THE WONDERFUL CANALS OF CHLNA 



943 



marily initial steps m the reclamation of 

 delta and overflow lands. At any rate, 

 whether deliberately so planned or not, 

 the canalization of the delta and over- 

 flow plains of China has been one of the 

 most fmidamental and fruitful measures 

 for the conservation of her natural re- 

 sources that they could have taken, for 

 we are convinced that this oldest nation 

 in the world has thus greatly augmented 

 the extension of its coastal plains, con- 

 serving and building out of the waste of 

 erosion wrested from the great streams 

 hundreds of square miles of the richest 

 and most enduring of soils. 



We have little doubt that were a full 

 and accurate account given of human in- 

 fluence upon the changes in this remark- 

 able region during the last 4,000 years, it 

 would show that these gigantic systems 

 of canalization have been matters of 

 slow, gradual growth, often initiated and 

 always profoundly influenced by the 

 labors of the strong, patient, persever- 

 ing, thoughtful, but ever-silent husband- 

 men in their efforts to acquire homes 

 and to maintain the productive power of 

 the fields. 



Nothing appears more clear than that 

 the greatest material problem which can 

 engage the best thought of China today 

 is that of perfecting, extending, and per- 

 petuatnig the means for controlling her 

 flood waters, for better drainage of her 

 vast areas of low land, and for utilizing 

 the tremendous loads of silt borne by her 

 streams more effectively in fertilizing 

 existing fields and in building and re- 

 claiming new land. With her millions 

 of people needing homes and anxious 

 for work, who have done so much in 

 land building, in reclamation, and in the 

 maintenance of soil fertility, the govern- 

 ment should give serious thought to the 

 possibility of putting large numbers of 

 them at work, effectively directed by the 

 best engineering skill. 



It must now be entirely practicable, 

 with engineering skill and mechanical ap- 

 pliances, to put the Hwang"-ho, and other 

 rivers of China subject to overflow, com- 

 pletely under control. With the Hwang- 

 ho confined to its channel, the adjacent 

 lowlands can be better drained by canal- 



ization and freed from the accumulating 

 saline deposits which are rendering them 

 sterile. Warping may be resorted to dur- 

 ing the flood season to raise the level of 

 adjacent low-lying fields, rendering them 

 at the same time more fertile. Where 

 the river is running above the adjacent 

 plains there is no difficulty in drawing off' 

 the turbid water by gravity, under con- 

 trolled conditions, into diked basins, and 

 even in compelling the river to buttress 

 its own levees. 



There is certainly great need and great 

 opportunity for China to make still better 

 and more efficient her already wonderful 

 transportation canals and those devoted 

 to drainage, irrigation, and fertilization. 



ANCIENT AND MODERN CANALIZATION 



In the United States, along the same 

 lines, now that we are considering the 

 development of inland waterways, the 

 subject should be surveyed broadly, and 

 much careful study may well be given to 

 the works these old people have devel- 

 oped and found serviceable through so 

 many centuries. 



The Mississippi is annually bearing to 

 the sea nearly 225,000 acre-feet of the 

 most fertile sediment and between levees 

 along a raised bed through 200 miles of 

 country subject to inundation. The time 

 is here when there should be undertaken 

 a systematic diversion of a large part of 

 this fertile soil over the swamp areas, 

 building them into well-drained, culti- 

 vable, fertile fields, provided with water- 

 ways to serve for drainage, irrigation, 

 fertilization, and transportation. 



These great areas of swamp land may 

 thus be converted into the most produc- 

 tive rice and sugar plantations to be 

 found anywhere in the world, and the 

 area made capable of maintaining many 

 millions of people as long as the Missis- 

 sippi endures, bearing its burden of fer- 

 tile sediment. 



There ought, and it would seem there 

 must some time be provided a way for 

 sending to the sandy plains of Florida, 

 and to the sandy lands between there and 

 the Mississippi, large volumes of the rich 

 silt and organic matter from this and 

 other rivers, aside from that which should 

 be applied systematically to building 



