The price of water on the canal of Charles Albert is rather high, being about 9s. per acre; while on the canals of the Stura, Mellea, &c., it does not exceed 4s. It is, of course, made as high as possible in the former case, to secure some return on the capital; but I have little doubt of the high rate per acre, as compared with the other canals in the same districts, being the main cause of the slow extension of irrigation among the cultivators, for I believe there is no want of land well adapted to the purpose.

In the mountainous parts of the basins of the DoraRepaira, the Stura (2d), the Orco, and the Dora-Baltea, there is the same general use made of the minor streams draining the small valleys which has been just alluded to as prevailing on the other bank of the Po. The rivers Grandone, Pellice, Chianiogna, Chisone, Lemma, Lungone, the Seconda Gesso, and a network of smaller streams, have all been laid under contribution. On the whole, it

is calculated that, within the hilly region of Piedmont, a quantity of water equal to not less than 2500 cubic feet per second is rendered available for purposes of irrigation. The extent of land watered thereby is estimated at 180,000 acres, and by some authorities at considerably more. It is impracticable to offer more than a rough approximation either of the quantity of water, or the areas of irrigation in these rugged tracts, for the first is derived from hundreds of unmeasured sources, and the last are scattered over hundreds of separate valleys. But the data given above do not err, I believe, on the side of exaggeration.*

* M. Nadault de Buffon estimates the quantity of water at 250 “Ruote" of Piedmont, equal to nearly 2945 cubic feet per second, and the total area of irrigation at 225,000 acres, being about 77 acres for each cubic foot of discharge. It strikes me this estimate is too high, and I have preferred that given above.

It will doubtless have been observed that, throughout the whole of the details of the system of irrigation in Piedmont now given, I have avoided all reference to the special measures of water employed in that country. The standard measure I have employed has been the discharge per second in cubic feet, and as this varies in each of the Piedmontese measures, I have had much labour in making the necessary reductions. I do not think it expedient to enter upon any detailed explanations on this point here, as hereafter I must collect into a single chapter all the information I have obtained regarding measures of water; but I may mention, in concluding this section, that since the promulgation of the code of Charles Albert, all the ancient measures, no two of which had any precise relation to each other, have ceased and determined in favour of the new modulo established by Art. 643 of the code above referred to, the value of which, according to the formula approved by authority, is 2.04 cubic feet per second. This is the standard for all new grants of water, though for old ones the original measures remain in force; and I have employed the equivalents of these in English measures in all the reductions I have found it necessary to make in the preceding pages.

SECTION LAST.

GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE IRRIGATION SYSTEM OF PIEDMONT.

It will terminate appropriately the account now given of the canals of irrigation in Piedmont, to present in a summary form the general results exhibited by it, so as to

bring under notice at once a comprehensive view of the entire question.

I have already roughly estimated the area of the irrigated region at about 14 millions of acres. It may be more satisfactory, however, to give this in greater detail, and to that end I have made use of the data attached to the reduction of the great map of the Sardinian States, executed by the Etat-Major of the army, and published at Turin in 1841.*

From this source, I find the superficial area of the low country in the different irrigated provinces to be as follows:

As in India, so in Piedmont, it is considered that a deduction of about one-third from the total area for land lost to cultivation, by being occupied as sites of towns and villages, beds of rivers or lakes, marshes, wastes, &c., will leave a fair approximation to the area which is either cultivated or culturable. Such area, in the present instance, would therefore amount to 890,454

acres.

The following statement shows the separate portions of the plain which are actually irrigated

* Under the title “Carte degli Stati di Sua Maesta Sarda in Terra Firma opera del Real Corpo di Stato Maggiore Generale incisa e publicata in Anno 1841." This is a reduction in 5 sheets of the great map in 96.

It therefore appears, that, viewing the irrigated plain as a whole, it is irrigated to the extent of nearly one-third of its cultivated and culturable area a proportion which certainly indicates a satisfactory state of agricultural prosperity, though it leaves a considerable margin for the extension of the system. In the best organised farms of the plains, where rice, water meadows, and Indian corn are cultivated as irrigated crops, it is considered a properly adjusted proportion to have three-fourths of the land under irrigation, and one-fourth under dry cultivation. The data just given will show that at present this proportion has not yet been reached, since, on the average, one-third only of the land is irrigated, while two-thirds are either under dry cultivation, or, though culturable, are not yet brought into beneficial employment at all.

In that portion of the great plain formed by the lowlying parts of the provinces of Ivrea and Vercelli, and having an irrigable area of about 270,000 acres, we find the actual irrigation extends over 121,250 acres, or a little less than one-half of the entire surface. Again, in the provinces of Novara and Mortara, where the irrigable area amounts to about 342,000 acres, we find the same proportion hold good. The general results, therefore, prove that in these tracts there is a closer approximation to the relative proportion between irrigated and unirrigated cultivation, which is held to be the best; and if that

noble canal from the Po, to which I have before alluded, is ever executed, as I trust it may be, not only to add new channels to those now existing, but to insure more. abundant supplies to those lines which at present languish so much under the want of them, there will then be little left to desire in the action of the irrigation system of this region.

The total quantity of water utilised throughout Piedmont is as follows:

The addition to the rental of land through the country, due to the existence of the means of irrigation, may be estimated approximately at a little more than £290,000 per annum, while the direct returns from the canals themselves may be calculated at about £25,000 annually, of which fully four-fifths appertain to the state, and the remainder to private parties. It must not be overlooked that this amount is far beneath the proper return for the waters, but the numerous gratuitous grants which have been made during the lapse of five centuries have reduced greatly the income derivable from the canals.

When all the canals and their branches are taken into account, we find the irrigated region covered by a network of channels whose united length exceeds 1200 miles; and this does not include the numerous small distributing lines which are to be met with on every farm, nor the channels of the upper valleys. These latter I cannot attempt even to guess at, so numerous are they,