THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



237 



THE USES OF IRRIGATION. 



W. E. GILBERT, MEDICINE HAT, ALBERTA, CANADA. 



If it be true that a high place must be given in the 

 service of humanity to the man. who makes two blades 

 of grass grow where one grew before, a still higher place 

 must be accorded to the man who makes many blades 

 grow where none had grown before. Many definitions 

 have been given of what constitutes progress and civil- 

 ization, and doubtless men will continue their disputes 

 in these high matters until the end of time. But there 

 are certain things on which there is something like 

 substantial agreement, and one of these is, that any 

 addition to the productive capacity of the earth must be 

 placed on the credit side of the ledger in the balance 

 sheet of humanity. Up to this present day of grace, no 

 human being has succeeded in supporting existence on 

 this planet without food, and as the number of people 

 on the earth is rapidly increasing, it follows that, un-- 

 less each individual is content with a smaller share 

 of the common stock, that stock must be increased pari 

 passu with the growth of population. It is, however, a 

 common phase of knowledge, that what is called the 

 standard of living among the civilized races of man- 

 kind shows a constant tendency to advance, and that 

 the greater facilities of intercourse which have sprung 

 up during the last century have resulted in an increase 

 in the demands which uncivilized, or semi-civilized peo- 

 ples make on their environment. The consequence is 

 that the demand for foodstuffs, and for the other 

 products which men have discovered how to use for their 

 comfort or enjoyment is always on the up-grade. There 



Gathering Pears, Farmington, N. M. 



are more mouths to be fed, more bodies to be clothed, 

 and the mouths want more and better food, the bodies 

 more and better clothing. To some extent, these in- 

 creased demands are met by the opening up of new lands 

 to the labor and industry of mankind. We have a very 

 striking example of this utilization of new areas at the 

 present moment in the development of the Province of 

 Alberta in Canada. But this extensive movement is 

 accompanied by a scarcely less, important intensive 



movement, the object of which is to increase the pro- 

 ductive capacity of already known areas, and in this 

 intensive movement, the engineer plays a part, the sig- 

 nificance of which is not, perhaps, always sufficiently ap- 

 preciated. It is too early to estimate the benefits which 

 will accrue from the scientific invasion of South Africa, 

 but it may be said with certainty that a great and per- 

 manent stimulus has been given to thought in many 

 different departments of scientific investigation and in- 

 quiry. 



Farmington, Glade, Orchard, Farmington, N. M. Owned by 

 G. L. Shumway and others. 



Among these departments engineering occupies a 

 deservedly high place. The modern engineer is neces- 

 sarily a specialist, and there is no branch of the science 

 which has a deeper or more practical interest, in a 

 country with an insufficient rainfall, than in that re- 

 lating to the application of water to land for the pur- 

 poses of agriculture; and perhaps there is no branch of 

 engineering which carries with it more danger in 

 hazarding an opinion of what can be done by the ap- 

 plication of science to the problems of irrigation. It is 

 precisely because a man is a great expert that he, with 

 equal modesty and wisdom, will not, without very care- 

 ful study, make an attempt to forumlate schemes for 

 the application of irrigation. The expert knows how 

 many and complicated are the factors which must be 

 taken into account before embarking on any large 

 project of irrigation. Statistics of rainfall must be 

 carefully collected; the sources of water supply avail- 

 able, and be tabulated; the possibilities of storage must 

 be considered in relation to local conditions; the water 

 must be analyzed, its temperature ascertained; the soils 

 which it is proposed to fertilize must be carefully ex- 

 amined. These and other questions must all be taken 

 into account before any .large scheme can be formu- 

 lated. Before this is done it is necessary to stimulate 

 interest in the subject by collecting a mass of material 

 to illustrate the benefits which have resulted in different 

 parts of the earth's surface, from the judicious applica- 

 tion of water to land by artificial means, coupled with 

 a carefully devised system of drainage. Certainly, there 

 is a large field to draw on, for in its more primitive 

 forms irrigation is one of the oldest means of increas- 

 ing the productivity of the soil known to the agricul- 

 turist. In Egypt and northern India, the natives to 

 this day practice methods of irrigation which their 



