224 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



the same, in others there is differential 

 rating according to distance from the 

 channels. According to the water act, 

 1890, which consolidated previous stat- 

 utes, and therefore superseded the Irri- 

 gation act, 1886, all water used for irri- 

 gation purposes must be paid for by 

 measure, but for watering stock and 

 domestic supply, payment may be made 

 as the commissioners of the trust direct. 

 For irrigation therefore a rate of either 

 6d per inch, 6d per inch per acre or Id to 

 %d per 1,000 gallons is charged in addi- 

 tion to the general rate which varies 

 from 1 to 3 shillings in the pound of 

 actual value. 



Looking at the present position of the 

 irrigation scheme in this colony, although 

 the expenditure was at the outset on a 

 scale far too lavish for the limited popu- 

 lation likely to avail themselves of its ad- 



vantages, still there is no doubt but that 

 the value of the land within reach of the 

 water channels has been largely increased, 

 and it has been made evident that by 

 means of an artificial water supply the 

 arid plains of the interior are capable of 

 supporting a very large population. 

 With an arrangement to relieve to some 

 extent the heavy liabilities lying upon the 

 trusts, and an increased settlement of 

 people on the land, which such an ar- 

 rangement would facilitate, the future of 

 irrigation in this part of the world is by 

 no means gloomy. We are a young 

 colony, both enterprising and sanguine 

 and not to be dashed by the clouds of 

 temporary depression, as the returns of 

 our exports clearly prove. 



In future papers, some of the more im- 

 portant trusts and their works will be 

 dealt with in detail. 



IRRIGATION BY PUMPING. 



THE RECLAMATION OF THE GREAT PLAINS. "A WAY OUT." 



BY H. V. H1NCKLEY, C. E. 



CIFTEEN to twenty years ago, when 

 Providence smiled upon the Great 

 Plains to the extent of thirty inches, or 

 even more, of rainfall, immense crops 

 were grown wherever anything was 

 planted, for the richness of the virgin un- 

 washed soils needs only water and labor to 

 speak miracles to the New England agri- 

 culturist. But the newcomers who de- 

 pended upon such annual rainfall being 

 furnished by Uncle Sam along with the 

 land titles were disappointed and a million 

 homesteads have been abandoned which 

 with water would produce bountifully. 

 Many cities (real cities which had hotels, 

 banks, etc., ten years ago) are now marked 

 only by cellar holes and corner stones. 

 These are blue statements, but they are 

 facts. As in all arid or semi-arid countries 

 since the beginning of history so in West- 

 ern Kansas and Nebraska, for example, a 

 lack of appreciation of the need and ad- 

 vantages of an artificial water supply has 

 resulted primarily in destitution and de- 

 population. 



The densest populations of the world 



have been founded upon irrigation agri- 

 culture, but they irrigated only when they 

 had to irrigate to live, and only then have 

 they been aroused to a realization of the 

 immense benefits, the profits accruing 

 therefrom. Under the new order of 

 things some of these abandoned home- 

 steads are already becoming valuable. It 

 will not be possible to irrigate all the 

 plains country. Probably between fifteen 

 and thirty per cent, of the area can be 

 finally brought into successful agriculture. 

 The irrigable per cent, varies from none 

 on some divides to one hundred in some 

 valleys. 



Land values in the Arkansas and simi- 

 lar valleys having an abundant and reli- 

 able underflow are bound to advance, while 

 the high lands without water must be de- 

 voted to alfalfa and cattle. 



Alfalfa is a very deep rooting clover that 

 responds handsomely to irrigation, and 

 yet lives and produces fair crops where all 

 other grasses fail where water is at a 

 premium. It is already being extensively 

 and successfully grown even without irri- 



