88 Irrigation and Drainage 



other parts of South America, Central America and Mexico, no 

 very definite idea of its magnitude or distribution can be given 

 as yet. 



Newell says, in the report of the Eleventh Census, that in 

 the western part of the United States the area irrigated within the 

 arid and sub -humid regions aggregated at the end of May, 

 1890, 3,631,381 acres, or 5,674.03 square miles, while the total 

 number of farms or holdings upon which crops were raised by 

 irrigation was 54,136. In this irrigation, water was supplied by 

 3,930 wells to 51,896 acres, at an average cost of $245.58 per well, 

 the wells yielding an average of 54.43 gallons per minute. The 

 average value of products from this irrigated land per acre he 

 found to be $14.89, the farms having an estimated mean value 

 per acre of $83.28, while the average size of each farm or holding 

 was 67 acres. The average value of the product of the average 

 farm was thus $897.63. 



To bring together in close review the extent of irrigation as 

 it is today practiced in the various parts of the world, we may 

 quote the statements of Wilson : " The total area irrigated in 

 India is about 25,000,000 acres, in Egypt about 6,000,000 acres, 

 and in Italy about 3,700,000 acres. In Spain there are 500,000 

 acres, in France 400,000 acres, and in the United States 4,000,000 

 acres of irrigated land. This means that crops are grown on 

 40,000,000 acres which, but for irrigation, would be relatively bar- 

 ren or not profitably productive. In addition to these, there are 

 some millions more of acres cultivated by aid of irrigation in 

 China, Japan, Australia, Algeria, South America, and elsewhere." 



These figures seem enormous as we read them, and so they 

 are, but they leave an exaggerated impression on the mind which 

 needs to be corrected, for very few realize the magnitude of the 

 volume of water which must be handled in raising a crop by irri- 

 gation. In order that we may not mislead in this direction, we 

 wish to make the correction. Let us suppose that the amount of 

 land which is actually under irrigation at the present time is four 

 times the 40,000,000 of acres which have been enumerated above. 

 Now, were this supposition true, and all of these acres were 

 brought together in one solid square, it would have but 500 miles 



