taken in the interests of the people of the State, or otherwise the scheme of irrigation will be a failure.

Some authority must be exercised, in the first instance, in planning and locating any proper system for comprehensive irrigation. If left to themselves, the farmers in any country of large extent can never devise or execute such a system.

Constant conflicts would take place among them about the rights of water. The streams ought not to be left to the exclusive control of those living on their banks.

The main canal in many places will be miles away from where the water is most required; and if the location and construction of such canal and the distribution ditches be left to many different proprietors to carry out, each anxious for his own interests, and those interests in conflict or in apparent conflict with each other, and there be no authority to control their action, it is manifest that the system of irrigation will be begun in confusion and will end in financial disaster.

In future the foot-hills, particularly the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada range, will also call for irrigation. In fact, as we have before stated, they are already irrigated in many places by water from mining-ditches. The plains will furnish the large farms, but the homes of the well-todo farmers will be found in the foot-hills or mountains. Their more healthful climate, more varied and picturesque scenery, finer fruits, and greater facilities of obtaining building-materials, as well as wood and water, mark them as places for the farmer's permanent home, and then they too will call for irrigation. This will be an irrigation different from that of the plains. The water will come from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Large storage-reservoirs will then be constructed in the gorges and valleys of the mountains, and water will be brought down from them in ditches, pipes, and flumes, as water for hydraulic mining is now carried to the mines.

This system of irrigation for the foot-hills will doubtless be combined with obtaining water for mining those extensive gravel deposits of gold, which are yet almost untouched for want of water at sufficient elevation to work them profitably; many of which deposits could not be exhausted in a hundred years.

As the gold production of these mines will be immense, we may sup pose that in the future the works for supplying them with water and for irrigating the foot-hills will be in like proportion.

The western flank of the Sierra Nevada will be dotted with reservoirs like some portions of India. Their water will first be used for miningpurposes, where it will be as valuable as for irrigation. Afterward it will be used for watering the foot-hills, and the waste water finally carried into the canals leading from the different rivers built for watering the plains.

We are aware that we are not called upon by the strict letter of our instructions to mention these considerations, and we allude to them only to show that in a complete and comprehensive consideration of the subject of irrigation in California they should not be forgotten.

And there is one other view of the subject which should be stated: we allude to the reclamation of the overflowed and swamp lands in the San Joaquin, Tulare, and Sacramento Valleys. Extensive irrigation will assist in their reclamation, for the water of irrigation, and particularly that stored for future use, will be held back during floods, when these lands are liable to damage, and will escape by percolation or be let into the rivers again through artificial channels after the floods are over, when it can do no injury.

It has been well said that "water is the wealth of California." If it has been so in the past, we believe it will be still more so in the future. If the people of this State can be once convinced that the irrigation of the plains will be extended in time to the foot-hills, and their irrigation will be combined with the development of new and extensive mining-enterprises; that all irrigation will assist in the reclamation of more than one million acres of rich land, now almost valueless on account of being overflowed in wet winters; and that the water, after having been used for mining, will not be injured, but rather benefited for purposes of irrigation, we believe, after a complete system of irrigation is laid out for them, and proper laws and regulations in reference to the use and abuse of water established and enforced, that unity of action would be insured, and the people would take hold of the subject of irrigation with a will, and carry it out, except perhaps in particular instances, without much aid from Government.

But it is the duty of the Government to teach the value of irrigation, and lay out a comprehensive system, and enforce proper laws on the subject.

CHAPTER IV.

History, description, and statistics of irrigation in foreign countries. Introductory remarks: Authorities-Irrigation in India; its necessity-Famines-Extent of proposed works-Price of labor-Description of Ganges Canal-Other canals in the Punjab and in the northwest provinces-Delta-systems of Southern India— Other canals in India-Tanks; their numbers and dimensions-Mudduk Masoor: tank-Mode of construction-Inundation-canals-Wells-Superiority of channelirrigation-Improvements by the English-Silt-Velocity of canals-Drainage; its relation to health-Measuring water; its necessity in California-Navigation of canals-Primary ditches-Administration of canals in India.

Statistics Of Western Jumna Canal-Of Bari Doab Canal-Of other irrigation-canals in the Punjab-Of inundation-canals from the Sutlej and Indus Rivers-Of the Ganges Canal--Of Eastern Jumna Canal-Of Dhoon Canals.

General remarks: Financial aspect-Cost of maintenance; of repairs. Description and statistics: Of Delta-irrigation in Madras-The Cauvery Delta-The Kistna Delta-The Godavery Delta-Official report for 1873-Financial statement— Prospects for the next five years-Private enterprises in India-Madras Irrigation Company; its agreement; embarrassments-The East India Irrigation Company; agreement; failure-Opinions of governor-general of India and of home office. In the rainless regions of Egypt and in some portions of India, irrigation and systematic agriculture are of the same age, the latter being quite impossible separate from the former. The present purpose does not require an inquiry into the date of its origin and the circumstances attending the introduction of irrigation in ancient times. It is sufficient on this point for us to know that it has been used for thousands of years, and that in some countries it has been continuously applied throughout their historic existence. The wide distribution and range of this mode of cultivation under the most diverse climatic conditions deserves to be referred to.

This range is almost as long and as wide as that of civilization itself. It embraces countries where the rain-fall is high and the mean temperature that of the temperate zone, and others where the temperature is tropical and the rain-fall small or very unequally distributed. Within its limits are included England, France, Spain and Italy, Egypt and India, Java and the neighboring islands, the West India and the Sand

wich Islands, Mexico and Peru. Even in our own country, irrigation exists in the rice-cultivation of the South and on a small scale in our acquired territory where it was introduced by the Spaniards, who, in their turn, derived it from the Moors. The vestiges of works found in Arizona and Mexico point to a time when this mode of cultivation existed to a much greater degree than it does at present, and when perhaps the rainfall was in excess of its present amount. It is also practiced to some extent in Utah.

In an investigation looking to the extensive introduction of irrigation into our imperfectly-watered plains, it is essential to inquire into the circumstances of its existence in other countries, in order to ascertain the proper principles of construction and of administration as they appear to have been established by the experience of other nations. The literature of irrigation is extensive, and the occasion is such that one might easily be tempted to collate historical and descriptive information, all interesting enough, on a scale that might defeat or interfere with the practical ends in view. It will be sufficient to give our attention chiefly to the modern phases of the subject, and to examine the conditions existing in countries whose civilization corresponds in some degree to our own; to ascertain the principles of administration; and to refer to those countries where it has long been established, or where it is being most widely extended, to learn its effects and its methods.

It is, then, the object of this chapter to take a cursory view of irrigation as it exists in some of the countries where it has long been established; to ascertain whether its influence is or has been favorable upon the prosperity, manners, and health of the people; to learn how works of this kind are provided and managed; to inquire into their financial condition, the 'cost of construction and of maintenance; and, generally, to inform ourselves as to what other nations have done or are now doing to introduce or extend this system of cultivation.

It may be remarked here that a sound financial basis is essential for the existence of irrigation; and if this basis be wanting, we ought not to permit the judgment to be carried away by beautiful pictures of trees and flowers and growing crops; these have in some cases been purchased at too dear a price. Irrigation may be desirable, but indiscriminate irrigation may be disastrous. The same conditions of care and prudence and judgment apply to this as to all other industrial enterprises.

Some of our points of inquiry could be better studied on the fields of practice than from the descriptions in books; but under existing circumstances we are compelled to draw our information from the researches of others. Fortunately, we have descriptions of most of the existing systems from the hands of intelligent observers, and, if we find diversity of opinions and inequality of mental vision when directed to the same circumstances, we only repeat a common experience. Irrigation has its panegyrists and its depreciators. The truth will most probably be found to lie between-in the middle way.

The principal authorities for what follows are these, namely: Col. Baird Smith, Irrigation in the Madras Provinces; Col. Baird Smith, Italian Irrigation; Lieut. Moncrieff, Irrigation in Southern Europe; M. Aymard, Irrigation du midi de l'Espagne; I. B. Roberts, Irrigation in Spain; papers and discussions by various civil engineers in England, published in Proceedings of Institution of Civil Engineers; various parliamentary and official reports in regard to Indian irrigation from 1848 to 1872.

IRRIGATION IN INDIA.

India affords us the most conspicuous examples of irrigation on a grand scale, and it is here more than anywhere else in the world that a great systematic scheme is in progress of development. Irrigation in some other countries is merely an incident. It permits the cultivation of certain crops, which, indeed, add greatly to general and individual wealth, and if it were withdrawn the general prosperity would doubtless suffer, but the basis of future existence would remain. In many parts of India, irrigation is the very condition of existence, both of the government and of the people. More than half of the revenue of India comes directly from the products of the soil; and the country is so vast, and the communications have been so difficult, that a generally good harvest has not sufficed to preserve large districts not so favored from the most dreadful ravages of famine. The failure of the northeast monsoon in 1832 caused in the Madras presidency most severe and extended suffering; and in Guntoor, out of a population of 500,000, it is estimated that 200,000 persons died of famine and of the fevers resulting from scarcity of food. More recently, in Orissa, a severe famine, causing a great loss of life, occurred, (said to be 1,000,000 persons;) and now in Bengal a similar disaster is impending.

Hence, for double reasons, both for humanity and for the sake of its own revenue, the government is impelled to provide a remedy for these terrible evils. This remedy is irrigation, which is indispensable to insure a crop of rice, the main staple of food among the people. Under the influence of these powerful motives, the government has been, for some years, and is now, actively engaged in building canals and in extending irrigation on a scale that certainly appears, at first glance, large, but which, in comparison with the work to be done, is no more than reasonable. The works that are now in course of construction and that are now projected, it is estimated, will cost $175,000,000, and the rate of expenditure is now many millions of dollars each year. When we attempt to realize the possible results of so great expenditure, it is important to notice that prices of labor and of most materials are very much below those ruling in our own country. The wages of a skilled laborer are 50 cents per day, and of an ordinary laborer 12 cents per day. Earth-excavation may be done for 5 cents per cubic yard, and masonry from $1.50 to $3 per yard. On the other hand, it is well to remark that the constructions are of the most permanent character, and of a much more expensive kind than we would be likely to adopt in our western plains.

The great extent of the country, its topographical features, its enormous population, and the volume of its large rivers, permit and require canals of length and section surpassing beyond all comparison any to be found elsewhere, unless it be in the single instance of the Imperial Canal in China.

The Ganges Canal is, indeed, an artificial river. It is intended to carry nearly 7,000 cubic feet of water per second. Its depth is 10 feet, and its width 170 feet in its upper part. Including its principal branches, it is nine hundred miles in length, and it is intended to irrigate 1,500,000 acres of land, an extent equal to that watered by the whole system of canals in Lombardy and Piedmont. Its length much exceeds the aggregate of the irrigation-lines in Lombardy and Egypt combined. It is the unrivaled instance of modern times. Its original capital cost was

about $12,000,000, not including interest or other charges. In the United States the same work would cost $100,000,000.

The Ganges Canal is arranged for navigation as well as for irrigation. This circumstance, and others, relating to the difficulties of the country, and to its populous condition, which rendered necessary a great number of bridges, account for its cost, which, with the low prices ruling in India, is, however, regarded as excessive. Its aqueducts and embankments are necessarily on a very large scale, and it presents many points of interesting study in an engineering point of view. Some of these are, the proper slope of the bed, which at first was, and, although improved, is still too great; the means for reducing this slope by overfalls; and the different arrangements to effect the result.

We learn from its history the prime necessity of giving the proper velocity to the water, and of the disastrous results that may follow from the velocity being too great or too small. Reference will be made to this point again in the statistics of the canal.

This canal is purely the work of the English; it was projected and built by the government.

The other canals of importance in the north west provinces and of the Punjab are the Eastern Jumna, the Western Jumna, and the Bari Doab Canals, carrying from two to three thousand cubic feet of water per second, and each several hundred miles in length.

Passing from Northern to Southern India, we find in the deltas of the Cauvery, the Godavery, and the Kistna Rivers, a comprehensive system of canals, no one of which, indeed, can compare in length or in dimensions with those just named, but which, taken together, irrigate large areas in their respective deltas.

The map of the Cauvery Delta, herewith attached, will illustrate better than a verbal description the arrangement of the canals and the system of irrigation. These delta-systems were not the earliest of the works restored and extended by the English, but they have been the most successful. They have enriched people and state alike. They have placed declining districts in a condition of the highest prosperity, and they have produced this result in a remarkably short time.

The slow development of irrigation, so noticeable generally on other canals, is wanting here.

The flowing water was in demand and was brought into use at once. The reasons for this remarkable success were the facts that the people were familiar with irrigation, and that from the conditions of the climate there could be no successful cultivation without irrigation, and, further, that by a conjunction of fortunate circumstances the works were very cheaply provided.

These systems form the staple of the argument for the extension of this mode of cultivation in other parts of the country.

The limits of this meagre review of the Indian system will permit us only to refer by name to some of the other important canals recently completed or in course of construction. These are the Soonsekala and Bellairy Canals from the Toombuddra River, three hundred and fifty miles long; the Saone, just completed, from the river of the same name, to carry 4,500 cubic feet per second, with a capacity to irrigate about 1,000,000 acres; the Sirhind Canal, from the Sutlej River, to cost $15,000,000; the Lower Ganges Canal, to carry 6,000 cubic feet per second; the Orissa Canal, built by the East India Irrigation Company, all of which are very large enterprises, some of them rivaling the Ganges Canal in magnitude and importance. We may add to these the Agra Canal from the Jumna, and the Eastern Ganges Canal. There