IN ITALY. 177 







given away, although the purchaser may have a surplus. 

 One cubic foot per second, is equal to 72 square inches of 

 water flowing at the rate of 4 miles per hour, or as fast 

 as an active man can walk with ease. 



In Spain the Iberian Irrigation Company makes a 

 charge of $7 per acre, for 12 waterings per year, equiva- 

 lent to a total depth of .33 inches of water over the entire 

 surface irrigated. The canal of this company is a splen- 

 did engineering work, it being 28 miles long and costing 

 $600,000. It has a surplus of water, equal to a power of 

 3,000 horses, which is rented out at $50 per horse power 

 per annum. 



In Italy the cost of water varies considerably. In Lom- 

 bardy, about 1,600,000 acres are irrigated, at an invest- 

 ment of about $20 per acre, or a total of $30,000,000, 

 which is equivalent to $1,250 per cubic foot per second. 

 The increased rental value of the irrigated land is $4,500- 

 000 per annum ; or 15 per cent on the cost of the works. 

 The average cost of the water to the farmer is from 

 $750 to $850 per cubic foot per second, equivalent to 

 $2.50 per acre for maize, $7.50 an acre for meadows, and 

 $20 an acre for rice. A very good idea of the maximum 

 cost of irrigation can be gathered from these figures. 

 The water from some of the canals is purchased by local 

 associations, of farmers or speculators, who distribute it 

 to the irrigators. One of these local associations purchases 

 water from two canals, paying $87 for the cubic foot per 

 second for 714 feet from the first, and selling it out at 

 $96 per foot ; and $65 per foot for 674 feet from the 

 second, and charging $77 per foot. The higher price is 

 charged and paid on account of the valuable fertilizing 

 matter brought down by the water. 



These figures, it should be remembered, are fixed by 

 circumstances entirely different from any that are likely 

 to occur in this country. The value of land is higher 

 than with us ; the cost of the canals, aqueducts, bridges, 



