KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 85 



kansas river was unusually low. Yet it may well be supposed that no very 

 correct observations or calculations have been made as to the amount of 

 water the Arkansas river will afford for irrigation. The great breadth of 

 channel and usually shallow current will render correct estimates of the 

 quantity of water flowing within a given time quite difficult. 



That there is a large area of land, in these upper counties, within compar- 

 atively easy reach of the water of the Arkansas river, there is now no ques- 

 tion. Mr. Jones, whose opinion is worthy of great credit, estimates the area 

 in Sequoyah county alone to be 256,000 acres. This area under irrigation 

 and cultivation would afford sustenance to a very large population; espe- 

 cially taking into account the facilities for manufacturing, which will at the 

 same time be afforded. 



Should there be any question as to the fertility of the soil to be irrigated 

 in the Arkansas valley, that is at once set at rest by the fact that the waters 

 with which the fields are to be flooded contain the highest elements of fer- 

 tility. They are charged with the washings of a thousand hill and mountain- 

 sides, and are thick with vegetable sediment ; from that which, settled upon 

 the land, makes a slimy paste, to the decaying and crumbling twig of the 

 mountain pine, as large as the little finger. Such deposits are now strewn 

 over a hundred acres of land in Sequoyah county. No one can make an 

 examination of the irrigation begun there without bringing some of it away 

 on his boots. 



Alluding again to irrigation in other countries, in the hilly region of Pied- 

 mont not less than 2,500 cubic feet of water per second are rendered available 

 for irrigation, and the extent watered is 180,000 acres. The whole irrigated 

 region of Piedmont is 1,500,000 acres; the amount of cultivated land is 

 890,454 acres ; the total of actually irrigated land is 306,613 acres. 



The total quantity of water utilized in Piedmont is 8,290 cubic feet per 

 second, and the area is covered by a network of canals more than 1,200 

 miles long. The Cavo Morocca canal, in Lombardy, is 150 miles long, and 

 its cost was $8,000 per mile. The total superficial irrigated region here is 

 2,500 square miles, or 1,750,000 acres. The slopes range from about 5 to 12 

 feet a mile. More than 27,000 cubic feet of water are discharged per second. 

 The irrigating season commences in March and terminates in September. 

 The months when the water is in the greatest demand are May, June, July, 

 and August. The average annual fall of rain is given as 37 inches, of which 

 28 inches fall during the seven irrigating months. 



The sum of the statement of irrigation for Lombardy, is a total area of 

 6,500,000 acres in the irrigated district, of which there are irrigated in sum- 

 mer, 1,061,292 acres; in winter, 12,837 acres; in all, 1,074,129 acres; or 

 about one-sixth of the whole, or one-fifth of the productive area. The great 

 Government canals in Lombardy are 133 miles long. Besides the main 

 lines there are 353 branches, and probably a network of 3,550 miles. East 

 of the Addy they reach 700 or 800 miles, thus making the entire length of 



