TUE AGBlOULTtltlAL JOURNAL. 



493 



I am confronted with most contradictory 

 opinions. One anthority considers tliat 

 " irrigation supplies can be more economi- 

 cally pumped by steam-power, even with 

 dear coal." Another, who has paid special 

 attention to the subject, proves that a 

 well-designed wind-engine is the most 

 economical prime mover for such pur- 

 poses as do not require continuous and 

 unbroken action. Windmills are largely 

 used in America, where there is, perhaps, 

 a more general knowledge of mechanical 

 details than there is in this Colony. Mr. 

 F. R. Johnson, in his remai'ks on Wells 

 and Pumping, in the Special Report on 

 Irrigation in Cape Colony, LS91), gives, as 

 an instance of what is being actually done 

 in that Colony. "Wind-engine, 40 feet 

 diameter, irrigating 30 to 50 acres, with 

 20 to 40 feet lift, at a cost of from £2 10s. 

 to £3 per acre, allowing for interest, de- 

 preciation, and repairs." In America, 

 smaller windmills appear to be chiefly 

 used, irrigating from 2 to 10 acres. 



Steam Pumps. 



24. I have recommended pumping by 

 steam for sugar-cane flats near the coast, 

 ■with a lift of 12 to 25 feet. Gwynne's 

 Invincible Centrifugal Pumps are, in my 

 opinion, the most suitable, and sugar 

 planters, who have competent mechanics 

 at hand, will find no difticulty whatever. 

 Whether steam-pumping will pay up- 

 country is another question. 



Hydkaulic Ram. 



25. A properly designed hydraulic ram 

 may sometimes be very successful in 

 Natal. The circumstances suit it, as the 

 necessary working fall can generally be 

 obtained, while it requires very little at- 

 tention when it has been once properly 

 set up. The ram has not, to my know- 

 ledge, done much yet in this country, but 

 the engines generally used are not 

 sufficiently powerful for irrigation. Mr. 

 John lilake, of Accrington, who supplied 

 the rams for the Estcourt Waterworks, has 

 lately sent an agent to South Africa, and 

 I shall soon lie able to learn approximate 

 prices of suitable engines. From one 

 estimate lately received, I find that the 

 cost of irrigation by ram, with a moderate 

 lift of, say, 40 feet, is something less than 

 £2 per acre, on the basis of 10 per cent, 

 of cost of engine for interest, deprecia- 

 tion, and repairs. 



26. Pumping at £2 per acre will not 

 pay everywhere ; all the cii-cumstances 

 must be favourable. 



General Remarks, 



27. There must be sites for many scores 

 of small canals, and these, no doubt, will 

 be made in the course of time, but they 

 are so small in scope that it is almost im- 

 possible that they should be suggested or 

 brought forward except by the owners of 

 the lands to be irrigated, or by others in- 

 terested in those lands. As yet, however, 

 cultivation is so little advanced that, 

 during the very dry seasons of 1899 and 

 1900, I have only had about 58 applica- 

 tions for advicei about irrigation, and 

 the conditions of the country are such 

 that it is seldom possible for me to 

 originate an irrigation scheme. In some 

 countries, where there are broad and 

 fairly level and unbroken tracts, a general 

 scheme may be prepared from without ; 

 but in Natal the owner of the land must 

 initiate, at least so far as to point out to 

 the Engineer the lands that he wishes to 

 water. 



28. Irrigation may be considered as 

 serving two purposes, alleviating the 

 effects of drought and raising crops in the 

 naturally dry winter season. In the first 

 case, the drought greatly affects the supply 

 available for irrigation, and in Natal there 

 are no perrenial mountain snows, no ex- 

 tensive swamps, or other natural means 

 of storage ; while, for reasons before 

 given, the country is not suited for works 

 of artificial storage. Thus, irrigation 

 works in Natal will, to some extent, fail 

 as a substitute for natural rainfall, though 

 the supplies in the main permanent rivers 

 will not give out altogether. In a dry 

 year, the proposed works on the Push- 

 man's and Tugela Rivers will irrigate, on 

 the whole, about as much as usual, be- 

 cause they will be used in both seasons, 

 but the " diversion reservoirs "- will fail, 

 and the furrows depending on " spruits " 

 will give a reduced supply or fail alto- 

 gether during part of the year. Until 

 irrigation is much more developed, the 

 few small furrows from the larger rivers, 

 which take only a small proportion of the 

 river's supply, will be useful and efficient 

 to their full scope, and pumping from the 

 beds of permanent rivers will generally 

 give full results. When irrigation has 



