IRRIGATION. 



squares, about four or five feet each way, 

 between each pair of which a small chan- 

 nel, made by banking the so\],protempore, 

 in a very simple manner, conducts the lit- 

 tle stream supplied from numerous wells 

 made expressly for the occasion. When 

 the ear, or blossom, has shot forth, wa- 

 tering is discontinued. The Chinese pro- 

 ceed on the grand scale ; they not only 

 divide their fields by numerous channels, 

 but even warp whole tracts of low land ; 

 whereby they insure immense returns. 

 The Africans, in some parts, follow the 

 Hindostanee plan ; but raise their water 

 chiefly from the rivers, or obtain their 

 supplies of that invaluable element from 

 natural reservoirs, formed by the hollows 

 among hills. In every part of Asia, but 

 especially in the Mysore country, former- 

 ly under the dominion of the late Sultan 

 Tippoo, the retention of water, for the 

 purposes of irrigation, is a matter of such 

 importance as to be entirely under the 

 auspices and controul of the government. 

 Tippoo caused banks, or, as they are 

 called in India, bunds, to be made be- 

 tween the bases of hills, so as to intercept 

 the copious streams, which, during the 

 rainy seasons, flow from the hilly coun- 

 try. An example worthy of imitation ! 

 Thus immense bodies of water might be 

 collected in many parts of the United 

 Kingdoms, whence mills and various 

 machinery might be worked, without 

 causing any waste of valuable land ; the 

 soil, in situations appropriate to such 

 purposes, being for the most part poor, 

 and unfit for tillage. 



The Milanese territory exhibits the 

 greatest expanse of irrigation known in 

 Europe. In that country are to be seen 

 noble canals running in every direction, 

 totally exempted from local prejudice, 

 private pique, or self-interest. All are 

 under the authority and protection of go- 

 vernment, which lets out the water to the 

 various occupiers of meadows, at a fixed 

 rate, according to the quantity supplied. 

 Sometimes these canals are farmed out, 

 by putting up the several sluices to auc- 

 tion ; in other instances the canals go with 

 the lands. 



Whatever may be the manner in which 

 their water is dispersed, its due preserva- 

 tion is an object of general solicitude, 

 on account of the benefits which indivi- 

 duals derive from its use ; while the go- 

 vernment, both from that motive, and 

 the support of the revenue produced by 

 farming of the canals, do not allow the 

 smallest despoliation to pass unpunished. 

 We a.ve assured, by the best authorities, 



that the whole of the pasture lands in 

 the Milanese exhibit uncommon fertility ; 

 and that the canals are so very extensive, 

 and the branches from them so nume- 

 rous, that few need complain of a want 

 of water for irrigation. These works are 

 known to be of no modern date : some 

 have existed for centuries, chiefly apper- 

 taining to monasteries ; their waters be- 

 ing let out by measure to fertilize their 

 adjacent lands. The great canal, known 

 by the designation of Vecchiabbia, was 

 in a flourishing state early in the eleventh 

 century, beyond which we do not know 

 what might have been its age. In 1220, 

 the great canal of Adda, which waters 

 the plains of Lodi, was finished; in 1305, 

 the canal of Trereglio, which communi- 

 cated with four others of very ancient 

 workmanship, was completed ; and in 

 1460, the canal of Martesano, extending 

 thirty-two English miles: in this aque- 

 duct, besides the main branch, of thirty- 

 five feet in width, there were made nine- 

 teen scaricatori, or lesser canals, which 

 served, when the waters rose very high, 

 to draw off the surplus, so as to prevent 

 injury to the main line, and to prevent 

 inundation along its course : when the 

 latter returned to a more tranquil state, 

 the scaricatori, which were not so deep 

 as the main line, served to supply it with 

 what remained of their contents. 



It is worthy our notice, that although 

 the Italian aqueducts have, to our cer- 

 tain knowledge, been duly supported 

 for upwards of eight centuries, by a race 

 of people far beneath us in the more 

 noble sciences, in wealth, in population, 

 and in many other circumstances in 

 which we pride ourselves ; yet that Bri- 

 tain cannot boast of one aqueduct, made 

 exclusively with the important view to 

 improve her agriculture ; though it would 

 be as easy to shew a thousand situa- 

 tions where such canals would double 

 the value of the lands adjoining, as it 

 would be to prove that such value would 

 be doubled. 



It is, indeed, only in a few counties, 

 that irrigation is carried on to any ex- 

 tent ; though we may in various places 

 see partial adoptions of this most benefi- 

 cial practice : yet we daily observe situa- 

 tions naturally offering this advantage, 

 without the smallest attempt being made 

 to retain streams which, from elevated 

 situations, glide with some velocity 

 through deep vullies, whose very borders, 

 perhaps, are verdant, but whose more 

 retired parts would be doubled or trebled 

 ia value, by the influence of that element, 



