A Great Arrigdtion Scheme to Protect and Revive Grain Areas:
Over 1,400,000 Mow to be Saved in 24/Yeats for $1,750,000:
A $2,000,000'Dam to Trrigate Twice as Much Later on Preparations are: being made by the China International Famine Re-Viet Commission and" the provincial authorities of Shensi for putting in! liliand an extensive irrigation scheme which will bring new life to the "food-producing region of Shensi and practically insure the province from future famine, states the "Chinese eonomie Monthly. The area is fealled the Wei Peh region, and comprises over four and a half million mow of land. At present, owing to the gradual deterioration irrigation machinery which exist-result that the Cheng Kuo dam fall lover, leaving, the river water too Tow to each. the mouth of the In"95. ne, an engineer-of the Han Dynasty, named Po Kung, built a canal at a place 135 feet above the mouth of the Cheng Kuo canal, flowing to the Wei Ho, 'a distance of 200 1. The irrigated area was 450,000 mow. In the Vang Dynasty the people along the jean al began to erect mill wheels, which hindered the free passage of the canal, and in 770 A.D. the ed in times gone by, only 35,000) mow of this extensive tract of land fire tmrigated, Shensis granary therefore dependent on the vagaries of Nature, with disastrous consequences sometimes to life and ferops. By the scheme initiated by the Famine Relief Commission, the price of land will advance by no {oss than $20 a mow. Unirrigated land in the: province sells for $10 a mow, while the land comprised in the 35,000 mow of irrigated tervitory fetches $40. Thus it will be een that from the point of view fof, land. values alone, the under~ taking will mean an addition to the provincial wealth of many millions Df dollars. The crops valsed in this region are wheat, beans, millet, and cotton, wheat comprising about 60 Brantcipated by" the Famine Resr cent, of the production; and it
Niet Comm that as a result systematic be doubled. This not seem an over-optimistic estimate when the extent of the scheme is realized, as well as the existing state of the region, which depends alm" ly for $8 water yonds almost solely for its water irrigated area had diminished to 6,000 mow. Until the year 965 the {people used kaoliang, brush and \timber piles to dam up the river for irrigation purposes. This of course, improved the condition a {little, but they had to be repaired Jatter every summer storm and eventually proved impracticable.
In 1107 the Feng Li canal was dug 280 feet above the Po Kung teanal with its bed five feet below the water level of the river. This new canal was cut into the rocky {hillside for a distance of 3,141 feet, with a section 12 feet wide at the Jbottom and 14 feet. wide on top by an average depth of 30 feet. The canal then ran. through the arthy strata for 42,200 feet to join the old canal. Two stone culverts fand two locks were built for re-Sulating the water supply. canal did not last long, King' river bed revealed the fact that the mouth of the Cheng Kuo canal was 30 feet higher than the water surface, that of Po Kung canal 11 feet and that of Feng Li canal seven fect. In 1839 Wang Vu Shih shifted the canal 510 feet farther up the river, parts, Project result of the first The mouth of this ficheme over 1,400,000 mow will be feet irrigated, This will cost about 11 in the King; to 12 million dollars, and will take {nto the canal a low dam about 1 about 2) years to complete. The feet high was built across the southern part of the Wei Peh area with 110 stone baskets. The bank will be irrigated first, und the pro-lof the canal broke as_time went Ject, will include a low head dam Jon, while the muddy King water 40 fect high with a detention re began to silt up the canal. There-fervour for settling the worst of fore, in the 'Tsing Dynasty it was the mud deposits, a long line of {decided to change the. irrigation ditehwork which' will take the jacheme altogether. Springs along water over the plains, one main the hillside were utilized for' this canal with laterals, and a tune purpose, and the entrance of the nearly 2,600 metres' in length. former canal was closed to prevent flooding from the King. This. pro-A Monster Dam. et Is known as the Lung Tung The second project will be in th anal, which has now an irrigation ature of an extension ea only a hundredth part of the rk, with a high dam, @ reservoir the lower end of the tenne, and [Cheng Kuo scheme. It irvigates only 25,000 mow. The new project high canal' leading over' the will "again "provide a continuous northern part of the territory. water supply over the whole of Over twice as much land will be [the plain, 4,000,000 mow in extent: irrigated by the second project, and and its successful completion will the cost wil be in the neighbour-provide China with its most' ambi-hood of we million dollars. For tious irrigation undertaking of the time being, however, plans for modern times. this half of the work have not been worked out, the Commission wish Insurance Against Famine. ing to concentrate on the initial Mr. 0. J. Todd, engineer repre-scheme in all its bearings.
It is sentative of the China International expected that it will take another Famine Relief Commission, recently years to complete the second investigated the Wei Peh region. enterprise.
"The finances of the first scheme His report, refers to the scheme jim detail, and also affords an ing have been tentatively budgeted, and, teresting' glimpse of the economic in suid, have been approved by jeonditions prevailing in the pro-the Governor of Shensi_ province vince. Me says in part: 'The Commission, in addition to sup-"The matter of finances plying the brains of the work, will the thing that concerns all advance half a million dollars at of 4 ind this has been discussed 10 per cent. interest for three ich beth the' Goversor. and with years. The Governor has agreed Governm, ha ared Gen, Ten, whom fet in Sanyonn ofthe, money, about a million Awe dollars. "The whole of the cost is to be borne eventually by the Irrigated district. A condition of the scheme is that the mi dollars apportioned to Shensi is to! be raised within two years. is only due to the neglect of modern times that the Wei Peh' region is so ill provided for. Irrigation works are recorded far back as 246 ne. This was Gheng Kuo Canal which was ce: pleted by the great engineer, Cheng Kuo, and which watered great. plain for 130 years. The teanal ran from the mouth of the King valley, crossing the Tsing, Yeh and Cho rivers, and then joined the Lo river which flowed to Pungehow. The main channel was 300 ti long and the irrigated area 4,600,000 mow. This anal served {for 129 years, but the slope-of the King river was so. steep and the current.so swift that-the rocky river bed soon wore out, with the gested to him'that he should jon forming a reclamation for tion district and call a meeting of the leading farmers and merchants most vitally interested to get them to pledge financial support by buying reclamation bonds. In this war Gen. Tien should raise $750,000 within less than two years in the Wei Peh region. Governor Liu should raise another $750,000 from general revenues, It is estimated that the work will take two and a half years from the time of completing all financial arrangements and actually beginning work. Half of this sum should be in reliable banks in the name of our Commission or subject to our drafts for this work by January 1, 1925. The other half should be ready by January 1, 1926, This matter of money must be attended to before orders. can be given for equipment "It seems likely that this district isthe "Key. of -the fool-producing
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.