486 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No.S 



irrigation of Comtat and of the princes of Orange, 

 the protection granted to every hydraulic enter- 

 prize, prove that in that time they comprehended, 

 better than in our days, the springs of our pros- 

 perity: it is because then the impulse advanced 

 from the south, from people who lived under its in- 

 fluence : the north did not yet weigh upon us — it 

 had not proscribed our language and our national- 

 ity; our necessities were appreciated by those who 

 shared them. 



It was a bishop of Carpentras who caused the 

 sluice of Carom b to be constructed. This a very 

 small stream, the waters of which are slowly col- 

 lected in winter; but at the voice of power and 

 genius it has acquired the importance of a river. 

 The lords of the Tour d'Aigues renewed this 

 grand and noble example, in the neighborhood of 

 Perthius. But where are the bishops — where the 

 lords of our day? What patronage has replaced 

 theirs? There is but one that can do it; this is the 

 national association, to which we have entrusted 

 all our means of action: it is the royalty and its 

 government — the agricultural democracy, which 

 protects it with its powerful egis, may also claim 

 its canals and its basins of Lampy, and of St. Fer- 

 reol. The example of these reservoirs — of these 

 artificial lakes, as I shall call them, is also an Ital- 

 ian conception; they are common in Piedmont — 

 for it is only rarely that we can put under contri- 

 bution the water of great rivers which occupy the 

 bottoms of valleys; it is only by long and expen- 

 sive works that their services can be borrowed; it 

 is always from their tributaries that irrigation is 

 demanded; it is not. the Po, but the Adda, the 

 Adige, and the Ticino that water Lombardy. 

 Their current is more rapid; it comes more imme- 

 diately from the mountains. So, except in some 

 cases, it is not from the Rhone, notwithstanding 

 its constant current and the acknowledged quality 

 of its waters, that we shall demand our irrigations. 

 It is from those torrents that rush from our alps 

 with a rapidity ten times that of the Rhone. On 

 their courses we shall find the elevated levels 

 which can conduct, the water over the exhausted 

 plateaus of our plains; it is from them that our or- 

 dinary lands will demand the tribute of fertility. 

 The Lez, the Eygues, the Louvese, and on 

 the other side of the Rhone, the Ardeche, the Cese 

 and the Gardon must supply all our necessities; 

 but it is by a particular management, by imitating, 

 on the sources of these rivers, the works executed 

 on feeble brooks, that they can acquire a decisive 

 importance. 



The north-west of the department of Vaucluse 

 possesses but few means of irrigation. Concen- 

 trated on the immediate borders of the Lez, near 

 Bollene, and of the Meyne, near Orange, the 

 higher waters of the Lez and the Eygues are re- 

 tained in the upper part of the valleys. The com- 

 mencement of a canal taken out of the Rhone, be- 

 low the cataract of Viviers. has not fulfilled the 

 hope to which it gave rise. Proceeding from the 

 immediate banks of the river — that is to say, at 

 the descending (declive) part of the valley, it is 

 applicable only to the lowest grounds; neverthe- 

 less, the country might have derived great advan- 

 tages from it, if interests had been combined. But 

 the enterprize has been left to private resources; 

 the canal has not had the necessary size, and has 

 not been extended above the cataract. 



In speaking of so much feebleness, is not this a 



proper occasion to invoke the national power — the 

 influence of the departments — the budget of the 

 communes? What ! canals for navigation are dug 

 at the expense of the state, for the benefit of a 

 commerce, of which we know not how to enlarge 

 the basis, which is the abundance of production. 

 Basins above are constructed to feed these canals; 

 the departments are taxed, or borrow money, to 

 perfect their means of transportation; the com- 

 munes find on their budgets, theatres, monasteries, 

 churches, and twenty thousand hectares, which 

 are worth fifty millions, and which, under irriga- 

 tion, might be doubled in value, cannot awaken 

 their attention ! Yet this is the base on which 

 will be established finer roads, more sumptuous 

 theatres, and churches more richly ornamented; for 

 it is the base of an immense revenue. Eight 

 leagues of canals would complete this work; two 

 millions would accomplish it magnificently. 



An irrigation, to produce all its benefits, ought 

 not to be excessive. It should equal a sufficient 

 rain: beyond this proportion the water would stag- 

 nate, and do more harm than good. It is the 

 surface of the ground which should be kept damp; 

 this condition will suffice to prevent the evapora- 

 tion of the inferior moisture of the soil. Now, 

 two inches make a good rain, three, an abundant 

 one; and this last is the limit at which we should 

 fix, for our climate, the mean quantity to be given at 

 each irrigation. Every calculation not agreeing 

 with this, would prove, either that the lands are 

 badly laid off, or that the inundation has been 

 made with too feeble a stream. In fact, when the 

 quantities arrive successively, they are absorbed 

 by the inferior strata; they cannot extend them- 

 selves over the surface. If the land is very light 

 they are swallowed up; but when the flow is sud- 

 den, then the surliice is rapidly inundated. So, 

 to allow about three inches, which is within the 

 truth, is 1000 cubic metres per hectare. To go be- 

 yond this limit is a proof that the current employ- 

 ed isdisproportioned to the extent and the quality 

 of the land. Thus, all the art of irrigating is, to 

 throw, suddenly, and in great quantity, the water 

 destined to complete the irrigation. A stream of 

 water half the size of another will not irrigate, in 

 a given time, half an equal quantity of land; but 

 only a fourth, and still less, where the natural cur- 

 rent is insufficient Where the aid of irrigation 

 is procured by weak machines, basins should re- 

 ceive the mass of the liquid and distribute it in- 

 stantaneously to the land. 



According to these calculations we should re- 

 quire at this point, of the Rhone 200,000,000 cubic 

 metres of water, allowing 1000 metres per hectare 

 at each irrigation, ten irrigations a year, and 

 20,000 hectares of land. In Italy, the value of 

 the water necessary for the irrigation of a hectare, 

 is from 40 to 50 francs, at its issue from the canals, 

 and this in spite of the competition of an extended 

 system. The value of the water of our canal 

 would rise then, annually, to a million. To allow 

 this wealth to flow longer to the sea, is an unpar- 

 donable neglect. 



We plough too much in France. We recur 

 too much to the strength of our arms. We must 

 be made to understand that there are other power- 

 ful means to call forth and to create richness; and 

 that moisture, and natural meliorations are the 

 auxiliaries of the arms. Cultivation excites, but does 

 not create fertility, and ends by exhausing it: and 



