272 
Irrigation and the Storage of Water 
IRRIGATION AND THE STORAGE OF 
WATER FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES. 
The memorable drought of the summer of 1893 served to revive 
the interest in the subject of the conservation of water supply, 
even in this generally humid island. If man cannot command 
the seasons, he may do much to lessen their disasters. Some 
seasons bring far too much rainfall, others scarcely any what- 
ever. The lesson learned should be to store up water when 
plentiful, that by means of irrigation the absence of rainfall upon 
the land may be compensated for. 
Irrigation in Continental Countries. 
Nowhere perhaps is irrigation practised to greater perfec- 
tion than in Italy. Travellers have often remarked that the 
plains of Lombardy present a perfect network of canals and 
irrigating streams. The water is got either from springs or 
from the rivers, and is measured out to those who use it, and 
paid for as exactly as the water and gas taken into London 
houses. The existence of springs on a farm is valued as a 
blessing, and is considered to enhance the value of the property 
very much, as it saves the proprietor having to purchase river 
or canal water. Thus when there is the slightest indication of 
a subterranean spring, boring is resorted to ; and if water is 
discovered it is conducted by wooden pipes to the fields most 
requiring to be irrigated. The meadows north of Milan are 
almost entirely irrigated by spring water ; yet from the copious 
supply combined with high manuring they are considered very 
little inferior to the meadows on the south of the city, which 
are enriched by its sewage. The latter are said to be cut 
seven or eight and sometimes nine times a year. The meadows 
are watered every sixth or eighth day in summer, and are 
almost continually covered with a sheet of flowing water in 
winter. Very often, from November to March, two or three 
abundant crops are cut, so that dairy cows and other cattle are 
not deprived of fresh grass for more than thirty or forty days 
during the entire winter. The plains of Lombardy have, 
however, a great natural advantage, as they receive a vast 
supply of water from higher levels — the lakes at the foot of 
the Alps. The fertilising power of these waters has been 
known to convert wild heaths into luxuriant meadows, and to 
raise the value of land three-fold. The farmer not infrequently 
