SG Kkpout is. a. a. Advaxckmknt of Sciknck. 



a gravitation scheme or a pumping .scheme would be the more advan- 

 tageous in any particular case, but rather whether, a gravitation 

 scheme being found to be impracticable, a pumping scheme miglit 

 nc>t be worth considering. 



Very little has yet been done in the country in the way uf com- 

 bined action amongst farmers for irrigation. A few small schemes 

 ha\e been undertaken, of whicli one of the largest is the Robertson 

 Canal, which draws its supply from the Breede River, and which has 

 now been in work successfully for some years. Another is the Nuy 

 Yalley scheme. The Xuy is a tributary of the Breede, and there some 

 5000 acres have been brought under irrigation by works which have 

 cost about .£15,000. This scheme is interesting as being one of the 

 first to be carried out by an "irrigation board,' and it promises to 

 be \ ery successful. 



The Government has also constructed a few irrigation schemes, 

 tlie largest of which is at Douglas on the Orange River, and consists 

 of a weir about 1 300 feet long across the river and some eight miles 

 of canal. The works at Van Wyk's Ylei in the noi'th-west of the 

 colony consist of a storage reservoir with earthoi dam, and about six 

 miles of canal. Neither of these works can be said to be a great 

 success so far. 



The method of division and distribution of the water generally 

 followed by the farmers when several combine is that of rotation. It 

 is much more satisfactory, and generally gives less trouble than any 

 method of measurement, which the farmer Avould probably not often 

 be able to check personally. 



In practical application this would probably usually take the form 

 of a rate per acre levied upon the irrigable area, in return for wliicli 

 the water would be available for a time proportional to the area. 



The author has to thank the Municipal Council of Capetown 

 for granting him access to their records of rainfall, itc, from which 

 diagrams 1 and 2 were prepared. 



