August 27, 1903] 



NATURE 



405 



effects of famines and improving the condition of agri- 

 culture. In a report published a few years ago by Mr. 

 Deakin, the Minister of Water Supply in Victoria, under 

 the title of " Irrigated India," Mr. Ueakin stated that, in 

 his opinion, after an inspection of the irrigation works 

 in Italy, Egypt and America, he was satisfied that there 

 was no canal system in the world that could hold com- 

 parison with that of India, and expressed his surprise that 

 so little was known of it. The area of land irrigated in 

 India by canals amounts to about 30 millions of acres, six 

 times that of Egypt, and nearly double that of the whole 

 of the rest of the world. M. Chailley Bert, the writer of 

 the article under notice, after spending considerable time 

 in inspecting the various irrigation works, seems to have 

 come to very much the same conclusion. He expresses his 

 opinion that, after the principles of the general administra- 

 tion of the country, and the conduct of the English in India, 

 there is nothing of more interest and more worthy of observ- 

 ation than the system of irrigation, the methods pursued 

 in carrying out the works, and the results that are obtained. 



From all time there has existed a close relation in India 

 between famine and irrigation. The ancient rulers of India 

 have left everywhere traces of the great works which they 

 had carried out for overcoming the want of rain and pro- 

 viding against the constant recurrence of famines ; and 

 since the English administration irrigation has been forced 

 to the front by the terrible famines which periodically visit 

 a portion of this vast territory, in every instance caused by 

 deficient rainfall, which sometimes lasts for two or three 

 consecutive years. The great famine of 1837 in Bengal 

 led to the project of the Ganges Canal, which has now 

 5500 miles of main canals and branches ; that of 1853 to 

 the works at Madras ; that of 1859 to the works in the 

 north-west. The famine which desolated Orissa and the 

 north of India in 1864, when a million of the inhabitants 

 lost their lives by starvation notwithstanding the expendi- 

 ture of i^ miliions of pounds in combating the famine, and 

 also more than 3 millions in works of irrigation, resulted 

 in the policy of systematically carrying out extraordinary 

 public works by which it was contemplated to spend half 

 a million a year in developing irrigation for the purpose 

 of preventing the recurrence of these terrible disasters. 

 During the terrible famine of 1876, for which a large relief 

 fun^ was raised, 5^ millions of lives were lost, although 

 trib Indian Government expended 11 millions in relief. 



The rainfall of India is very various, amounting to 200 

 inches in a year in some districts, while in others the fall 

 does not amount to more than from 2 to 10 inches ; and 

 over a vast area the land is dry and sterile, except where 

 the rivers have been canalised, or the rain coming from 

 the mountains has been caught and stored in reservoirs. 



The peasants inhabiting these districts are described as 

 being utterly improvident, and population goes on in- 

 creasing at an enormous rate. The dry and unfertile years 

 find them without any resources, and when famine comes 

 untold misery ensues, and the population is decimated by 

 starvation and death. 



A vivid description is given by M. Chailley Bert of the 

 irrigation works undertaken for the relief of the inhabitants 

 in the great famine of 1901 in the Presidency of Bombay. 

 Here five camps were established where provision was made 

 for 10,000 people who were engaged in the construction of 

 a reservoir. To this camp came a mass of people of all 

 ages and conditions, old men, women, and children, besides 

 the actual work people, driven from their homes by misery 

 and starvation. To deal with this multitude a complete 

 system of feeding and hospital requirements, sanitation and 

 the care of children had to be provided, while all the able- 

 bodied were organised into an army of workers. The 

 writer says that no description can correctly give an idea 

 of the complete system of organisation and order of this 

 installation, and he seemed to be greatly impressed with 

 the fact that the whole management was carried out by 

 native functionaries under the direction of a single English 

 engineer, with the occasional visits of the collector of the 

 district and his assistants. 



It is pointed out in the article that irrigation,- besides 

 providing a means of meeting the. sterility due to the 

 absence of rain, adds very greatly to the fertility of the 

 land, in some cases doubling, and in others increasing the 

 yield fourfold, and increasing the value of the land from 



NO. 1765, VOL. 68] 



2/. or 3i. an acre to ten or twelve times that amount. 

 Irrigation also permits the cultivation of the more valuable 

 crops, such as rice, wheat, sugar cane, and indigo, and it 

 also leads to other works which assist in the mitigation 

 of famines, such as roads and railways for the conveyance 

 of the produce of the irrigated lands. 



The Indian Government has already expended upwards 

 of 23 millions sterling on irrigation works, providing 

 water for 13 millions of acres at an average cost of 355. an 

 acre. 



South Africa. 



At the meeting of the South A^^rican Science Association 

 held in May last, amongst other subjects discussed, the 

 most important in the interests of the country was that re- 

 lating to irrigation, which Sir Charles Metcalfe described 

 as the most prominent question of the day. In a paper read 

 by Mr. Westhofen, the author stated that, owing to the in- 

 sufficiency and uncertainty in the distribution of the rain- 

 fall, it was absolutely necessary that irrigation should be 

 resorted to if the country is ever to be made a self-support- 

 ing one. Thousands of square miles of the most fertile 

 land are lying waste owing to the want of this most 

 essential adjunct to agriculture. The institution of a proper 

 system of irrigation has hitherto been hindered by want 

 of capital, want of experience, and ignorance of the best 

 methods of storing water and applying it to the greatest 

 advantage. Irrigation is no new thing in Africa. In 

 Rhodesia there exist the remains of ancient works, and 

 for miles and miles may be seen the traces of skilfully 

 engineered irrigation canals. No information exists as. 

 to who carried out these works. In a rude way the 

 natives of the Zambesi at the present day obtain from two 

 to three crops off their land by employing a simple system 

 of irrigation. As an example of what might be done, and" 

 as a public object lesson, a large reservoir containing 1000 

 million gallons of water was constructed by Mr. Rhodes 

 at Matapos, the water in which is held up by an earthwork 

 dam 100 feet high. 



While thousands of acres of fertile land are lying waste 

 in Africa for want of irrigation, food to the value of 2\ 

 millions of pounds is imported through Cape Town. 



Before an efficient system of irrigation can be organised^ 

 legislation is required to define the water rights. Sir W. 

 Willcocks, in his report on the subject, suggested that all 

 rivers and streams should be proclaimed as public domain 

 and become the property of the nation. 



The forestry of the country was also dealt with in a paper 

 by Mr. D. E. Hutchins, who showed that while at one 

 time there is evidence that Africa was a well-wooded 

 country, the forests of to-day consist generally of nothing 

 but stunted evergreen trees confined to sheltered kloofs. 

 There are now, however, Government forests worked 

 systematically by the Forest Department, but so scarce is 

 the supply that the imports of commercial timber amount 

 to half a million pounds. It was stated that the special 

 sleeper plantations established by the Cape Government 

 Railways cost 6o,oooZ., and that in twenty-five years they 

 were estimated to bring in a revenue of ioo,oooL a year. 

 There is no doubt that the encouragement of the growth 

 of forests will have a material effect in conserving the rain- 

 fall of the country. 



New Mexico. 

 In the report issued by the New Mexico College of Agri- 

 culture for April, an account is given of the experiments 

 carried out for pumping water for irrigation from wells. 

 New Mexico has a. genial climate and fertile soil, but the 

 amount of rainfall is light, averaging not more than from 

 8 to 16 inches a year. Irrigation, therefore, becomes a 

 necessity. It was with a view to demonstrate the practic- 

 ability of providing such a supply of water from the under- 

 flow that the experimental, work was undertaken. The 

 strata consist of sand and gravel, with occasional layers of 

 clay. The Rio Grande Valley is underlaid with gravel beds 

 sufficiently thick to procure from them an ample supply 

 of water at a depth of from, 20 to 80 feet. There are twc» 

 methods of obtaining water from the underground supply. 

 One by sinking a well down to the water-level, and then 

 forcing perforated pipes to some depth below this. . The 

 experimental station well was sunk 48 feet deep, with six- 



