OCR Text |
Show IRRIGATION IS NOTHING NEW In Ancient Babylonia There Has Been Discovered System Larger Than Any in This Country. A great many balieve that irrigation irriga-tion on a large scale is a comparatively comparative-ly new project. Many also imagine thai before the United States authorities authori-ties began to reclaim great tracts of western lands, it was an unheard of proposition. But you didn't know, did you, that out in Babylonia, ancient Babylonia, mind you, there has been discovered a system of irrigation said to be larger than anything attempted in that line in this country or anywhere any-where else? Of course it is now nothing noth-ing hut waste lands, swamps, etc., but In its day it was something to be wondered at. In that part of Babylonia known as 'raq el Arabia, the great plains were covered with a net-work of canals which carried agricultural prosperity to all parts of the country. The neglect neg-lect of these has so changed the conditions condi-tions of the country that Instead of a fertility that was once the wonder of the ancient world, a cheerless waste now presents Itself. Some months of the year the country is practically covered with swamps and marshes, while the remaining portion is a desolate des-olate plain. |