The Farm.

Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 1, 7 April 1894, Page 10

The Farm.

IRRIGATION AND LAND SETTLEMENT. The following' summary of a lecture recently delivered in Sydney is interesting and instructive, altlioug’h the subject is not of great. practical importance in Southland. The Herald reports that Mr Frank Cotton,M.L. A., lectured on Irrigation and Land Settlement. Mr Cotton, at the outset, referred to some historical irrigation works. He said that in ancient India "there was an artificial reservoir with a masonry dam 30 miles long impounding 60,000 acres of water It was computed that the Indian enbaukments erected for water conservation purposes would build a wall 6ft. high and 6ft. thick round the world. In ancient Egypt there was a reservoir 150 miles in diameter, with masonry 200 ft. high. At Jemalong Gap, in this colony, there was aone-mile stone weir 40ft. high which would impound 60,000 acres "of water with an average depth of "water 10ft. to 40ft. deep. The value of the grass crop in theU.S., including meadow hay and pastoral products, exceeded in value all the other crops, reaching the enormous value of 973,000,000d011ar5. The necessity of water to production was shown by the fact that.a growing crop of wheat passes through the plant 2001 b. of water for each Hb. of straw and grain produced. The conditions necessary to successful irrigation were gravel subsoil, providing natural drainage, with rich alluvial surface, and a climate where dry weather could be relied upon for harvesting crops. River water, especially where it was fed by melting snow in summer, was most suitable for irrigation purposes. Artesian waters were over-estimated in value for irrigation purposes. A bore yielding 70,000 gallons of water per' day was required for the minimum supply of 640 acres of wheat or vine culture. It was impossible to say whether the artesian water was inexhaustible. In Italy water was used as a fertiliser, while in Australia it was required only as a solvent. In Colarado water w r as brought 70 miles through rugged mountain country to reach an arid desert, and the result was a city of 10,000 inhabitants, which was surrounded with orange groves, vineyards, and peach orchards. Magnificent results were obtained in countries where frost prevented growth for four months of the year. Mr Cotton referred to the commercial aspects of irrigation, and instanced the fact that raisins sold at £4O to £SO per ton ; dried fruit, £BO to £IOO per ton. It was possible to make a return of £IOO per annum per acre by fruit culture, and £2O to £4O per acre by the production of fodder and root crops. It was possible under Irrigation to produce raisins, figs, dried fruits, tobacco, possibly indigo, sorghum, lucerne, beet, and other crops. He thought the question of irrigation would produce the silverlining to the financial cloud.