Excerpt from Handbook of Irrigation and Drainage

Bulletin 373, The Irrigation of Lucerne. By Dr. S. Fortier (chief of Irriga tion Investigations, United States Department of Agriculture), is reprinted, especially because of the interest which has been shown in Western Australia in Lucerne growing, which makes it advisable that growers, present and prospective, shall be placed in possession of the latest practical information and advice regard ing the best. Methods of irrigated culture and the utilisation of water applied to agriculture. The reprinted work, with its numerous illustrations, will be found generally adaptable to the conditions ruling in many portions of this State.

The whole question of irrigation must be viewed from the standpoint of yvill it pay 17 Some people, carried away with the possibilities of irrigation. Lose sight of the all-important financial end of the question, and make extensive investment in apparatus which is unnecessary or unsuited to the work to be done. Others, from ill-advised ideas of economy, endeavour to irrigate without properly laying out their land, and spend on labour alone many times the cost of a suitable scheme. To speak intelligently about irrigation we must know the cost and the value, not only of the undertaking as a whole, but of the individual parts thereof.

These are subjects of primary importance. The actual cash outlay necessary for operation is often considered as the cost of irrigation, but allowance has to be made for interest or depreciation on the investment in the irrigation plant.

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