Miscellaneous. 



324 



fOcT. 1906. 



necessary for the first two months, by which time the crop is well up and protects 

 the soil from the sun and reduces evaporation from it. Three irrigations given in 

 the last thirty days of the growth of the crops and the total water used was 2*2 feet 

 deep with a yield ot 2,150 lb. per acre. 



Peaches and A price- These are planted in rows of about 15 feet apart with 

 furrows between from which the water is run to the root of the tree. Water is given 

 while the tree is dormant above ground, ten irrigations being given in 75 days, 

 and then the supply of water is stopped until the fruit forms when water is again 

 occasionally given. The total depth of water used was 3"8 feet for peaches and 

 5 feet for apricots, and the yield 4,400 lbs. and 7,600 lbs, per acre respectively. 



Tomatoes.— For these the furrows were 4 feet apart. The seed was planted 

 along the edges of the furrows. Six-tenths of a foot of water were given before 

 sowing. The seeds were irrigated two days after planting, twenty-seven irrigations 

 were given in 244 days, the total water used was 4'3 feet per acre, and the yield 

 12,300 lbs. per acre. 



Indian Corn.— Six-tenths of a foot of water was applied previous to plant- 

 ing, which was done in rows along furrows previously moistened. Five irrigations 

 were given in thirty days, the total depth of water used being 1*5 feet. Water was 

 used while the corn was growing and not after the ear had begun to form. 



General Remarks. — From the above it will be seen that in a country much 

 drier than Ceylon it has been found possible to raise crops of an extremely varied 

 character by the use of a quantity of water seldom exceeding one acre foot per acre 

 of crops raised per month of their growth. 



As already pointed out, the evaporation from a water surface in the district 

 is 80 inches per annum, or over six inches per month, and it must be clear that by the 

 use of furrows which present only a small surface in comparison to the area culti- 

 vated, the loss by evaporation must be reduced far below the loss which would occur 

 if cultivation by flooding were practised. 



Anomalous as it may seem, the efficiency is to some extent also due to the 

 extreme dryness of the climate. Rain is infrequent with the result that the soil 

 once cultivated remains dry on the surface, and the water once caught beneath that 

 surface is not easily evaporated. 



The writer does not think it can be doubted that the main reason for the 

 efficiency of the system lies in the use of the furrows, and the extra attention which 

 their use demands in the distribution of the water passed into them from point to 

 point of the fields under cultivation, and that the cultivation of the ground in the 

 furrow is important as a means of increasing the efficiency. 



Possibility of Applying the Method to Ceylon.— The writer thinks the 

 system should be applicable to various crops in many parts of Ceylon, in spite of the 

 fact that the rainfall is much heavier and the necessary dryness of the surface soil 

 more difficult to obtain. 



It will probably be stated that the only known crop grown under irrigation 

 in Ceylon is rice, and that for this crop the furrow method of irrigation is not suit- 

 able. This may be true, at least the writer is not aware that any attempt to grow 

 rice by the furrow method has ever been tried, although the growth of crops such as 

 wheat and alfalfa would point to the possibility of doing so- 



With the abundant rainfall of the N. B. Monsoon, the writer sees no reason 

 why the method of growing rice by flooding should be abandoned but that crop should 

 be grown during the N. E. Monsoon only, and due care should be taken to use the 

 irrigation water to supplement and not to replace the rainfall. For this purpose the 

 land should be ploughed dry at the commencement of the Monsoon, and then sown 



