THe JOURNAL 



or 



HBRARV 



l-•.oTA^l• 



<JARut.^. 



Tfie 2)eparfment of Agriculture. 



Vol. VI. Part 5. 



8th May, 1908. 



I 



IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE IX THE GOULBURX 



VALLEY. 



ElwGod Mead, Chairman, State Rivers and Water Supply Cbiuinission. 



The irrigation of land wholly arid is usually quite simple. Every one 

 welcomes the canal as a means of escape from intolerable conditions. Those 

 who do not: like irrigation go else\vhere. Those who remain are of one 

 mind. They all believe in irrigation, and practise it. It is different in 

 .semi-arid districts. The conditions are more complex. Opinions as to 

 the benefits of irric'ation are at the outset alwavs divided. The ardent 



STACKING LUCERNE HAV. 



convert to irrigation during a drought becomes a backslider when it rains. 

 For a time, at least, there is a reluctance to submit to the order and sys- 

 tem which irrigated agriculture requires, and a continual balancing of the 

 merits and drawbacks of watering from canals or from the clouds. Never- 

 theless, irrigation once begun is never abandoned. Two very noted irri- 

 gation areas, Northern Italy and Northen California, are both semi-arid. 



412-2. I 



