CHAPTER I. 

 THE HISTORY OF IRRIGATION. 



^T^ HE magic science of irrigation is as old as civili- 

 * I zation itself — in fa<5l, it was in vogue during 



^^M the semi-barbaric days of prehistoric times. 

 The use of irrigation for the produdlion of 

 crops probably antedates Noah's deluge by several 

 thousand years. The earliest writer of agricultural 

 lyrics was Hesiod, a Greek epic author who lived 

 a thousand years before the Christian era. He often 

 refers to irrigation as prac5liced for ages prior to 

 his time by the Chinese people, of whom he seems to 

 have had considerable knowledge. In Plato's Timseus 

 is an account of the sunken island of Atlantis. This 

 account Plato obtained from his ancestor Solon, thd 

 lawgiver, who had visited Egypt, and in the city of 

 Sais obtained the information from an Egyptian priest. 

 Solon lived about 2,500 years ago, and, according to 

 the story told him by the priest, there existed about 

 10,000 years before his time a large island in the 

 Atlantic ocean opposite the Pillars of Hercules, other- 

 wise the Strait' of Gibraltar, which was divided into 

 ten kingdoms and ruled by the descendants of Posei- 

 don. The description of the island is very minute, 

 and among other things also is described a very ex- 

 tensive and elaborate system of irrigating canals, con- 

 stru(5led in .such manner as to utilize every natural 

 stream and completely surround the island. While 



