Farm and Station

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 36, 26 January 1932, Page 9

Farm and Station

| For the Man on the Land

IRRIGATION SCHEMES

EXAMPLES FROM ELSEWHERE. SUBSTITUTIONS FOR RAINFALL. The advantage to be derived from irrigation systems on the Heretaunga Plains and the slopes of the surrounding foothills is constantly in the minds, of the primary producers. Nothing is more certain that some day, sooner or later, river and artesian water will be used to increase the productivity of this district, which is retarded by frequently recurring dry seasons. It will therefore be of interest to describe briefly the enterprises along this line which have been undertaken in other parts of the world.

It is well known that the Australian continent suffers heavily from prolonged droughts over wide areas, and many useful lessons are to be learned from the various policies adopted there. In New South Wales, for example, the teeming waters of the great Murrumbidgee River are largely responsible for the great season which Australian fruitgrowers are looking forward to this year. The whole of last season's stock raised in this famous irrigation area has been disposed of, and luscious oranges and lemons, grapes and peaches, prunes, sultanas and currants raised in the Yanco, Mirroll and other districts reached by the water system will start a new season under the best possible conditions.

Each irrigable block within the area carries a certain number of statutory water rights, allowing the settler the amount of water that would cover an area 12 inches deep, while a power station distributes power and light to the townships and farms. Among those who have taken up Mocks are a number of returned soldiers for whom settlements were reserved. AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT. One of the most interesting experiments carried out in the Murrumbidgee area is the rice-growing industry. It was first started on a commercial scale in 1924, when 157 acres were put under crop as a result of experimental work with lowland varieties, carried on by the Department of Agriculture. Two years ago the acreage had been increased to 14,319. The district has a total area suitable for rice-growing of approximately 79.000 acres. Rice has been grown on the poorest classes of land with excellent results. The irrigation area has a considerable amount of heavy clay loam overlying a stiff clay subsoil, which had proved practically useless for crops. But it was able to yield rice crops. And having yielded rice, the condition of the land improved so that payable yields of wheat and oats could afterward be obtained on it. The growing of the rice crop, therefore, has brought a solution to the problem of these soils. It has provided means of utilising profitably much of the once unwanted lands in the district. Rice is grown submerged—for a considerable time, if not altogether—below six to 12 inches of water. The soil must be capable of retaining the water on the surface. SOUTH AFRICAN METHODS. An even more striking example ol what can be accomplished by modern methods of irrigation comes from

South Africa, where it is expected that an eighty-mile-long village is springing up along the south bank of the Orange River, in the north-west of the Cape Province, as the outcome of an irrigation settlement scheme which will extend from the Buchuberg Mountains almost to the Aughrabies Falls. The river bank population will probably number between 15,000 and 20,000 persons. Under the new scheme a 2000-foot concrete weir, with 68 sluices, has been built across the Orange River, the only one of its kind in South Africa, and specially designed to meet the peculiar problems created by a river carrying an unusual quantity of silt and with sudden huge rises iu its water level This dam cost £250,000 and provided work for 650 men, who, with their families, lived in the wilds for three years. The government provided schools and housing and generally cared for all the people. A 100-mile canal is now being cut out of rock for the most part, and runs alongside the river. About 100 bridges will traverse the ditch. This additional work is giving work to 720 men and will cost another £250,000. HOMES PROVIDED. The settlement will provide a future homo for about 500 to 600 families of the poorer class, and from the present workers, probationary lessees will be selected and given cottages with 15 to 16-acre plots for cultivation and grazing over the rough dry land that runs far back from the river. The probationary period will last three years during which the settlers receive instruction in irrigation and farming. When finally settled the ready-made farm and home will be sold to each settler under a repayment system spread over forty years. The settlement is equipped with offices, schools, stores and a bank. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES. We can easily apply the lessons from these instances to ourselves in Hawke’s Bay. If Nature withholds her refreshing showers from above, the opportunity still remains for us to utilise the practically inexhaustible water supplies that are in the rivers or in subterranean springs. With a constant and reliable water supply the future prosperity of this countryside would be enormously enhanced. Although it may not bo practical politics at the moment to go in for any gigantic schemes affecting wide areas, few will deny that more use could be made even now of the potentialities that lie to our hands.