THE GREAT IRRIGATION WORKS OF INDIA.

BY AN INDIAN IRRIGATION ENGINEER.

IN an address delivered on November 5, 1901, the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers said: " In England the great irrigation works of India are seldom heard of, and I cannot but think that the magnitude of some of them ... is but little appreciated even by many members of our own profession."

It is not an uncommon error to suppose that all crops cultivated in India are irrigated artificially. The truth is that out of the aver age area—about 226,000,000. ^°^.*™!?er* ^ra*—°f crops sown annually, 13,000,000 acres are irrigated, with great labour, from wells, 18,000,000 from canals, 8,000,000 from tanks, and 6,000,000 in various other ways. It should