42 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



sound almost paradoxical to say that Hungary's 

 greatest trouble is want of water ; and here again is 

 proof that the normal condition of the rainfall should 

 not be disturbed by unduly interfering with the 

 forests. " Drought is the great enemy of agriculture 

 in Hungary," says M. Iveleti. The rich soil of the 

 great plain, which yields such marvellous crops of 

 wheat, hemp, colza, Indian corn, tobacco, and rice 

 in ordinary seasons, is subject occasionally to such 

 terrible drought, that the harvest disappears under 

 one's feet. In 1863 there was a dry season, which 

 caused a loss to the country of 126 millions of florins, 

 and reduced the cattle stock to such a degree that it 

 has not yet recovered. Some other causes, it is true, 

 have helped to bring about the decrease of horned 

 cattle, a state of things greatly deplored by all sound 

 agriculturists ; but there remains the fact of the 

 fearful ravages committed by the dry season of 1863. 

 It is reckoned that on an average there is one dry 

 year in every ten. 



To face this difficulty, the question of irrigation is 

 now seriously attracting attention in Hungary. It is 

 a work twice blessed, because it relieves the flooded 

 seasons of their surplus waters, to store them for 

 needful times of drought. The favourable results 

 to be derived from irrigation in the fertile soil of 

 Hungary almost exceed belief. In a visit of inspec- 

 tion through the Bacs district, in Lower Hungary, 

 in 1878, I gathered various statistics, which went 



