December, 1912.] 



445 



At Beaulieu the experiments are being made in these sections or 

 series; each plot, is represented by a single row of palm trees. The plots 

 in one series have received similar treatment to the corresponding plots in 

 the other two series. 



The palm trees are planted at a distance of 24 feet, and the area under 

 experiment on each estate is approximately 8 acres or 24 acres in all. 



As these experiments have only lately been started, no records of 

 yields are as yet obtainable. 



THE IRRIGATION WORKS IN MESOPOTAMIA. 



THE GREAT EUPHRATES BARRAGE. 



The Geographical Journal for November states that the first instal- 

 ment of the vast works planned by Sir W. Willcocks for the irrigation of 

 Mesopotamia by the storage of the Euphrates water is now nearing com- 

 pletion. Details as to the present position of the work, which is being 

 carried out for the Turkish Government by the engineering firm of Sir 

 John Jackson, Limited, have lately been received by Reuter's agency. 

 The part of the scheme first taken in hand has been the building of the 

 great barrage at Hindieh, with associated works by which the water is to 

 be distributed down the old branch of the river, past the site of Babylon, 

 to Hilla. The barrage is being built to the east of the present bed of the 

 Euphrates, and will be 250 metres long, with thirty-five arches fitted with 

 sluice-gates. The piers of these arches are now completed up to the 

 springing of the latter. This barrage will raise the level of the water by 

 7 metres, while a subsidiary barrage immediately below will provide for 

 a further difference of 2i metres. Adjoining the upper barrage there will 

 be a lock for the use of the river traffic, while the lower barrage consists 

 of a lock and a huge shelf of masonry. Work has also been begun on the 

 Hilla regulator, a little above the barrage, which will consist of five 

 arches. The excavation for this has been done and the masonry begun. 

 These works finished, an earthern dam will be thrown across the stream, 

 which will thus be turned into its new bed between the barrage and the 

 regulator. The old brancn has been cleared out, and will be properly 

 canalized, while at Habbania an escape is being constructed by which the 

 flood-water will be carried off into the old Babylonian reservoir. It is esti- 

 mated that 600,000 acres of land will be plentifully irrigated as a result 

 of the works. The operations have involved a vast amount of excavation, 

 concrete work, masonry, pitching, etc., but there has of late been a plenti- 

 ful supply of local labour. 



RICE CROP PROSPECTS, 1912-13. 



The Commissioner of Settlements and Land Records, Burma, reports 

 under date 12th November, 1912, that the area under rice cultivation iu the 

 sixteen principal rice-growing districts of Lower-Burma is now reported 

 to be 7,801,986 acres. This is 431,887 acres more than the area actually 

 cultivated last year, but 29,876 acres less than the area as estimated in the 

 first forecast. Almost the whole of this decrease is in the Inseiu and 

 Syriam Districts. The area destroyed has risen to 81,381 acres, an addi- 

 tional 15,000 having been flooded in the Twantt; Township of the Syriam 

 District since the first forecast. Standing crops are healthy and prospects 

 are good, but in areas where transplanting was latei and on high land 

 more rain ia wanted. 



