The Lyttelton Times. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1891.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 9609, 30 December 1891, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1891.

Mb Maemaduke Dixon has achieved a public service by his spirited experiment ia the irrigation o£ the manuka land at Eyrewell. The details of that experiment were published in our issue of yesterday, and oar readers have doubtless shared, in our conviction that Mr Dixon has adopted a moat efficient means of demonstrating the possibilities which are wrapped up "in irrigation. It is, of course, too soon to pronounce positively as to the success of the scheme. That must be left to experience ; but on the broad lines there cannot be a difference of opinion. Here is a tract of 33,000 acres of land, at present virtually barren and unprofitable.. The soil is undoubtedly of a poor character, and in the ordinary course would remain unimproved for many years. An enterprising settler sees that, by adding a certain amount of moisture to the existing constituents of the soil, plant life will have an immeasurably better chance of success on this waste. Ho sees that the Waimakariri holds the water. He sets to work to convey the water from the river to the soil. We trust his efforts will be as successful as they deserve. Prom this experiment to the general question of irrigation is an easy transition. We have no wish to depreciate the extent of the work already done. A great deal has, in a few years, been accomplished. In the County of Ashburton there are some fifteen hundred miles of water-races open or nearing completion; while the Water Supply Committee of the County Council has before it at present applications for services involving the construction of several hundreds of miles of races, many of which are likely to be granted. Selwyn County has upwards of one thousand miles of completed races, and the systems drawn from the Selwyn and Waimakariri are both being rapidly extended. Ashley County, though not so far advanced, is proceeding in a methodical manner to establish what will ultimately prove a comprehensive system of water service. To the Ashley scheme we attach special importance, as it will include the actual irrigation of the soil, and as that is the ultimate desideratum the experiments will be keenly watched. In Gteraldine County there are about 500 miles of service; in Waimate about 100 miles. There are thus already over 3000 miles of public water-races in operation, without including the private races ia the County of Amuri. But what has been accomplished bears no comparison to what still awaits the operation of a complete system of irrigation. What railways have done for the farmer in the matter of carriage, irrigation will do for him in respect to the fertility and carrying capacity of his soil. It is, in fact, impossible to estimate what the Provincial district of Canterbury will be able to produce under a complete system of irrigation. Irrigation will multiply enormously the flocks of the country, as it will enable the small farmers to add sheep-farming to their other branches of industry; it will greatly improve the quality of the wool and the carcases for export; it will improve the stamina of horses and cattle; and, what is by no means least important, it will create facilities for the indefinite extension of the dairying industry. The crops of the district, when once a system of irrigation of a complete character is developed,, will

rise to a pitch o£ excellence, as regards both quantity and quality, they have never reached before. Farming will lose its indeterminate quality, and the agriculturist will deal in, we were going to say, certainties; at any rate, the chances of failure through our capricious climate will be reduced to a minimum. Even during the present year, when there has been a “dropping season,” so fortunate because so different from the three which preceded it, the crops in many districts have been severely tried, and in some cases seriously injured, because they happened to be out of the reach of the local showers or thunderstorms which drenched other parts; while the last few days of the five or six weeks of comparatively dry weather, which lasted from early in November to Christmas time, gave a good many farmers some anxious nights and days. Much of the anxiety at present experienced by the farmers would be removed by a definite system of irrigation such as we believe to be possible. It is surely not necessary at this stage to refer to the advantages Canterbury has already derived from its artificial water races; suffice it to say that without these races not only would the phenomenal exports of frozen mutton have been impossible, not only would the rapid extension of the sheep-raising industry have been cheeked, but many of the flocks must have been removed to more favoured districts to avoid destruction. Pacts like these are recognised by experts, and their moral needs no further emphasis. The question of irrigation, indeed, is a colonial one, and we trust it will be regarded in that light. Every year brings it nearer to us in importance, and the sooner our farmers recognise that they must help themselves in this matter the sooner will they plant their feet on the high road to fortune.