trans. In- 

 temat. Engin. Cong., 1915, Waterways and Irrig., pp. 591-610, pis. 4)- — This 

 article enumerates the natural factors dominating irrigation progress in India, 

 and describes irrigation methods and some of the more important irrigation 

 works. Of the 220,000,000 acres annually cultivated in India, it is stated that 

 about 41,000,000 are irrigated. 



"The development of irrigation In [the decade ended with 1912], raeasurerl 

 by the difference in the first and last totals, is about 2.'> per cent, while meas- 

 ured by the increase in the average for the last five years over that of the first 

 five years of the period it is about 20 per cent. . . . The classification of the 

 41,000,000 acres irrigated in 1912 is approximately as follows : From govern- 

 ment canals 42, private canals 5, tanks 13, wells 25, and other sources 15 per 

 cent. . . . 



" Irrigation from wells ranks In area and Importance next to Irrigation from 

 government works. Irrigation wells are wholly the private property of the 

 landowners, but construction is encouraged by the grant of temporary advances 

 from public funds to the owners, which advances with interest at 4 per cent 

 are recoverable by easy installments. The goveriMiicnt further assists this 

 class of irrigation by the loan to the owners of boring plants and the services 

 of expert borers, both to make preliminary tests of the subsoil supply and to 

 improve the supply in existing wells by tapping deeper water-bearing strata." 



Economic advisability of irrigation, F. H. Newell (Trans. Intemat. Engin. 

 Cong., 1915, Waterways and Irrig., pp. S71-S97). — It is polntetl out in this 

 paper that " irrigation is of prime economic importance to the community. State, 

 and nation by enabling a complete agricultural development of the arid lands 

 and by insuring immunity from lo.'^s by drought on other lands, thus making 

 possible intensive cultivation and a maximum annual crop production. The 

 material lienofits to the community are not measured by the crop proiluction 

 alone, but by the stimulation of other industries, such as stock raising, mining, 

 manufacturing, and transportation. A still greater benefit to the nation, rising 

 far above material wealth, is that coming from the increa.se of an intelligent 

 and pro.sperous rural population, who are not merely producers of food for other 

 people, but who, living in the open, contribute most largely to the best elements 

 of citizenship. 



