THE IRRIGATION! AGE. 347 



of the ditches. These are necessarily carried away by each flood" 

 requiring to be immediately replaced. On the other hand, the head- } 

 works, falls, regulating gates, and other dividers are constructed in 

 the most substantial manner of massive masonry. 



"In strong contrast to this type of construction are the minor dis- 

 tributaries observed in some of the cane fields. These were built by 

 owners who had great grinding and boiling machinery for the treat- 

 ment of their cane, and were imbued to a certain extent with Ameri- 

 can methods. They out-Americanized our Western irrigators. Their 

 distributaries consist of a series of 4-emporary trestles and shallow 

 wooden troughs or gutters made of lumber brought from America. 

 These tap the hillside ditches at such points as seem desirable, and 

 are roughly placed so as to carry the water to such portions of the 

 -field as immediately require it. After irrigation in such localities the 

 trestles and troughs are removed and utilized in irrigating other por- 

 tions of the same fields. This practice is resorted to in order to reach 

 the numerous little detached rolling hills 10 to 20 feet in maximum 

 height, into which the surface of the sugar lands is broken. In other 

 localities, where practicable, these lands are irrigated by direct diver- 

 sion from the main ditches of laterals dug in the earth and ramifying 

 to every portion of the field to which gravity will conduct the water. 



"What effect might Porto Rican production or irrigation develop- 

 ment in the Island, Mr. Wilson, have upon the American market? 



"Oh, none whatever. The island is small and while methods will 

 be improved, the total production cannot be greatly increased. The 

 increased sugar production of the Island would not be a spot even on 

 the Louisiana crop, to say nothing of the immense consumption of this 

 country. Porto Rico's irrigation features are interesting but they 

 cannot in an way affect the United States." 



