The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-01-26
From the Washington Star.

t1E eKITdOTQltldIy COliihlth1ioA Pot- (Q abilities of the great irrigation
 project in which the government of the United States Is now engaged are well illustrated by data gathered in Egypt by Prof. Thomas M. Means, of the de- partment of agriculture, who cites the case of the Abou Kir company of Alexan- dra, a corporation which obtained from the Egyptian government the title to a tract of land regarded as utterly worth less because of excess of water and the presence of great quantities of alkali, which has reclaimed approximately 15- OCO acres, and whose dividends have gradually risen from per cent to 45 per cent per annum within a period of few years. The land cost the company noth- ing to start with, but the irrigation and underdrainage entailed an expense of frc,s $20 to S25 per acre. Today the land is renting for $25 per acre per ar- mum, and none can be bought outright for less than $500 per acre, the figure at which the last sales were made
 The tract now undergoing reclamation by the Abou Kir company contains 2O- GOO acres. In the days of the Romans 1t was noted for the excellent quality of the wines made from its grapes and was one of the most valuable regions in an- cient Egypt.
 After the Arabian conquest it was per mitted to Ego back" to use the local term, and as a result became flooded with swamp water, which left deposits of allkali double in strength those Of 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 remark able results that Professor Means jour- neyed to Egypt and spent the hottest months of the year inspecting the irri- gation and underdrainage 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 en- gagged in a gigantic reclamation project. Proflting by the example of enterprisng private companies, the authorities have determined to reclaim an immense area which has long suffered from lack of sufficient moisture and which was, 1t was supposed rendered utterly worth less by canal dug by the engineers con structing the Suez canal for the purpose of supplying fresh water to. the large fs.f huf nha taking. The canal was not carefully con- structed, and the seepage was of un- usual proportions. Reaching the alkaline deposits which underlie the entire area, the water brought them to the surface In such quantities as to make the soil absolutely 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 alkali drawn of by the drains, which will be placed about four feet below the sur face and l60 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 seco. l year a forage crop can be raised, and after that the usual crops of Egypt-corn, wheat and cotton-can be grown in great abundance. In the course of this work the surveyors dis covered the well-press d remains of an irrigation canal, constructed by one of the Pharaohs, a description of which is to be found in Herodotus. The officers in charge are now working on the prob lem of restoring portions of the original aqueduct for present use.
 The exceptional success with which the efforts of the Egyptian Photographic engineers, who. by the way, are mostly Englishmen. have been crowned, Is the result of years of careful and expensive experimentation, and they cheerfully fur nished to the representative of the Amer ican government every facility for profit ing by the knowledge thus attained, and avoiding the otherwise inevitable mis- takes.
 There are thousands of acres in the United States where irrigation alone will prove sufficient without the underdrain- age necessary in Egypt, but some areas of the greatest value because of their fertility and proximity to large markets will require the dual treatment.
 The irrigation bill passed at the last session of congress provides for the es- tablishment of reservoirs and the con struction of distributing ditches In suffi-