RURAL ENGINEERING, 1119 



RURAL ENGINEERING. 



Irrigation investigations (Kansas Sta. Rpt. 1905, pp. 26-41). — This gives the 

 results of investigations of irrigation al Fori Hays and Garden City, Kansas, carried 



on in < peration between the Kansas Station and this Office, in account of this 



work was also given in Bulletin 158 of this Office E. B. I:.. 17. p. 705). 



Report of the reconnaissance of the Vaal River, 1'. A. Hi i;i i:v | Pretoria: 

 Transvaal Tr rig. and Water Supply Dept., 1905, pp. XV 76, pis. ?6)s — This report 

 cmi n a in< " preliminary descriptions and approximate estimates of the mosl favorable 

 irrigation schemes practical)].'" from Vaal River in South Africa, a stream with an 

 annual discharge of about 2,500,000 acre-ft, <>f which about 65 percent passes during 



March floods. 



Six projects are included, the two mosl urgently recommended irrigating LI, 800 

 acres in the Transvaal and 27,800 acre- in Orange River Colony. The third and 

 fourth projects would irrigate 60,000 and 20,000 acres, respectively, while the fifth, 

 which w«»uhl involve an expenditure of about $25,000,000, would irrigate 100,000 

 acres, an undertaking not to be considered al present. The Bixth project involves 

 only Cape Colony land and is an expensive storage project not fully worked out as 

 yet. The estimated costs per acre runs as follows: $77, $63, $76, $96, $50-60, and 

 $112. 



The annual water rate assumed is $5 to $7.50 per acre, and the increment in value 

 of land $50 to $75 per acre. Maintenance charges are assumed to be about one-fifth 

 of the water rentals, and the net return on the entire investment is estimated as about 

 6 per cent, except in the sixth project, where it is but ::.:; per cent. If the total 

 increase in value of the land is deducted from the cost of the projects the estimated 

 earnings run L26, 24, 14, 31, and 6 percent, the fifth project not being included. 



The duty of water is estimated on the basis of the severest possible system of crop- 

 pin-- with a 3-year rotation of wheat, tobacco, vetches and rye. potatoes, beets and 

 roots, vetches and rye, tohacco, and potatoes. It is further supposed that each irri- 

 gation will be 4 in. in depth and that in all 17 irrigations will he required in :; years, 

 the time of sowing and rainfall being considered. Allowing for 60 per cent loss, 

 1.0110,0(10 en. ft. of water must he stored annually for each 5 acres, or about L50 acres 

 per cubic foot per second for a 9-inonth.s' season, allowing 20 per cent for roads and 

 wasteland. In order to meet the possible requirement of a 4-in. irrigation of the 

 whole area in one month, the estimates for canals are on the basis of H><> acres per 

 cubic foot per second. These estimates are reasonable when compared with the 

 usual duty of 100 acres per cubic foot per second in Egypt, 100 to 300 in India, 120 

 and 150 under two California canals, and L50 in Spain and Italy. 



In reviewing the subject of water rates the author cites as examples tracts in Cape 

 Colony where land and water rent for $20 to $22 per acre, while in India the rate is 

 about one-tenth and in Egypt one-seventh of the irross value of crops produced. 

 Regarding the Ueclaination-Act projects in the United States he says: " It would 

 seem that the rates have been pitched very low to attract settlers." The rate assumed 

 on the Vaal of $5 per acre is believed to be less than one-tenth the value of a crop of 

 wheat and coin, the least valuable crops likely to be grown. The total cost to the 

 renter, assuming 6 percent interest on the value of the land, is considered reason- 

 able, since it falls under $12.50 per acre annually. 



A note by the director of irrigation. W. L. Strange, is included, in which it is stated 

 that $15,000,000 in produce was imported into the Transvaal in 1004, showing a good 

 market for irrigated products. He points out that the financial failure of irrigation 

 works has usually been due to slow settlement, and that hence large works should 

 d>e built by the State, which can afford to wait for returns in the form of general 

 prosperity, and that the development of irrigation works should not outrun the nor- 

 mal settlement of the country. 



