The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-12-11
IRRIGATION IN EGYPT.
Success in Retaining Worthless
Land There.

in which the Government of the United
States is now engaged are well illus
trated by data gathered in Egypt by
Prof. Thomas II. Means of the Depart
ment of Agriculture, who cites the case
of the Abou Kir Company Of Alexan-
! dria, corporation which obtained
from the Egyptian Government the I'll
tie to a tract of land regarded as utter
! ly worthless because of excess Of water
| and the presence of great quantities or
| alkali, which has reclaimed apprOXi-
mately $4,000 acres, and whose diYi-
! bends have gradually risen from per
cent. to is per cent per annum within
| period of few years. The land cost
| the company nothing to start with, but
the irrigation and undeTdrainage en-
| tailed an expense of from $50 to $25 per
acre. To-day the land is renting for
! SIS per acre per annum, and one can be
! bought outright for less than $500 per
acre, the figure at which the last sales
were made.
The tract now undergoing reclama-
ton by the Abou Kir Company con-
| tains 10000 acres. In the days of the
Romans it was noted for the excellent
quality of the wines made from its
grapes and was one of the most val
liable regions in ancient Egypt.
After the Arabian conquest it was
permitted to go back" to use the To-
cal term, and as a reuslt became flooded
with swamp water, which left deposits
of alkali double in strength those on
the western lands of the United States,
/ which the Federal Government hopes
! to reclaim. This case is not an isolated
one, according to Professor Means. A
| large portion of the territory of Egypt
is now undergoing reclamation, and it
was to study the methods which have
yielded such remarkable results that
Professor Means journeyed to Egypt
and spent the hottest months Of the
year inspecting the irrigation and un-
derdrainage systems.
In the land of Goshen, lying between
the Nile and the Red Sea, and famous
in biblical history as the region to
which the Israelites were assigned by
Pharaoh. the Egyptian Government is
now engaged in a gigantic reclamation
project. Profiting by the example of
enterprising private companies, the au-
thorities have determined to reclaim an
| immense area which has long suffered
from lack of sufficient moisture and
which was, it was supposed, rendered
utterly worthless by canal dug by
the engineers constructing the Suez
Canal for the purpose of supplying
fresh water to the large force of work.
men engaged in that undertaking. The
canal was not carefully constructed
, and the seepage was Of unusual pro-
portions. Reaching the alkaline depos
it's which underlie the entire area, the
water brought them to the surface in
such quantities as to make the soil alb
sOlutely arid.
The Government is now constructing
two canals at different attitudes. One
will supply fresh water for irrigation,
and the other will carry away the al
kali drawn off by the drains, which will
be placed about four feet below the
surface and $50 feet apart. During the
first year it will be necessary to keep
the surface saturated and no crop can
be grown, but immense quantities of
alkali will be washed out and into the
Red Sea. The second year a forage
crop can be raised, and after that the
usual crops of Egypt-corn, wheat and
cotton-can be grown in great abund-
ance In the course of this work the
surveyors discovered the Well-preserv-
ed remains of an irrigation canal, con-
structed by one of the Pharoahs de-
scription of which is to be found in
Herodotus. The officers in charge are
now working on the problem of restor-
,css inn / or
for present use.
The exceptional success with which
the efforts of the Egyptian hydrogra-
phic engineers, who, by the way, are
mostly Englishmen, have been crowned,
is the result of years of careful and eX-
pensive experimentation, and they
cheerfully furnished to the representa-
tive of the American Government every
facility for profiting by the knowledge
thus attained, and avoiding the other
wise inevitable mistakes.
There are thousands CT acres in the
United States where irrigation alone
will prove sufficient without the under
drainage accessory in Egypt but some
areas of the greatest value because of
their fertility and proximity to large
ment.
The irrigation bill passed at the last
session of Congress provides for the es-
tablishment of reservoirs and the con-
struction Of distributing bitches in suf-
ficient number to permit of the use of
thew alter thus stored, but there is no
provision for the undertakings of the
more alkaline soils. This will have to
be done by private capital, although the
bureau of soils Of the Department of
Agriculture is already making small
demonstration experiments to prove
the efficacy Of the system in various
sections of the West. In one instance,
in the San Joaquin Valley, single ir-
rigation had, at last reports, removed
fifty-five tons of alkali from single
acre and the drains were still run
ming. There are hundreds of thousands
of acres in this valley which it is reas-
enable to assume will yield to the irr1-
cation undertakings treatment and
which will double and treble in value
as son as the alkali has been removed.
The application of this system will
add materially to the area which will
become susceptible of cultivation as a
result of the HansborOugh-NeWla
Irrigation Bill, and every acre will add
enormously to the aggregate wealth of
the country, for not only is the land
now saturated with alkali most fertile
in plant food, but the possibility of ap-