SIR W. WILLCOCKS'S MAGIC.

Otago Witness, Issue 3002, 27 September 1911, Page 84

SIR W. WILLCOCKS'S MAGIC.

HOW MESOPOTAMIA IS TO BECOME AGAIN A LAND OF- GARDENS. Sir William Willcocks, the, magician who has made it possible for three million acres of arid land in Mesopotamia to become "a land of gardens" because of his plans for irrigation, has given some interesting information about his great scheme to the Daily Chronicle. "Pathetic are the following words of Sir William : —The last voyage I made before coming to Turkey was up the Nile, from Khartoum to the great Equatorial Lakes. In this most desperate and forbidding region, described by travellers as "damp hell," I was filled with pride to think t'hti J belonged to a race whose sons, ?ven in thia inhospitable waste of Avatera, were struggling in the face of a thousand discouragements to introduce new forest trees and new agricultural products, and to ameliorate in some degree the condition of life of the naked and miserable inhabitan.ts. —A Reproach to Turkey.— " 'How should I have felt if, in traversing the deserts and swamps which to-day represent what was before the Arab conquest the richest and most famous tract of the world, I had thought that I was a scion of a race in whose hands God had placed for hundreds of years the destinies of this great country, and that my countrymen could give no better account of their stewardship than the exhibition of two mighty rivers flowing between deserts to waste themselves in the sea for nine months in. the year, and desolating everything in their way during the remaining three. " 'No effort that Turkey can make can be too great to roll away the reproach of these parched and weary lands, whose cry ascends to heaven.' "Sir William mentioned some of the difficulties of the work. These were peculiar to the country, such as the absence of water in the interior, the large marshes which form close up to the river in floodtime, greatly impeding the • movements of. the baggage animals, and iha inter -tribal

troubles, which in a few place's prevented the work from being carried out. With respect to the difficulties encountered owing to the absence of water, it may be stated that the Egyptian army 'fantasses,' or metal water-cans, were found invaluable. —'Some Agricultural Possibilities.—■ "With regard to the agricultural possibilities of Mesopotamia, . Sir Willia.ni thinks that the climatic conditions of the country lead one to the conclusion that with a kind soil and an efficient system of irrigation practically all those crops which nourish under a sub-tropical sun might be successfully grown. During the winter or cold weather season, extending from November to May, the ordinary cereal crops of wheat and barley should succeed admirably; in fact, they are extensively cultivated at present, as also is rice. The conditions seem to be quite suitable also for the numerous pulse crops so well cultivated in India and other Eastern 'countries. Beans, maize, cotton, etc., would grow admirably under efficient irrigation. Winter forage would present no difficulty. From the point of view oi quality, Mesopotamia would yield the beet cotton." With regard to his plans for irrigation he says: —Need for Perpetual Irrigation.— " T submitted to the Ottoman Government reports and plans for six prospects, estimated to cost £15,000,000 for irriga- . tion works and £13,000,000 for agricultural works. I recommended for immediate execution the Feluja project on the Euphrates, which will cost £5,000,000 for irrigation works and the same amount for agricultural work. Feluja includes one and a-quarter million acres of the best land in Mesopotamia.' "Sir William states that to him the romance of Mesopotamia has passed away and that he confines himself to projects which are real and practicable. "No irrigation engineer who has travelled through Mesopotamia can fail to have been struck by the great difference between the delta of the Nile and the joint deltas of the Euphrates and Tigris. The Nile is in flood from August to October, and the turbid waters' can be retained in the historic basins of Egypt amd discharged back into the falling river in November. This permits of the. winter cultivation, without further irrigation, of rich fields of wheat, barley, beans, and clover. < "Such a system of irrigation is impossible in Mesopotamia. The rivers are in flood in March, April, and May, while the floods are followed by the burning and rainless months .of June, July, and August, in which irrigation must be practised, if any crop is to be brought to maturity. Thus, while Egypt has been thousands of years the home of basin irrigation, Mesopotamia was the home of perennial irrigation. i —Tigris-Euphrates Delta. — "On the Upper Euphrates and as one approaches Babylon we have great stretches of salted land, interspersed with bare plains and low sand-drifts. There are also alternate stretches of level country, covered with a thorny, leguminous plant which, dies down in winter, and the same bare plains "which are met in the north. AH this land is capable of easy levelling and reclamation. The presence of 15 percent, of lime in the soil renders reclamation very easy compared with similar work in the dense clays of Egypt. One is never far away from the giant banks of old canals and the ruins of ancient towns. As one goes south the salted land increases in area, and then the marshes begin with their* stretches of rice. \ "The Tigris-Euphrates Delta may be classed as an arid region of • some 5,000,000 hectares (about 12,500,000 acres). A part of this area is the Delta of the Dayla. This latter is well irrigated by the Khalis, Khorassan and Beled Ruz canals, and nseds only good regulating heads, bridges, and drains to be an area of first-class irrigated land. Another area of well-irrigated land is the lower Euphrates. A fair amount of irrigation is performed by 'chareds' worked by mules and oxen along the whole length of the Euphrates and in scattered places on the Tigris. All these areas together form but a small fraction of the delta which is in need of irrigation on broad lines, if anything is ever to be made of it. "The crops of the winter season, consisting principally of wheat, barley, beans, and roots, need irrigation from November to May; the summer crops of millet, lubia, beans, sesame, melons, .and inferior rice needs irrigation from April to September. During September . and October water would be needed for gardens, and possibly for cotton of superior grades, when this crop assumes a higher place in the agriculture of the country. than it holds today. —.Success Sure to Oome.— " 'Of lands with requirements such as these,' remarked Sir William, ' President Roosevelt has well said that it is water, not land, which measures production. The j discharges of water by the Euphrates and Tigris are enormous, and should meet, if properly directed, all the requirements of perfect irrigation.' "The whole of the area of 5,000,000 hectares in the Delta is not capable of being irrigated at. the same time. Sir William submitted an excellent scheme for the utilisation of available water to the best advantage. It must be remembered that never in the history of Mesopotamia has the whole of the country been under irrigation at one and the same time. To meet the requirements of irrigation the Tigris and Euphrates are happily placed in respect of their relative levels. " 'Do you think,' said Sir William, 'I would ever engage in a work for three arduous years if I were. not convinced at the very outset of its perfect achievement? The success is sure to come, and then'—hero there was an eloquent gleam in the expressive eye of Sir William—- ' Mesopotamia will become what it was in,

ancient times —a land of gardens and dates.'"