Irrigation and Inter-Colonial Co-operation. 355 



Avhite men is more or less precarious. Even when it is abundant 

 there, a large portion falls in violent storms, of which the resulting 

 flow rapidly runs off the ground ajid goes to waste, while frequently 

 another large portion falls at unseasonable periods, and is evaporated 

 or descends deep into the absorbent soil. 



The only certainty the farmer has is that during four months 

 of the year a very small amount of rain falls, which is speedily 

 evaporated or absorbed, and for another four months practically 

 none is precipitated. The general conditions are that when water 

 is most wanted it is least available, and that the most valuable 

 crops cannot be grown without artificial watering. During the 

 period of good rainfall the cultivator has, moreover, to contend with 

 special difficulties, such as hailstorms and locusts, which are absent 

 during the rest of the year. So much is he handicapped by these 

 conditions that in the south-western and central divisions of the 

 Transvaal a fair crop is expected only once in five years ; in its 

 south-western division many experienced farmers have given up 

 ploughing as a waste of money. It is the opinion of practically all 

 farmers long resident in the Colony that without irrigation they 

 cannot be successful with their crops. This is not a newly-formed 

 idea, for, from the time of the earliest settlements, the riparian farms 

 were always considered the most valuable, and were occupied first, 

 the non-riparian farms being taken up merely as subsidiary to them 

 for cattle grazing, etc. As evidence that the same value is still 

 attached to water may be quoted the facts that its availability is 

 always brought forward prominently at all sales of lands possessing 

 it, and that irrigators are most tenacious of their rights to water. 

 As cultivation increases, the existing natural sources of supply will 

 not suffice for it, and this has already proved to be the case on 

 streams where irrigation has been developed to a considerable extent. 



3. Irrigation in other Countries. 



The following figures will give some idea of the extent of irriga- 

 tion in other countries : — 



Acres. 

 India (average about 1901). State Works ... 18,588,000 



Private Works... 25,510,000 



Egypt (I) 



United States of America (2) 



Italy (2) ... 



Spain (2) ... 



France (2) 



Total ... 44,098,000 

 5,750,000 

 7,600,000 

 4,700,000 

 2,800,000 

 400,000 



In India, it is comparatively of recent date since the British 

 Government undertook irrigation on a large scale. By 1902-03 

 Government had expended about ^^^28, 500,000 on works for which 

 capital accounts are kept, and were spending at the rate of about 



(l). " Egyptian Irrigation," by Sir W. Willcocks (Spon, London, 1899). 

 >(2). " Irrigation Engineering," by H. M. Wilson (Wiley, New York, 1903). 



