CHAPTER X 



FARM IRRIGATION 



IT is estimated that there are now about 250,000 

 square miles of irrigated land in the world. 

 This great area is receiving very large ad- 

 ditions every year. The principal countries where 

 irrigation is now practised are India, the United 

 States, Egypt, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, 

 England, Scotland, in about the order named. 

 Irrigation is also followed to a lesser extent in 

 Belgium, Japan, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria- 

 Hungary, Argentina, Australia and many other 

 countries. India has 25,000,000 acres under ditch, 

 Egypt 6,000,000, Italy 3,700,000. Some of the 

 irrigation canals now used in India date from the 

 twelfth century. The British government is ex- 

 pending several hundred millions of dollars in 

 developing the Indian irrigation systems, besides 

 which there are not less than 400,000 private wells 

 used for irrigation, serving 2,000,000 acres. In 

 Italy the government controls all the streams in 

 order that they may be available for irrigation. 

 King states that irrigation canals are so numerous 

 in Egypt that not one-tenth of the water of the Nile 

 reaches the Mediterranean. 



In this country irrigation is confined chiefly to 

 the arid and semi-arid (also called sub-humid) 

 sections. In 1902 the number of acres under 

 ditch was as follows: 



233 



