Irrigation in Europe 77 



posed that they were introduced from the Netherlands; but the* 

 fact that the character of the works bears a much closer resem- 

 blance to the Italian construction, and that extensive tracts of 

 irrigated land are found in the vicinity of ancient Roman stations, 

 as at Cirencester, lends support to the former view. 



This water-meadow irrigation of England is largely confined 

 to the southern parts of the island, as in Berkshire, along the 

 Kennet ; in Derbyshire, in the valley of the Dove ; in Dorset ; in 

 Gloucestershire, along the Churn, Severn, Avon, Lidden, and other 

 streams ; on the Avon, Itchen, and Test, in Hampshire ; in Wilt- 

 shire ; in Worcestershire and in Devonshire, where catch meadows 



Fig. 16. River and canal for water-meadow Irrigation, at Salisbury, England. 



are laid out in the valleys of many rivers and brooks. In Figs. 

 16 and 17 are shown two views of water-meadow construction at 

 Salisbury, in England. 



If we pass to the continent of Asia, we shall find irrigation 

 practiced over a wide extent of territory in many countries, but 

 nowhere on so large a scale as in the ancient and modern develop- 

 ments in India. How wide the extent of irrigation is in India 

 may be most easily comprehended from the map, Fig. 18, where, 

 from Lahore, in the northwest, to Calcutta, in the southeast, a 

 distance of nearly 1,400 miles, and covering a mean width not less 

 than 100 miles, a large share of the land is under irrigation. 

 Other modern irrigation works are to be found at Cuttack, on the 



