CHAPTER XXX. 



IRRIGATION. 



THIS is a topic on which a book might be written. The reader will 

 draw a sigh of relief, however, on learning that I shall content myself 

 with giving a few facts and suggestions, since I am well aware that, in spite 

 of its title, this chapter will be dry to many. 



The first rays that fall from the lamp of history reveal vast systems of 

 irrigation in full operation. In many parts of the globe, artificial watering 

 is absolutely essential, and there are few agricultural regions which might 

 not be rendered far more productive if the supply of moisture could be 

 regulated in accordance with the needs of each crop. 



The question, as we shall consider it, is a practical one. In California 

 and other sections, the land must be irrigated ; here, and wherever the 

 rain-fall is more equally distributed throughout the year, we can water if 

 we find the practice remunerative. 



The increased yield from the proper application of water is often 

 marvelous. Mr. James Neilson, in a paper read before the New Jersey 

 State Board of Agriculture, gives some interesting facts observed abroad. 

 In regions along the Cavour Canal, the people were able to mow in 

 one season six heavy burdens of grass, and in the vicinity of Edinburgh, 

 by the use of sewage water, five or six crops of grass annually. In 

 Belgium, " sandy, barren land (resembling the pine barrens of New Jersey) 

 was put into profitable cultivation when it could be irrigated." The plain 

 of Gennevilliers, near Paris, seemed utterly worthless for cultivation. It 

 consisted almost wholly of coarse gravel, and bore no rent. No land- 

 owner would make any effort to use water, so the city of Paris bought about 



