ARTESIAN BORES. 



259 



Eeports of Examination of Water and Water Siiiiply, by Professor K. W. Hilyanl, 

 Agricultural Experimental Station, University of California). As already pointed out, 

 many of the soils in tlie districts where irrigation lias been carried on in America and 

 India contain already a fair proportion of " reli," i.e., highly soluble saline. In a report 

 furnished to the Government of India l)y E. E. Oliver, Esquire, Department of Punjab, 

 it is pointed out that " reh " is rarely developed in sandy soils. Mr. Ilibertson, anotlier 

 Indian authority on irrigation, says : " Within his Icnowledge it never appears in sand. 

 It is seldom very apparent in stiff clayey soils, but loam is affected to an enormous 

 extent." In India the antidote used for " reh " is nitrate of lime, this salt Ijeing recom- 

 mended by Dr. Brown, late Chemical Examiiier to the Punjal) district, wlio shows that 

 mixed with the injurious salts of " reh " decomposition occurs, and nitrate of soda, with 

 the sulphates of carbonates of lime, are produced. These salts being directly beneficial 

 to vegetation, tlie nitrate of soda supplying the plants with the nitrogen they so much 

 need, and the sulphate of lime absorbing ammonia from the air. We have now a large 

 number of artesian bores in the waterless western district, which yield water suitable 

 for human consumption and sufHcient surplus water for the irrigation of small holdings 

 or farms, orchards, &c. 



Mr. Miugaye concludes las report by tlio sig-nificant statement that 

 tlie amount of potasli salt contained in these waters is decidedly 

 beneficial to plant life. 



These analyses together with the results from the experimental farms 

 at the Native Dog and Barringun Bores must indeed go far to remove 

 the doubt that exists as to the suitability of these waters for the 

 encouragement of plant life. 



This phase of the question has not received as yet the general con- 

 sideration it merits. The possibilities are unlimited, but beyond 

 initiating a few experimental farms at some of the Government bores, 

 little has been done in a practical way, the most serious effort being 

 that initated at Pera Bore, 8 miles from Bourke, upon the Wanaaring 

 Eoad. At this place the land has been surveyed into 20-acre blocks, 

 which are offered under the Homestead Settlement provisions of the 

 Crown Lands Act, with a water right equivalent to 35 inches of rain 

 for the year. iSo far these have been fairly taken up ; an area of 57 

 acres has been reserved as a Government farm, where a range of pro- 

 ducts and fruits from the Temperate to the Torrid Zones are being 

 grown with success. The settlement is in its infancy and its progress 

 and development are being watched with the keenest interest. Tho 

 transformation of a sombre wilderness of p-idg-ea scrub to the verdant 

 areas of lucerne, maize, and fruit is very marked and gives encourage- 

 ment for dreams of progress and development in this district, perhaps 

 one of the most arid in the Colony, far beyond the calculation and 

 conception of the present nomadic and purely pastoral population. 



In America great strides are being made in the development o£ 

 irrigation from artesian wells. It may not perhaps be generally 

 known to what extent this is now being used. 



As illustrative of the American experience, the following extracts are 

 given from Colonel Eichard Hinton's valuable reports " The Artesian 

 and Underflow Investigation," published by the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture, Washington, in 1892. Colonel Hintou states: 



Artesian water is used more extensively for irrigation purposes in California than in any 

 State in the Union, as at the end of the year 1891 it was estimated that out of 100,000 

 acres irrigated from artesian wells west of the 97th meridian, 50,COD acres were in 



