.'8 April, 1907] Drainage and Irrigation. 209 



Irrigation A.ge, Chicago, says: — "The constant pouring of water upon 

 the soil in many of the older irrigated districts has resulted in creating 

 a water table near the surface; so near, in fact, that formerly fertile 

 tracts of land have become converted into swamps. Hence, drainage 

 has become a problem necessary tO' be solved if fertile lands and profitable 

 orchards are to be saved from destruction, and it is gradually dawning 

 upon the minds of irrigators that where there is a system of suii-irrigation 

 ■there is also a system of drainage ready to hand. . . . According to 

 the common understanding, drainage means carrying oft an excess of water 

 from swamps and cold, over-moist soils for the purpose ot reclaiming 

 cthem or converting them into fertile fields. But since irrigation plays 

 so important a part in farm economy and profitable plant culture ; indeed, 

 -since it has become an absolutely essential element of success in the arid 

 and sub-humid regions of the United States, and is gaining ground in the 

 humid regions, it has been discovered, through costly experience, that 

 •drainage and irrigation are inseparable systems." 



One further factor in the problem remains to be considered. Our 

 • older schemes of irrigation were almost wholly designed upon the principle 

 of carrying water to the land along the ridges or high ground, and above 

 the level of the land to be watered — in fill, to use the technical term. No, 

 .or but little, provision was made for drainage of surplus waters, the 

 channels, as constructed, being manifestlv unfitted for such use. Neither 

 is there legislative provision whereby an irrigator can obtain an outlet for 

 his drainage system through the land of another owner. In the reticula- 

 tion of the Wyuna Settlement, an area of about 20,000 acres — the latest 

 ■system of distributary channelling carried out in Victoria — ample pro- 

 vision has been made for drainage channels in the low Iving ground to 

 carry off the surplus waters, though not providing for each individual 

 irrigator's requirements. The need for the construction of collective 

 drainage works and for legislation for the individual's needs, will 

 not, however, arise until such improved methods of irrigation have been 

 adopted with such consequent great improvement in profits that the 

 cost will not prove so great a burden as it at present appears. 



The experience of all other irrigating countries warns us that it is 

 -essential to drain to achieve the best results. In laving out the farm, 

 as well as the great State schemes, this fact should be borne in mind, and 

 ample provision made. The result will be less water required for irriga- 

 tion, and much greater profits. Already we know that as great profits 

 can be achieved here, as in any other country ; that areas supporting a 

 few sheep can be made to support as many, nay, more, men ; and that 

 living can, in our once arid inhospitable regions, be made a jov instead 

 -of a punishment ; but this can only " be done by the use of much labour, 

 and of the best methods of irrigation, of which drainage is not the least 

 important. 



THE COACH-WHIP BIRD. 



Psophfldes crepitans (Vigors and Horsfic/d). 

 C. French, F.L.S., F.E.S., Government Fnton/ologisf. 



This valuable insectivorous bird is generally found in the deep gullies 



and creeks at the foot of the mountains, and is very shy. Its well-known 



-note, resembling the cracking of a stockman's whip, can be heard in the 



