The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-05-27

they were pettifogging; not only were tSe attempts inadequate. but they were So crude that they diverted, dlsastrously, in wrong channels what water there was.
 To sum up the position as it stood a few years ago, the greater part of the country had been allowed to drop out of cultivation and to become an arid and unproductive wilderness. Bedouin ma rauders held sway and terrorized over the few industrious cultivators who hung on to the few spots of green land, and east and west, north, south practically all that remained were indications that at one time, great irrigation canals and considerable towns and cities had ex- isted-the indications of a dethroned glory.
 The tragedy of the position, as it then stood, was that some of the Turkish gov ernors realized what had happened and what was happening, But they saw through a glass darkly with the conse- quence that their remedial efforts were feeble and cratic; they had no money to spend, no expert to advise them Bad became worse, and the worst depiorable. Curiously enough the first ray of hope came from the Young Turks-and let us give credit where credit is due, even though it be to the devil. They lost no time in graphing with the problem. They called to their aid the experts who ndQ been Ignored TOT so lODB dIQ, SO far as their treasury permitted, began to spend money in the right direction. The unlucky Midhat Pasha, one of the best intentioned Turks who had ever held of flee in Asiatic Turkey, had been ill ad- vised enough to tinker with the Hindieh barrage.
 FORMER IRRIGA ALTON PLAN
 I will explain that the original river Euphrates bifurcated at Hindieh, and the two branches became known as the Hilla and the Hindieh. The latter had low lying bed, and the result was that 1t took most of the water. The Hilla branch of the river gradually silted up. In-I think-1SS6 the Turkish government at- tempted to dam the mouth of the Hindieh branch in order to raise the level of the river sufficiently to keep the Hilla branch supplied with water at all sea- sons of the year. The barrage was built out into the river from both banks. but the work failed and in 1909 Sir William Willcocks, the famous British engineer, was called in. That may be said to mark the beginning of the first real attempt to provide an irrigation system for the country.
 It would be possible to go into a mass of very technical detail which, save to the engineer, could be of little interest. The general lines of the great scheme which Sir William Willcocks initiated on behalf of the Turkish government, how ever, will give an idea of what the coun- try will be when it's regeneration has been completed The total approximate area for the development of which Sir Williams scheme provides is 5000 square miles, but the total area of the Euph- rates-Tigris delta is about 10000 square miles. This is well irrigated by existing canals. and needs only good irrigating heads, bridges and drains to be an area of first-class irrigated land. Other well irrigated areas are those of the Shatt- el-Arab, the land between Nasria and Suk-el- Shook and small patches all along the Euphrates and in scattered places on the Tigris. Nevertheless all these areas together are small in the aggregate compared with the great tract which is in actual need of irrigation on broad lines if ever anything is to be made of the country-in all some 10, ,000, 900 to 12,OO0, ,0Oo acres.
 A word regarding the crop possibilities. The winter crops in the country are wheat, barley and beans, while in the summer there are rice melons and cot ton-cotton, mark you. Centuries ago, so the records show. sugar cane was largely grown, and very profitably grown. Tn the matter of fruit there are dates, grapes and figs and. speaking from first hand knowledge, I can say that all three are among the finest I have ever eaten. In the lower parts of the delta of the rivers there Is an abundance of lucern or alfalfa grass, and here again if the winter rains are timely and adequate immense areas of land are put under barley
 CATTLE ON LAND
 In Biblical days students will recall, there was much cattle in the land. Even now, after the people have lived un- der the heel for so long a time horses camels. cows. buffalo sheep and other live stock make up, to a great extent, the wealth of the people. Never forget when thinking about this country, and wondering what lies before 1t, that 1t is the country of Noah's flood, of the old time Babylonian prosperity.
 As Sir William Willcocks has pointed out the value of every acre of land in Mesopotamia would be imncciacNS trebled if the Euphrates and Tigris, with their great stores of water, could be brought under complete control. The deltas of the two rivers, again to quote the famous engineer, would attain a fer tility of which even the glorious past has no record Inundation and drouth- and these evils follow each other With great regularity-would be prevented ana the one great obstacle in the way of development, now that the Turks banefn influence has been killed, would be re- moved. But that Is not all When the great waterways have been brought un- der control the work of complete irriga- ton could begin. If by harnessing the water the crops on them could be