On Water Supjrty and Irrigation. 105 



and cool, and from this cause the catchment areas are 

 capable of yielding the greatest quantity of rain for storage. 



Practically, fifty per cent, of the rainfall here may be 

 saved for use. 



The Yan Yean Reservoir is a fine example of what can be 

 done in this country in collecting and storing winter rains 

 for use, although many prophecied that it would be a 

 failure. 



In India, in the Mairwara district, with a much higher 

 temperature than Victoria and a rainfall ranging from only 

 eight inches in some years up to twenty-two inches in others, 

 the country has been successfully irrigated. 



The physical features of Victoria are well adapted for the 

 formation of reservoirs for storage purposes — such reservoirs 

 can generally be formed at little cost, owing to the favour- 

 able configuration of the surface of the country in localities 

 most suitable for constructing them. Reservoirs can be 

 constructed in the neighbourhood of most of the gold-fields 

 at such moderate cost as to be available for the supply of 

 water at a rate not exceeding from one penny to two pence 

 per 1,000 gallons for either washing gold or as a motive 

 power for machinery. 



Italy and India have benefited largely by irrigation. In 

 Italy, upwards of one and a quarter millions of acres are 

 irrigated with success. The soils are variable, being sandy, 

 clayey, and gravelly. On this irrigated ground the tem- 

 perature is sufficient to grow rice and Indian corn. The 

 heavy, argillaceous soils are available for rice, and the lighter 

 for all the cereals, Indian corn, and varieties of green crops. 

 Prior to the system of irrigation and drainage being adopted 

 on this land, all authorities agree in describing the condition 

 of the country as deplorable in the extreme. The light 

 soils were parched and arid and the heavy soils retained the 

 water and formed pestilential marshes, but now the country 

 is the opposite of all this, rivalling the Milanese in rich 

 productiveness. 



The increased rental of the above lands, due to their 

 improved value from drainage and irrigation, is £290,000 

 per annum, in addition to which the canals, which serve as 

 arteries throughout the country, are an additional source of 

 income. 



In India the favourable results of irrigation are equally 

 remarkable to those of Italy. The value of crops raised from 

 land irrigated by canals from the Western Jumna, in the 



