1 Fes., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 159 
General Notes. 
THE VALUE OF IRRIGATION. 
Muocu as has already been done in Queensland in the way of obtaining a water 
supply in the dry Western country by means of artesian wells, yet the work in 
that direction here is mere trifling compared with what has been done by the 
French in Algeria. In this colony bores are put with the object of securing 
a supply of water for stock during a dry season, or to enable waterless portions 
of a run to be utilised. In these localities there is a soil, and in good seasons 
plenty of grass. ‘The one thing wanting—water—is supplied by these valuable 
bores. But, turning to North Africa, we find millions of acres without soil 
or grass or shrub. Only on scattered oases—some of which cover hundreds of 
square miles, others only affording nourishment to a few date palms growing 
round a natural spring—only on these spots are grass, water, and fuel to be 
found. All the rest is sand—sand that sometimes, under the influence of a 
deadly samiel or of a sirocco, is set in motion like the surface of ‘the sea, and is 
often whirled into the air in the form of pillars of sand like waterspouts. 
We have seen the desert sand cloud moving along like the dense black smoke 
of a vast bush fire. Yet man’s ingenuity triumphs over Nature in this inhospit- 
able land. 
In Algeria no fewer than 12,000,000 acres of barren sand of the Sahara 
Desert have been rendered fertile by enterprise representing, perhaps, the most 
remarkable example of irrigation by means of artesian wells which can be 
found anywhere in the world. Algeria owes to its method of cultivation that 
it has become a most important wine-producing country, as may be judged by 
the fact that the colony sent to France in 1886 10,500,000 gallons of wine. 
During the past ten years the irrigation area has been enormously increased, 
and a corresponding increase in agricultural operations has taken place. If 
such surprising results are obtained in a country such as the Sahara Desert, 
may we not confidently look forward to the time when millions of acres of the 
dry but not barren country of Western Queensland will be studded with 
cultivated homesteads due to the multiplication of artesian wells. The 
agricultural population of Algeria is about 3,500,000, of whom only some 
200,000 are Europeans, yet in 1895 (to which date only the latest agricultural 
statistics are given) the area under wheat was 3,264,000 acres, yielding on an 
average in that year barely 8 bushels per acre. Barley is grown on a much more 
extensive scale. In 1895, 7,000,000 acres were devoted to this and other grain 
crops. There were in the colony at this time 1,121,246 cattle, 7,891,979 
sheep, and 3,545,041 goats. Seven hundred thousand sheep were exported. 
The cultivation of the vine is rapidly increasing, and the good returns from 
the last three vintages have greatly improved the position of colonists. The 
future of Algeria, Mr. Consul-General Hay-Newton thinks, will centre in vine 
culture. Most vigorous and successful measures are adopted for the destruction 
of locusts. 
COTTON CULTURE IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 
Mr. Musson, who is an enthusiast on the subject of cotton-growing, has been 
granted a lease for six months, ata rent of 5s., of half-an-acre of the land 
of the Sydney Water and Sewerage Board at Botany, to make experiments 
in cotton-growing. The experiment will, no doubt, be successful from a, 
horticultural point of view. We have seen beautiful Sea Island cotton which. 
was grown at Brisbane Water (New South Wales) in 1861. But, as to the 
commercial success of any extended area of cotton, we believe that there is 
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