TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 503 
SYDNEY. 
FRIDAY, AUGUST 21. 
After the President had delivered his Address (see p. 490) the following 
Papers were read :— 
1. Irrigation in New South Wales. By A. B. Wane. 
2. Irrigation in Lybia. 
By Professor Lurar Luiaci1, D.Sc., M.Inst.C.H. 
The paper was prefaced by a general survey of the many works of general 
economic importance undertaken in Lybia—that is, the region round Tripoli and 
Bengasi—since its occupation less than three years ago by Italy. All these 
works are arranged according to a plan prepared by Professor Luiggi in view of 
the future development of agriculture in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, not only as 
it must have been in Roman times, but as it can be further improved by modern 
implements and methods of cultivation, with the assistance of scientific 
irrigation. 
Tripolitania, for the most part, is a flat country, slightly elevated above sea- 
level, with a hot and dry climate, and a scanty rainfall during the winter 
months and totally absent for two-thirds of the year, ranging from about 
20 inches near the coast to 10 inches near the table-lands, and disappearing 
altogether further inland. The soil within the line of the 15 inches rainfall 
is sandy, but adapted to the culture of cereals of rapid growth, and for breeding 
sheep and especially goats. The rainy season is from November to February, 
and with proper cultivation—thanks to the abundance of sunshine even in winter 
—a good crop can be raised, ready to be harvested in March or April. Then 
begins the hot, dry season, and, where there is no irrigation, everything 
dries up. 
Cyrenaica is rather a plateau-land, some 2,500 feet above sea-level, very 
undulating, with a milder climate and a rainfall of from 15 to 50 inches, so 
that ordinary crops, fruit trees, olives, vines, etc., can grow; besides date-palm 
trees, which form an important item in the agriculture of Lybia. But then the 
summer months are hot and dry, and unless some sort of watering is applied to 
certain classes of trees, many would die, especially in years of drought. 
Thus practically the future development of Lybia depends more or less on 
irrigation. At present irrigation, as practised by the natives, is very rudimentary, 
but most ingenious. Owing to the great permeability of the soil there are no 
running streams in Lybia—or, at least, they may run occasionally, but only for a 
few hours after a cloud-burst. All the water passes rapidly into the subsoil 
and has to be raised from wells by means of buckets operated by camels; and 
thus only limited zones near the coast—where the surface is nearer to the water- 
plane—can be irrigated with profit. A very clever artifice is adopted to reduce 
evaporation. For this purpose on the same area to be irrigated are grown first 
palm trees, which form a sort of sunshade and a protection for the successive 
growth of orange or other fruit trees, which in turn shelter the plants to be 
grown on the surface, such as ordinary vegetables or lucerne, and to these the 
irrigation water is directly applied. In this way excess of sunshine and of 
ventilation are avoided and evaporation from the soil reduced to a minimum. 
At the same time three different crops are grown on the same plot of land, 
which is thus utilised to the fullest extent. 
This method of irrigation, which is practised also in some parts of Sicily 
and must be of Roman origin, can be applied only to limited zones and where 
the water-plane is not more than 20 to 30 feet below the surface. 
For irrigation on a larger scale, as there are no superficial streams, it is 
necessary to collect the rainfall from the mountain-sides and store it up in 
artificial lakes formed by dams. This was practised by the Romans, and we 
find in Lybia the ruins of many masonry dams and cisterns, some of which are 
being restored and will soon be again in working order. In the meantime some 
more important reservoirs are being considered and will soon be started. They 
