THE IRRIGATION SCHEME.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2293, 20 January 1891, Page 2

THE IRRIGATION SCHEME.

Ik oxfß last three issues a very large amount of information has appeared bearing upon the proposal to take the initiatory steps towards developing a complete scheme for the thorough and systematic irrigation of the country lying between the Rakaia and Rangitata rivers. Opening with the discussion in the County Council upon the motions in that direction of Mr E. G. Wright and Mr Hugo Friedlander, the subject has been followed up editorially, and has been discussed with great ability in our columns. The most valuable contribution in that' direction was that of Mr Colyer, who wrote over the signature of " Cosmopolitan," and now permits us to reveal his identity— having previously practically declared the authorship of the letter through the information—in some respects identical —courteously afforded by him to j a representative of the " Lyttelton. Times " specially deputed to interview him on the subject. But as at the interview referred to Mr Colyer supplemented with various additional and important particulars his very valuable contribution, to this journal, we take advantage of the report furnished by our Christchurch i contemporary to transfer to our own columns the further particulars to which we refer. To begin with, Mr Colyer makes good his right to be regarded as a practical authority on the subject by discosiing that he has had special opportunities of becoming acquainted with the methods and effects of irrigation. He says: "1 was for some time an irrigating overseer on Mr J. B. Haggin's Belle Vue Ranche, in California, and had the direction of three hundred and n£r<y men engaged in the distribution of water drawn from the Kern river; There were about 15,000 acres under treatment, and my business was to see the water taken from the race, which 1 led up to the property, and placed upon the land. This was done by a system of checks, or smaller races, which are simplicity itself, and do not interfere in any way with the passage of harvesting machinery. It would be tedious to describe the process at any length, but I may state briefly that the total cott of irrigation on Mr Haggin's estate was about 4|d an aei-e a year. At first, when the work was imperfectly understood, and exoopCional difficulties stood in the way, the cost was nearly Is an acre, but now, upon many large estates, it is reduced by improved methods to 2|d an acre." As to the results obstained for this trifling expenditure Mr Colyer declares that they were " simply marvellous. Grain, roots, grass, fruit—everything that grows, in fact—flourished in an extraordinary manner, and the face of the country was completely changed by the introduction of the water. The desert literally blossomed into a garden, and I remember very well a large tract of country between the Kern river and Poso creek, about three hundred miles out of San Francisco, on the west side of the South Pacific railway, being converted by irrigation from an arid waste to one of the most productive districts in California. All sorts of soils were benefited, and it would be difficult to say which description did best. The estate on which I was employed was a light sandy loam, rather more porous than the bulk of the land in this district, and the results were astonishing." Of the value of irrigation to the grain-grower as well as to the pastoralist Mr Colyer speaks very definitely. He says :—-" I noticed that at the last meeting of the County Council Mr Grigg expressed some doubt about irrigation being of any benefit to cereals; but he was, I presume, speaking without any actual experience on the subject. Irrigation is of great benefit to cereals, especially oats. In California we calculated that a full supply o£ water increased the yield by at least 50 per cent, and I have no doubt it would have made a difference of nearly 100 per cent in the Ashburton county this season. Of course farmers would have to learn-when and how to flood their land, and to exercise a little common . sense ; but I hope Mr Grigg, who has shown so much more enterprise than most of our farmers, will live long enough to see the wonderful results I have detcribed. I see from the papers, by the way, that the experiment has been triecj here on a small scale, and that it ]> estimated the irrigated land will yield quite 10Q per cent more than the rest, perhaps Mr Grigg was thinking of the difficulty of distributing the water without cutting up the surface of the land too much, and impeding the work of cultivation. This is not material. Very little space is sacrificed, and the ' checks ' can be maintained without - offering any serious obstruction to ploughing or harvesting." Mr Colyer does not think that the Canterbury plains present any greater engineering difficulties in re. lation to irrigation works than that part of California in "#hieh he gained his experience in regard to such works. Upon this point he says :— " The fall may bo rather greater, which would be a disadvantage, but the country is, on the whole, less broken, a,nd I fancy the. work of distribution here would be a comparatively easy matter. The soil would carry the water better; there would be less percolation, and no burrows ing animals to contend with. At Belle Vue the gophers and chipmunks were an abominable' nuisance, causing the banks to break away and interrupt the flow, 7 don't think percolation would be a very serious item in this country at least. The silt from the rivers which, comes down ia time of

flood coats the bottom and sides of the nicra, and prevents any large escape of wnter. There is a greater loss m California, where the soil and water are of n somewhat different nature ; but it is thought by experts and practical men that a great deal of the leakage is recovered by capillary attraction. There is .m appreciable loss by evaporation, and as there is more sun m California and more' wind here the two countries would, m this respect, be about on a par." Lastly, m answer to n question as to the results he would expect to follow from the irrigation of the plains m this county, he speaks with the greatest confidence, his reply being :

—""Well, to tell you the truth, I hardly know .how to expect enough. I am quite sure the productiveness of the soil would be doubled, probably quadrupled. Where two..,sheep, are carried now, six could be carried with a proper system of irrigation; we should be independent of the rainfall, which is the most Uncertain thing m the colony, ond our root crops would always succeed. With all this you c\n calculate the . improved value of the lan I for yourself, but if I were satisfied the irrigation proposals would be carried,out, X would invest every shilling I could command m buying plains land, arid be sure of making a large fortune. Theapathy of alarge number of farmers astounds me. It is not an experiment nor a new-fangled idea, but simply a proposal to follow m the footsteps of men who have walked on to enormous wealth. There is abso- , lutely no risk, the thing has beer* tried and succeeded over and over again, and the cost is a mei*e bagatelle." ■ Later on m the interview Mr Colyer mentioned a number of collateral advantages which would attend the carrying out of a complete scheme of irrigation, as for example the modifying of the winds and the attraction of a greater rainfall consequent upon a more luxuriant growth of plant life of every kind, and the raising of wells to a higher level so that water would be got at- 30ft or 40ft where now a depth of 80ft has to be sunk to reach it, and altogether made out an exceedingly strong' case m favor of the carrying out of a thorough scheme of irrigation which, as he speaks with the authority of practical experience, should greatly strengthen the hands of the County Council, when—as m due course it no doubt will—it submits specific proposals m that direction for the approval of the ratepayers.