Journal of Agriculture. 



[8 Mav. 1908. 



In semi-arid districts irrigation, as a rule, follows settlement. When 

 it comes it displaces a kind of agriculture which is understood,, and which 

 suits many better than irrigation, and it often brings requirements and im- 

 poses outlays which were not foreseen. The irrigation canal does not of 

 itself create irrigated agriculture. Let me illustrate. 



HAV SWEEP OR HAY RACK. 



North of Cremona, Italy, is an irrigated district which has a rain- 

 fall of about 40 inches a year. Irrigation there is not a climatic neces- 

 sity ; the land had been farmed for unnumbered centuries before anv canals 

 were built. About twenty years ago three dry years followed each other 

 in succession ; on all unirrigated lands there was a total failure of crops. 

 The losses incurred by landowners gave irrigation a new impulse. It was 

 shown by calculations that the value of the crops ruined by drought would 

 ha\e paid for a canal from a never-failing supply. Spurred on bv this 

 experience, the farmers formed an irrigation district, mortgaged their land 

 to secure the needed money, and built a canal which cost ^400.000. I 



HAY STACKER IN POSITION FOR RECEIVING LOAD. 



visited the district six years after the canal was completed. It was a 

 financial and agricultural success. The interest on the money borrowed had 

 been paid ; the payments to the sinking fund had been anticipated. Rates 

 had been twice lowered, because the income from the canal pro\-ided more 

 monev than was needed. 



