CHAPTER XXI 

 THE HISTORY OF IRRIGATION 



THE history of irrigation is full of interest, for it is 

 virtually the story of the most progressive peoples of 

 historical times. Like all human history, it is fragmentary 

 and can be pieced together only by much labor. The 

 history of irrigation is yet to be written; this chapter is 

 but a brief and incomplete sketch of the subject. 



259. The antiquity of irrigation. The practice of 

 irrigation antedates recorded history in every great coun- 

 try of antiquity. Whether it originated in Asia, Africa, 

 Europe or America, no man can tell. Beyond question, 

 where man first appeared, there, not long after, irrigation 

 began to be practised. Together with the stirring of the 

 soil and the sowing of seed, irrigation is one of the first 

 agricultural practices of mankind. 



The monuments of Egypt declare that Menes, the 

 first king of the first dynasty, extended greatly the irri- 

 gation structures of his day. How long before him, in the 

 unrecorded past, irrigation had been practised in Egypt, 

 is not known. Certain it is, however, that in the succession 

 of dynasties, throughout the glory of Egypt, even to the 

 present humble day, the waters of the Nile, used in irri- 

 gation, have made of Egypt a granary of food. In the 

 days of Joseph, the son of Jacob, "all countries" came to 

 Egypt for food. 



The monuments of Babylon and Assyria declare with 

 equal emphasis that irrigation was a full-grown practice 



(445) 



