10 THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



bring the waste labor of congested districts on to the waste land, by 

 a profitable employment of its capital, is the main object of the gov- 

 ernment; not to risk its money on a costly undertaking, which might 

 not for long, if ever, prove remunerative, and the profits of which 

 would even then mainly go, as an unearned .increment, to those who 

 have in no way deserved them. 



The construction of one of these canals for the irrigation of waste 

 lands, includes the laying and marking out of every farm and hold- 

 ing, in squares of about twenty -six acres each, and the completion of 

 a watercourse leading to each holding. Each village or township is 

 arranged to contain from about thirty to sixty of these holdings or 

 squares, which are not grouped together according to any geometri- 

 cal plan or pattern, but entirely in accordance with the watersheds 

 and drainage lines of the country, so as to allow of irrigation by flow 

 or gravity being carried out in the simplest and readiest manner. 

 Consequently no two villages are similar in size and shape. To do 

 this, of course, requires a complete detailed surveying and contour- 

 ing of the whole track, with plans showing every holding and con- 

 tours for each foot in level. These preliminary works are laborious, 

 expensive, and take time to complete, but when done, they permit of 

 ideal arrangements being made, so that no subsequent alterations are 

 required. 



One of the squares is set apart as a village site, and roads are 

 made from it to the neighboring villages, and past every holding. As 

 soon as the watercourses of a village are ready, and canal water is 

 available, the village is colonized. The new settlers clear sufficient 

 land, each in his own holding, to grow what crops they require for 

 their first years' support; and they construct their houses on the vil- 

 lage site. These first houses would be made very rapidly and cheaply 

 of adobe walls, and roofed with jungle wood cleared from off the land, 

 with a covering of a few inches of earth. For the first two years of 

 irrigation no water rates are assessed on the crops grown, as the peo- 

 ple require all they can grow and earn, to support themselves while 

 preparing their farms and buildings. During the third year, half 

 rates only would be assessed; and then by that time, they should be 

 fully at home, with plenty of land under cultivation; so that in the 

 fourth year they could easily pay the full water rates fixed for the 

 various crops grown. One square of 28 acres is sufficient to support 

 one man with a family, and is large enough to occupy his whole time. 

 Where the family contained grown up sons, they would be given other 

 squares, as many as the.y could keep fully cultivated. 



While the government of India can, is prepared to, and usually 

 does, wait several years after the opening of one of its large canals, 

 before the canal proves remunerative, it cannot afford to do so for an 



