1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



487 



when the proportions which constitute fruitfulness 

 are broken, we find ourselves engaged in a ca- 

 lamitous career from which it is difficult to be ex- 

 tricated. For this reason we ought to have re- 

 course, as soon as possible, to those irrigations 

 which will spread upon the soil the masses of de- 

 tritus [or washings] which are annually lost in 

 the sea, and to profit by the increase of resources 

 which will arise spontaneously from such an ope- 

 ration to establish meadows, which, in their turn, 

 will deposite on the soil the powerful tribute of 

 manures. Thus by irrigation, above all, we may 

 free ourselves from the dangerous situation in 

 which we are placed. 



But however interesting may be the results to 

 be obtained from a canal on the Rhone, it can ne- 

 ver, as before remarked, be applied to, except, for 

 the low grounds, the margin of the river, already, 

 almost every where, of an excessive fertility. The 

 great object of irrigation ought to be, to fertilize, 

 to enrich, to create the elevated, dry, stony soils, 

 which form so considerable a part of our country, 

 and which can expect productiveness only from 

 irrigation and colmatage. It is then to other 

 streams that we must address ourselves. 



The Eygues has a course of 15 leagues, and 

 its sources are as elevated as those of the Rhone, 

 which has 150. Then one league of canal taken 

 from tbe Eygues will give the same level as 10 

 from the Rhone. But the Eygues is only a tor- 

 rent which scarcely suffices for tbe upper valleys. 

 It tails at need; but sometimes it also rolls in its large 

 bed frightful masses of water: the torrent becomes a 

 river. We have seen feeble brooks from lakes. 

 It is an inland sea which we require of the Ey- 

 gues. Many communes, the Bois de Velage, the 

 Plan de Dieu, the barrens of Orange, offer more 

 than 15,000 hectares which implore its aid. It 

 would require the disposal of 150,000,000, suppo- 

 sing that the ordinary si ream and the current 

 rains of the year could fill the reservoirs three 

 tunes in the season of irrigation. One or more 

 basins cubing 50,000.000 metres would be re- 

 quisite on this stream. 



A lake evidently had its issue at the strait of 

 Piles in former ages. The scythe of time, or a 

 deplorable speculation, has broken the sluice, and 

 history does not tell us if the consuls were roused 

 by it, or if Cicero defended the rights of outraged 

 nature. Yet, notwithstanding the advantage of 

 this indicated position, a new dam could not be es- 

 tablished there. The valley above is cultivated. 

 But from Sahurre to Saint May the country con- 

 tracts, wild and uncultivated, the deep defile offers 

 occasionally only narrow passages. It is 12,000 

 metres long, with a mean breadth of 400 — a depth 

 of 5 metres would give us just 24,000,000 metres. 

 Higher up, on the same waters of the Eygues a 

 natural lake was lately formed by the crumbling 

 of a mountain; 72 toises of dam would produce it 

 again. The tributary of the Oulle runs through 

 valleys, wilder, deeper, more dammed up. In 

 these, basins equal to the former might be ibund. 

 Thus we have more than is necessary to pay to 

 the plain the tribute it expects. 



But irrigation is not the only advantage to be 

 derived from these works. This damming up of 

 the waters would be a means of conveyance in a 

 country without communication, where all trans- 

 portation is dangerous. These reservoirs, ready 

 to receive the waters of storms, would moderate 



the sudden inundations which threaten the lower 

 country. The perpendicular fall of the cataracts 

 would diminish their impetuosity — fish would re- 

 appear in these waters unpeopled by the failure of 

 the stream. On the borders of the lakes, moistened 

 by the constant filtration and evaporation, would rise 

 forests that would arrest the crumbling of the hills, 

 and prevent the filling up of the beds of the 

 stream. Finally, these fruitful valleys, embellish- 

 ed by the most unexpected objects, would be co- 

 vered with charming seats, whither, as on the 

 lakes of Italy, the citizens o r the plains would 

 come to support the heats of summer, and breathe 

 a pure air. With their capital and the taste for 

 preservation and creation which is the companion 

 of competence, would arise the only possible cul- 

 ture in these abandoned districts: woods would re- 

 appear on the sides of the mountains, and thus 

 would be commenced under every form, the work of 

 re-construction, which it is our desire to inculcate. 



But commerce will soon demand of you the 

 works which I claim for agriculture. Every 

 where interior navigation is arrested — the rivers 

 are obstructed. In vain would you re-commence 

 on their courses the labors of Ixion — your forces 

 are powerless to remove the constant deposites 

 which are formed in every season, day and night, 

 at every hour. You must attack the beginning 

 of the evil, and this evil is in the upper valleys. 

 You must prevent the invasion, and you will not 

 have to combat it. You will have no rivers till 

 you have lakes. These make powerful rivers, 

 and regulate their streams; and the Seine under 

 this system would cease to be the sewer of a pro- 

 vince — would become the most noble ornament of 

 the capital, and our national monuments would 

 be reflected in the crystal of its waves. Thus 

 commerce and agriculture have here, as every 

 where, the same interests. 



The commencements should be made on the 

 Eygues, because an interesting and varied coun- 

 try lies at its feet, and we should obtain immedi- 

 ately a number of comparative experiments on 

 different soils. 



The banks of the Louvese are cultivated quite 

 to its source, but the Toulourenc, its chief tributa- 

 ry, offers a narrow defile, confined by immense 

 perpendicular rocks. Ten toises of works would 

 form a considerable reservoir. Causans, Violes, 

 and Courthezon would thereby obtain a more re- 

 gular and extensive irrigation. Happily for the 

 districts below, the Sorgues meets the Louvese 

 and contributes the aid of its inexhaustible waters; 

 but I believe that it would be better to establish 

 the works on the Eygues, and a canal of a league 

 below Cayranne would unite the waters of the 

 two rivers, and satisfy all demands. 



But we can speak of irrigation in the south of 

 France without thinking of the country which 

 occupies the lower part of our basin, of that coun- 

 try which fixes the attention of agriculturists, the 

 Delta of the Rhone? Like the Delta of the Nile, 

 it cannot realize all the advantages of its position 

 except by a vast system of irrigation. Salt is crys- 

 tallized there by the rays of the sun, and pro- 

 scribes useful vegetation; but as soon as fresh wa- 

 ter touches this soil, the most vigorous fertility 

 hastens to display itself. Nor have schemes for its 

 improvement been wanting: some, and with rea- 

 son, have invoked the steam engine; others have 

 seen only the Rhone which rolls its immense mass 



