BRITISH COLUMBIA 45

Mixed farming is especially favourable where irrigation is possible,
enabling the farmer to grow what crops he chooses, regulating the supply
of moisture according to the necessities of the case and adjusting the supply
to the demand of the locality having but little fear of drought or excessive
rain.

Thousands of men struggling for a meagre living in the beaten paths,
may find under these conditions profitable occupation. It is well known
that under irrigation crop failure is practically unknown, but brief men-
tion must be made of the system commonly known as “Dry Farming”
the greatest exponent of which is Professor Campbell, of Lincoln, Nebraska.
_ Studying and experimenting during 25 years the Professor has been enabled
to demonstrate that in the semi-arid states of western America good average
crops are obtainable with only a meagre rainfall and without irrigation.
These methods have been tried in some districts of the dry belt of British
Columbia with a large measure of success, and their adoption seems to
indicate that valuable land lying on the upper side of the ditch, and con-
sequently non-irrigable, may be utilized in a way hitherto unknown.

IRRIGATION.

As already observed, a considerable percentage of the agricultural
lands in the southern interior districts require irrigation. Generally
speaking there is abundant water within reach. There are sections where
the height of the land above water level or distance from the source of
supply stand in the way of individual attempts at irrigation, but the work
may be accomplished by co-operation and with the expenditure of capital.

The supplying of water to these higher plateaux is, however, a matter
for future consideration, as there is sufficient land capable of irrigation
at comparatively small cost to meet the requirements for many years to
come. In Okanagan, Similkameen, Windermere and Kamloops districts
and at Pennys, near Ashcroft, companies have purchased large tracts of
land, formerly used as cattle ranges, which they are subdividing into small
holdings of ten acres and upwards, and constructing reservoirs and ditches
which will provide an unfailing supply of water. The example set by the
Canadian Pacific Railway in Alberta in wresting over 3,000,000 acres from
arid and low-producing grain fields, and making them yield millions of
bushels of wheat, is one which cannot be overlooked. pas

The provincial government impressed with the importance of irriga-
tion is preparing under the ‘‘Water Act, 1909” to investigate the hydro-
graphic conditions existing in those portions of the province in which irriga-
tion is necessary, and the collection of data from which comprehensive
plans for the conservation and use of water may be prepared. _

It is therefore safe to predict that the next few years will witness the
reclamation of many hundreds of thousands of acres of bench lands from
pasturage to flourishing orchards and farms, the homes of thousands of
prosperous settlers. The right to use water Is vested in the province
particulars in regard to which may be obtained by communicating with
the Provincial Water Commissioners’ Office at Victoria, Be:

DYKING.

British Columbia, although generally accepted as a country of high
altitudes, includes large tracts of alluvial lands which are overflown at
certain seasons, and therefore require dyking in order to make them avail-
able for cultivation. These lowlands are located on the lower Fraser;
at Canal Flats, near the head waters of the Columbia River; at Creston, in
the West Kootenay, and on the north west coast of Vancouver Island.

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