UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. ^ 
 
 BULLETIN NO. 53. 
 
 Irrigation, Drainage and Alkali. 
 
 About two years ago, California was visited 
 by Mr. W. J. Wilson, an English engineer con- 
 nected with the Government of "The Northwest 
 Provinces and Oudh," India, with a view to 
 btudying the subjects indicated in the above 
 heading in their connection with California 
 practice. He was given such information and 
 assistance toward the accomplishment of his 
 object as could be afforded by the agricultural 
 department of the University and the State 
 Engineer's office at Sacramento; and he vibited 
 personally several prominent alkali districts in 
 the State. In letters subsequently received 
 from him, he dwelt strongly upon the exact 
 analogy of the phenomena of "alkali" as appear- 
 ing in the two countries, and expressed the hope 
 that California would profit in time by the bit- 
 ter experience of "the oldest country in the 
 world." What this experience has been, is 
 pregnantly set forth in a series of reports re- 
 ceived here, not long ago, from the Director of 
 Agriculture at the agricultural station of Cawn 
 pore, Oudh; and the burden of their tale is so 
 instructive, and as far as comparable so nearly 
 akin to what exists, or has already occurred in 
 California, that lengthy extracts from the same 
 will be given in the report of the Agricultural 
 College tor 1886. For the present, it hecmes of 
 interest to state some of the main points, in 
 view of the fact that in some of our irrigation 
 districts, measures looking to the relief from the 
 already growing evils are now under discussion. 
 
 The document in hand is entitled "Report of 
 the Committee for Investigating Into the Causes 
 of the Deterioration of Land by Reh in the 
 Aligarh District." This district lies southeast 
 of the city of Delhi, between the Ganges and 
 Jumna rivers, and is traversed by the canal 
 system diverging from these rivers. The re- 
 port refers, however, to numerous other re- 
 gions, notably in the Punjaub, where precisely 
 similar conditions have been brought about as 
 reganl* the scourge of "reft," the latter being 
 the Hiudoostanee equivalent for "alkali." f 
 
 The broad facts set forth are these: Prior to 
 the establishment of the great irrigation canals 
 by the English Government, regular cultivation 
 in those countries was practically restricted to 
 the moist lands immediately along the water 
 courses, and to such as could be laboriously ir- 
 rigated from wells, the latter being very numer- 
 ous. Occasionally rainy seasons would there, 
 as in southern California, bring good harvests 
 on unirrigated lands; but a failure of the rains 
 
 brought a famine. Tracts rendered uncultivat- j 
 able by excess of alkali exist more or less j 
 throughout the Northwest provinces, but under ! 
 the old system of cultivation, there was no ap- 
 preciable increase of the area of these reh lands. 
 
 The canals were built for the purpose of af- 
 fording abundance of irrigation water; and in 
 order that they might be easily available, they 
 were laid high, so as to allow their water when 
 used to flow naturally over or through the agri- 
 cultural land.-*. No provision for drainage was 
 made. 
 
 For a few years only benefits were ex- 
 perienced from the irrigation canals, and Urge 
 plantation enterprises were set on foot w litre 
 previously only scanty pasture formed the pro- 
 duct of the land. Gradually, however, it was 
 noted that crops began to languish in the lower 
 ground; and soon it became appareut that the 
 latter was being converted into rapidly enlarg- 
 ing swamps. More than this, it was observed 
 that on the higher ground the reh spots pre- 
 viously existing were rapidly enlarging, and 
 that new ones were being formed where before 
 none had existed within the memory of man. 
 This was, however, simply a repetition of a pre- 
 vious experience, thus referred to by one of the 
 members of the committee: "When under the 
 Mughal dynasty the Western Jumna canal was 
 open, reh was (so say the people) common 
 throughout the tract, though not so highly de- 
 veloped as now. During the century of Man- 
 ratta misrule the canal was closed and reh dis- 
 appeared. The canal was re opened in 1820; 
 and irrigation far more extensive than before 
 was established in 1838, and swamps and reh 
 were the immediate result." 
 
 So great and extended is the injury thus in- 
 flicted, that v»hile some members of the com- 
 mittee discuss the possible remedies of deepen- 
 ing the canals, establishing deep drainage etc., 
 one at least goes so far as to say that rather j 
 than that this state of things should be ailowed 
 to continue and increase, it were better that 
 the canals should be closed and the old system 
 of well irrigation restored. 
 
 There is little difference of opinion as to the 
 cause of the evil and the source of the alkali. 
 It is shown that not only near, but within even 
 considerable distances from the canals, the 
 water table or subsoil water level has been 
 raised from a distance of 20 to 50 feet, to within 
 a few feet of, or actually to the surface. It has 
 brought up with it, by an easily intelligible 
 process of upward leaching, all the alkali salts 
 existing within the substrata thus traversed; 
 and then by evaporation, these salts, before dif- 
 fused throughout many feet of substrata, accu- 
 
mulate at the surface to such an extent as to 
 render profitable cultivation impossible, if even 
 they do not make the soil absolutely barren, by 
 covering it with a white crunt of salts. While 
 the committee agree that the largest proportion 
 of the damage has been brought about by the 
 rise of the water table by sidewise soakagefrom 
 the high lying canals, yet they state that the 
 trouble has been greatly aggravated and ex- 
 panded by the extravagant use of water by the 
 peasants, who, relieved from the laborious pro- 
 cesses of well-irrigation, took great satisfaction 
 in giving the land and crops a plenty, now that 
 they had the water free of cost. It is esti- 
 mated the water used often approaches 60 inches 
 rainfall, and is equivalent to 27 inches, at least 
 over the whole of the irrigated region. 
 
 The remedies suggested by the committee, 
 and in part carried into practice within the last 
 five years, are the following: First, a deepen- 
 ing of the canals, so as to lower their water 
 level, and hence that of the soakage water 
 table, several feet at least below that of the 
 lands to be irrigated. This measure carries 
 with it the restriction of the over-irrigation 
 heretofore practiced, by compelling the ryots to 
 raise the water by means of wheels or pumps, 
 which is the second point insisted on. Third, 
 they recommend the establishment of a system 
 of drainage, by which the surplus subsoil water 
 shall drain into the rivers, carrying with it also 
 the reh salts, and thus relieving the land more 
 or less permanently of that scourge. 
 
 It unfortunately happens that the first of 
 these measures offers in many cases insuperable 
 engineering difficulties, from the fact that the 
 entire canal construction was calculated for 
 high levels; so that deepening would often be 
 equivalent to almost entire reconstruction. The 
 establishment of drainage systems, also, offers 
 great difficulties in a region where, from the 
 scantiness of the rainfall, the surface conforma- 
 tion of the country is not favorably sculp- 
 tured. The enormous cost now to be incurred 
 in applying thoroughly either or both of these 
 remedies, of course stands seriously in the way 
 of their application. Had the effects of the high- 
 laid canals and defective drainage been tore- 
 seen, a different system could have been con- 
 structed with the same, or slightly greater cost. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to go farther into the 
 details of these interesting Tv.norta to enforce 
 
 e» - x 
 
 the lesson and warning they convey to our irri- 
 gating communities. In some of the latter, the 
 evils now besetting the irrigation districts of 
 northwest India are already becoming painfully 
 apparent; and to expect them not to increase 
 unless the proper remedies are applied, is to 
 hope that natural laws will be waived in favor 
 of California. Some early enthusiasts have 
 practically gone as far as this, but the sober 
 business sense of the community has by this 
 time come to a different conclusion. The natu- 
 ral conditions under which the irrigation canals 
 of India have brought about the reh scourge* 
 are exactly reproduced in the great valley of 
 California; and what has happened in India 
 will assuredly happen there also, unless timely 
 precautions are taken. 
 
 In several reports heretofore published 
 (more especially i?i that for 1880) I have urged 
 the necessity of drainage correlative with irri- 
 gation, in order to avoid the conversion of 
 some of the finest agricultural lands of the 
 San Joaquin valley into swampy alkali flats. I 
 have urged the more sparing use of water, in 
 order to restrict as much as possible the "rise 
 of the alkali" from unnecessary evaporation; 
 and have suggested both means for preventing 
 its accumulation near the surface, and for miti- 
 gating its corrosive qualities. Analyses of the 
 waters of the several rivers flowing from the 
 Sierra, as well as of those of artesian wells, 
 have been made to show how far such waters 
 might contribute to the increase of the alkali 
 unless simultaneous drainage were enabled to 
 remove the accumulation. The waters of 
 Tulare' and the other lakes of the valley, simil- 
 arily tested, have been found to be unfit for ir- 
 rigation, unless under exceptional conditions or 
 precautions. Thus, with the practical experi- 
 ence already had, all the data for intelligent 
 action in the premises are at hand; and accord- 
 ing to a number of recent reports and observa- 
 tions, such action is in some localities becoming 
 the question of first importance to those who 
 would prevent their orchards and vineyards 
 from being drowned out by water-logging, or 
 their wheat fields froiii becoming one /ast alkali 
 plain. Single individuals, however, can do but 
 little |in the matter; the action to be taken 
 must, of necessity, be that of whole communi- 
 ties E. W. Hilgard. 
 
 Berkeley, Feb: 25 % 1886.