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392 H. G McKINNEY. 
chief crop irrigated was lucerne, but maize and other grain crops 
were grown successfully. This is a class of irrigation which 
deserves to be widely imitated, as on it will depend, in an impor- 
tant degree the increase of production and settlement on our 
western rivers. The source of supply in this case is the river 
Namoi, and the water is raised by a centrifugal pump to a maxi- 
mum height of slightly over thirty feet. This is one of those 
cases in which economy in the construction of distributary 
channels has been carefully considered, while economy in water 
has been left out of account. The style in which the irrigation is 
done would not be allowed on any canal in Upper India—in fact 
it is just such a case as would be deemed to require the application 
of the penal clause in the Canal Act relating to waste of water. 
Yet the result is highly successful and no one is at present injured 
by the extravagant use of the water. The soil is of a very porous 
character and is underlaid by drift and shingle, so that the natural 
drainage leaves nothing to be desired, and no damage is done by 
over-watering. On the contrary, as the water contains certain 
fertilizing properties, the land is really manured as well as watered 
by the copious floodings. All this has been taken into account, 
and there is no doubt that the results obtained amply justify the 
practice adopted. Not only is the supply of water actually used 
with the crops unusually large, but there is extensive loss of water 
in the distributary channels. Like the case of the pumping, this 
also was a matter which was carefully considered by Mr. Wills 
Allen, who came to the conclusion that the broad and shallow 
channels while wasteful of water, were, as compared with channels 
constructed on more scientific principles, a source of convenience 
and economy in working his irrigation paddocks. Viewed in this 
light, the position was a perfectly sound one. The results of the 
irrigation are highly satisfactory, and the system followed is 
undoubtedly warranted by the circumstances, though there are 
many places in which such watering would kill the crops, and 
others in which it would turn the land into a marsh. 
In the Central and Western Divisions, wherever a supply of 
water is available, irrigated gardens and orchards are to be seen 
