IRRIGATION AND FRUIT CULTURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9047, 7 May 1888, Page 6

IRRIGATION AND FRUIT CULTURE.

Mr. Deakin, Chief Secretary of Victoria, at a late gathering of the Tatura Agricultural Society, thus spoke on the practical aspect of irrigation :—" It was possible for a man to 'earn a good living on 10 or 20 acres, by means of irrigation, and the investment on this -would be well repaid. He had seen in America exactly the same kind of country and "conditions as existed in Tatura, in dry areas which depended for moisture of rain ; and worse land than here, which would not - carry a beast to 10 or 20 acres, was covered with fruit trees, and had a house on every 20jJ acre block. Irrigated land had risen to ten times the value of dry, and would carry ten to twenty times the stock and yield of agricultural produce. He learned from official sources that since 1885, when he visited America, irrigated areas had increased by 20 per cent., and were still extended. The fruit-growers of Australia, like those of America, must also look to European markets, and compared with California, he believed the conditions were in favour of Victoria. It had been shown by figures that land originally worth only 20s an acre had been increased in value to £10, £15, and £20. The fruit shown that day was splendid, but it had been grown with 25 inches of rain, a quantity which might not fall more than once in twenty years. The advantage of irrigation was that it supplied the quantity of water required at the right time. In Colorado the company supplying water derived 20 per cent, profit clear of all expenses, and this was exclusive of the profit in land water rights, which had risen in three years from £2 to £5. The irrigation area had increased in Colorado since 1885 from 1,000,000 to 2,200,000 acres, with 800 miles of main channels and 3500 miles of sub-channel. The tendency of agriculture in America was from grain to fruit, though in Colorado they got a yield of 40 to 60 bushels of wheat by means of irrigation. At Boise, new town in Idaho, 20,000 fruit trees had been planted every year for the past five years, and one fruitgrower from 20 acres produced 125,0001b of fruit and vegetables. Land in riverside country which was sold at £5 an acre in 1885 now planted with fruit trees and irrigated was worth £40 to £50 an acre ; light sandy soil growing only a prickly kind of scrub before irrigated, and worth only£2 an acre, was now worth £30 an acre without including the charge for water. In France, irrigated land planted with fruit-trees was worth £100 an acre ; in Italy, in grain and pasture, £40; in Spain, £90 under fruit TheGoulburn Valley would be in' the future what the valley of the Po was that day, and they would find an ample market within their own borders, especially if an enlightened policy of intercolonial freetrade were brought about. A great deal of labour on these small irrigated farms was done by women and children, such as picking and examining the fruit. The land was better tilled owing to the interest small proprietors took in careful cultivation. In Victoria the set of the people seemed to be from u.„ isolated life of tho country to the towns, in consequence of better social conditions, the means of education, and amusements. But in America the growth of small towns caused by irrigation was a check on this tendency, and would be so in this colony. Statistics showed that in this country produce to the amount of £350,000 now imported could be grown by the aid of irrigation. Messrs. Chaffey Brothers deserved a testimonial from the people of the Goulburn Valley for showing what could be grown on land previously regarded as worthless, and thereby raising general value of tho lands of the colony, for the future prosperity of Victoria was bound up'with the success of irrigation." fortunately in New Zealand no irrigation is requited, but the above shows what a vast aid water is in a dry and parched district where the sun heat is strong.