io8 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



pumped, as is generally assumed in this country, by 

 means of windmills or steam power, but it is lifted 

 laboriously, a small bucketful at a time, by means of 

 the well-sweep, so familiar in the eastern portions of 

 this country, or by means of cattle, which raise the 

 water from the wells by a rope and windlass. The 

 volumes of water raised by such processes are so 

 small that they must be handled with the greatest 

 care in order that they shall reach the lands without 

 being wholly absorbed in' the conveying ditches, 

 while the laborers who perform the work are content 

 to receive as wages from two to six cents per day. 

 By such processes a family of two or three men and 

 as many women raise on from two to five acres of 

 land sufficent produce to support them throughout 

 the year. It is unnecessary to compare such rates of 

 wages and such a mode of life with that lived by 

 the inhabitants of our country. The patience, care 

 and penury exercised by these simple orientals, which 

 enables them to eke a satisfactory existence out of 

 such labor and wages, will never be practiced by 

 American farmers, and will, therefore, never enable 

 us to develop and utilize many of the minor water re- 

 sources of the country which aid in making the culti- 

 vation on the semi-arid lands of India so generally 

 productive. 



CLIMATE. 



A third of the essential points of difference in the 

 practice of irrigation in America and India is in the 

 climate of the two countries. In India there is no 

 cold season as in the United States. Winter and 

 summer are not distinguished by hot and cold 

 weather, for it is always warm there, the winter 

 months being quite as warm as the summer months 

 are in the most of our arid West; but they are recog- 

 nized by the difference in rainfall during the two 

 seasons, and thus the year is divided into a wet sea- 

 son and a dry season. During the wet or monsoon 

 period, which occupies several of the summer months, 

 the rainfall is so great and the temperature so high 

 that nearly all the products of tropic and semi-tropic 

 vegetation can be grown in rank profusion without 

 the aid of irrigation. While this statement is not 

 generally true of the whole of India, it applies to the 

 more highly irrigated and cultivated portions the 

 great Gangetan plain, which lies immediately south 

 of the Himalayas, and in which are located most of 

 the celebrated canals of the country, and to western 

 Madras. Throughout the country in which are located 

 the Ganges, Jumna, Sirhind, Soane and other great 

 canals, the average annual rainfall ranges between 

 twenty-five and forty .inches, while the same average 

 amount falls on most of the Presidency of Madras, 

 where are built the Godaveri, Cauveri, Orissa and 

 similar great deltaic canals. It is in the dry season 

 that irrigation is chiefly practiced in India. Though 



the rainfall amounts to but a few inches, chiefly oc- 

 curring in violent storms, at that season the products 

 cultivated consist of those having the highest com- 

 mercial value, as wheat, cotton and sugar cane. As 

 a result of this high precipitation, it will be readily 

 appreciated that the rivers from which the irrigating 

 waters are derived are well supplied with water, and 

 are able to furnish a far greater abundance of this for 

 the supply of canals than is furnished by catchment 

 basins of similar areas in this country. This fact has 

 an important bearing upon the design and construc- 

 tion of the irrigation works of the two countries, and 

 naturally influences the magnitude and permanence 

 of such works. 



ENGINEERING. 



The fourth point of difference referred to is that of 

 engineering. The character of Indian rivers and their 

 relations to the irrigable lands is such that the canals 

 taken from them rarely require long or difficult diver- 

 sion lines to bring the water to the lands. The chief 

 engineering difficulties encountered are in construct- 

 ing stable weirs and headworks in the sandy river 

 beds, and in contending against the enormous flood 

 discharges of those rivers. In most portions of our 

 country, good firm rock, or heavy gravel and clay 

 soils can be found, in which to locate headworks. 

 Here also the relation of the streams to the irrigable 

 lands is generally such that long and difficult diver- 

 sion lines have to be constructed before the water be- 

 comes available. In other words, the chief skill of 

 the Indian engineer is required in locating and con- 

 structing the headworks; that of the American engi- 

 neer in building the first ten or twenty miles of the 

 canal line. 



HASTE AND CHEAPNESS. 



The fifth point of difference, which is of a structural 

 nature, is chiefly due to the haste demanded and the 

 cheapness required in the first cost of constructing 

 these works. In India the works are built by the 

 Government, and are accordingly designed with a 

 view of making them so permanent that they will last 

 almost forever, and that the charges for maintenance 

 and repairs shall be a minimum. To this end all irri- 

 gation projects are carefully thought out and surveyed 

 and resurveyed, until the best possible location has 

 been chosen and the details of the scheme perfectly 

 elaborated. The weirs, headworks, aqueducts and 

 regulating gates are all constructed of the most sub- 

 stantial masonry, and the repairs to such works are 

 reduced to a minimum. With us the main object is 

 to reduce the first cost to the lowest possible figure, 

 in order that the works may be completed quickly 

 and cheaply, and the investors begin to derive some 

 profit at the earliest possible date. Our diversion 

 weirs have, therefore, generally been constructed of 

 cheap wooden framing, and occasionally, as an un- 



