656 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION M, 
As the climatic conditions of Australia are very similar to those of Italy, 
it may be interesting—and it is hoped useful—to the citizens of the Common- 
wealth to know how Italians manage to get the best out of the natural con- 
ditions of their native land, which, owing to the prosperous state of agriculture 
from time immemorial—which leaves a good surplus for improvements and 
comfort—has made Italy the land of music, of poetry, and of arts. 
After this introduction, showing that irrigation is the principal factor 
of the advanced state of agriculture, and the principal source of revenue for the 
Italian nation, the author described the different ways of getting water for 
irrigation, and how it is distributed over the cultivated fields. 
The Cost of Water.—When only small quantities are required, as for the 
orange-groves and flower-gardens, the water is generally raised from the sub- 
soil—at the foot of the hills or round the coasts—either by very primitive means 
such as water-buckets (cicogne) moved by men, or norias, or rosary-pumps 
moved by animals, as in Southern Italy, or by small but very modern centrifugal 
pumps moved by oil or electric motors, used especially along the Ligurian 
Riviera and in many parts of the valley of the Po, where hydro-electric plants 
are very common. 
The cost of the water raised electrically—especially during the daytime, when 
the electric current is distributed at lower rates than at night—varies from 0°10 
to 0:25 franc per cubic metre (from 43d. to 11d. per 1,000 gallons), and it is 
considered not dear, for if raised by animals or, worse still, by men, its cost 
would be respectively eight to seventeen times higher. 
Nevertheless the products grown with irrigation realise such high prices that 
this expenditure is justified, and also a very fair profit is left to the growers of 
oranges, early vegetables, and flowers, which find a ready market in Central and 
Northern Europe, especially during the winter months. The revenue of a good 
orange-grove varies from 2,000 to 3,000 francs per hectare (36/. to 54/. per 
acre) per year. 
Huge Rcservoirs.—¥or irrigation on a large scale—that is, for fairly large 
farms of some 50 to 100 acres in extent, where ordinary vegetables, fruit-trees, 
vines, olives, &c., are cultivated—this price of water would be prohibitive, and, 
besides, the quantity would be insufficient. Then recourse is had to collecting 
the rainfail-—which on the average varies from 36 inches in North Italy to 
15 inches in the South—by storing it up in reservoirs. These vary from the 
modest cistern of some few hundred cubic metres capacity, sufficient for the 
horticulturist, to large artificial lakes of many million cubic metres formed in 
some valley of the Alps or of the Apennines by high dams, built either of earth, 
rock-fill, or masonry, the last being generally preferred. 
There are already many large reservoirs, especially in Northern Italy, such 
as the Lagastrello, Brasimone, Gorzente, Devero, Adamello, and others, but the 
largest of all is now in construction in Sardinia, across the River Tirso. The 
dam, of masonry, is 55 metres high (179 feet), and is of gravity section. It 
will impound 350 million cubic metres (12,250 million cubic feet) of water 
—so that it will be the largest in Europe—sufiicient to irrigate from 20,000 to 
30,000 hectares (about 50,000 to 80,000 acres) of land capable of being cultivated 
for early vegetables, fruit, oranges, olives, vines, and such good-priced products. 
Several other dams are soon to be built in Southern Italy, the most important 
being on the rivers Bradano, Sila, Simeto, and Fortore. The latter will be 
75 metres high (243 feet), and will impound 410 million cubic metres (14,350 
million cubic feet) of water and irrigate about 100,000 acres in the fertile plains 
of Apulia. 
The water from all these artificial lakes is generally used first for motive 
power, in some hydro-electric installations—which in Northern Italy are very 
plentiful, and this helps much in lowering the price of the irrigating water— 
and afterwards it is distributed by means of canals to the different farms, at 
prices varying from about 0-005 to 0-01 franc per cubic metre (from 1d. to 4d. 
per 1,000 gallons), or at the ‘lump sum’ or ‘annual rate’ of from 80 to 120 
francs per hectare (17. 10s. to 2/. 10s. per acre per annum). 
These prices, however—although quite reasonable in semi-arid regions, where 
a timely irrigation may save the crops from total failure in a year of drought— 
are still too high for ordinary irrigations, especially of meadows, and besides, 
