48— FARM IRRIGATION IN THE TRANSVAAL. 



By C. D. H. Braine, Assoc.M.Inst.C.E. 



In January, 1905, the Governor of the Transvaal and Orange 

 River Colony appointed a Commission, known as the Inter-Colonial 

 Irrigation Commission, to enquire into and report upon many 

 important questions referring to irrigation in the two colonies. The 

 Commission consists of :— 



The Hon. Mr. Justice Wessels. 



Mr. W. L. Strange, M.Inst.C.E. 



Mr. J. Rissik. 



Mr. J. A. Neser. 



Mr. E. Rooth. 



Mr. G. D. Adamson. 



Mr. E. R. Grobler. 



Mr. D. C. H. Braine, Assoc.M.Inst.C.E., Secretary. 



Part of my duty, as Secretary of the Commission, was to hold 

 meetings in various parts of the Transvaal, so as to explain to 

 farmers, and others, the work being done by the Commissioners, 

 and to discuss with them the various suggestions under considera- 

 tion. The total number of meetings held amounted to thirty-seven, 

 and in going from place to place I have travelled over the greater 

 part of the Transvaal. During the tour I took every opportunity 

 of visiting the irrigated farms along the route, and I found farm 

 irrigation in a very primitive condition. One or two farms stand 

 out as brilliant examples of what can be done ; but in most cases 

 the work is very unsatisfactory and shows great lack of knowledge 

 and care, water being often badly and wastefuUy used. Proper 

 irrigation is the result of scientific as well as practical knowledge, 

 and the most successful men are those who irrigate with due regard 

 to scientific principles. These principles are not generally under- 

 stood by our farmers, and I believe no experiments on the 

 duty, and use, of water have ever been made in South 

 Africa until last year. It is greatly to the credit of 

 the Transvaal Agricultural and Irrigation Departments that 

 such experiments are now being carried out at Potchef- 

 stroom ; but they have not been instituted long enough to give 

 decisive results. Many experiments of the sort have, however, been 

 made in the United States of America, and, as the climatic condi- 

 tions in the Western States are so similar to those in South Africa, 

 the important results obtained should be invaluable to irrigators in 

 this colony, and form a useful guide to our own experiments. The 

 bulletins and other publications on the subject are not known to the 

 average farmer, and it should be part of the duty of every Irrigation 

 Engineer to keep in touch with the work being done in other coun- 

 tries, and impart the knowledge to our agriculturalists. There is so 

 much to be learnt on the subject, and the results are of such great 

 economic value, that it would be in the interests of agriculture if 

 Government experiment irrigation stations were started in various 

 parts of the country. 



