492 



THE AGBIGULTUBAL JOURNAL. 



if the soil is rocky) to a reservoir formed 

 on the side of a hill. The reservoir can 

 be filled, or partially so, with every con- 

 siderable shower of rain, and in normal 

 seasons it can do very fair work. In a 

 bad drought it will prove a broken reed, 

 as its storage capacity cannot be great, but 

 on the whole it can give considerable 

 help. Several of such reservoirs can 

 sometimes be made on one farm, and pos- 

 sibly more than one from the same spruit. 

 It is not, indeed, absolutely necessary to 

 start fi'om a defined channel ; the water 

 may be picked up from the side of a hill 

 by a catchment drain. But it is evident 

 that such supplies depend on the occur- 

 rence of heavy showers, and such a system 

 is very precarious. The more useful 

 diversion reservoirs will be fed by spruits 

 which are more or less permanent in 

 ordinary years. 



Dams Across Ravines. 



18. Many farmers have proposed to 

 dam the main drainage lines with a view 

 to storage. This is seldom to be recom- 

 mended, especially where the slope of the 

 country is so great as it is in Natal. It is 

 difficult to place any limit on the magni- 

 tude and force of the torrent that may 

 some day come down, and unless expen- 

 sive scouring sluices are made the reser- 

 voir is liable to be silted up very soon. 

 Sometimes the catchments are so rocky 

 that there is no great fear of silting, and 

 then, with a good waste weir over natural 

 rocky ground, it may be possible to store 

 water for a few acres at a moderate cost. 



" Karez." 



19. The " Karez," or irrigating tunnel 

 of Biluchistan, might possibly be adopted 

 in Natal : there are some sites where 

 water could be procured by this device, 

 but it is, of course, necessary first to find 

 the plot of good soil on which to utilise 

 the water. The " Karez " is, certainly, a 

 possibility for the future if labour is 

 cheap enough— a very important con- 

 dition. 



Irrigation by Lift. 



20. Generally speaking, and with few 

 exceptions, the physical conditions of 

 Natal render gravitation schemes of any 

 considerable scope unattainable. Given 

 a plot of suitable land, the cheapest way 

 to irrigate it may often be to pump from 



a spring, well, or river, say to a height of 

 10 feet to 40 feet for ordinary crops, and 

 up to 100 feet or more for specially 

 valuable crops, such as tobacco and sugar- 

 cane. But no pumping will pay without 

 good soil and cheap carriage to a market. 



Animal Power. 



21. The "Noria" pump is a bucket- 

 and-chain arrangement, well known, I 

 believe, in the Cape Colony as the 

 " bakkies " pump ; it is very effective for 

 it lifts from 10 feet to ^O feet. In Sep- 

 tember, 1899, I recommended the pur- 

 chase by Government of one capable of 

 irrigating about 25 acres in the month, 

 to be worked by oxen, horses, or mules. 

 It was to cost about £60, and to be let out 

 to farmers at £2 per month. The pro- 

 posal was not accepted, but it might be 

 again considered, if several farmers ex- 

 press a wish to try it, as it may encourage 

 them to purchase one for themselves after 

 its efficiency has been actually and practi- 

 cally demonstrated. But present condi- 

 tions are unfavourable for the use of 

 animal power ; live stock should be 

 plentiful, which is not now the case. 



Boring and Testing for Wells. 



22. It is also desirable that farmers 

 should have some means of ascertaining 

 when necessary what is likely to be the 

 cost of excavating wells for irrigation. 

 For this I lately suggested* the purchase 

 of a boring plant to bore down to 100 feet, 

 with a force pump for testing! the supply 

 of water in the boring. This proposal 

 also was not approved. The plant, if it 

 should ever be purchased, should be 

 under the control of the Commissioner of 

 Mines. 



Wind-Engines. 



23. Windmills or wind-engines, are 

 used, to some extent, in the Cape Colony. 

 From Wallace's work (1896), I gather^ 

 that he did not consider that they had 

 been successful there, but I agree with 

 him that they must succeed in time. I 

 have no experience of wind-engines, and 

 on reading all that I can find about them 



* This was originally suggested by Commis- 

 sioner of Mines in 1899. 



t A partial test except for small volumes. 



X " Although wind-power has been on the 

 whole a failure in South Africa, it must not be 

 taken for granted that ultimate success cannot 

 be achieved by it. ' 



