Vízügyi Közlemények, 1937 (19. évfolyam)

3-4. szám - Szakirodalom

22 is economical as to the volume of water required. Meadows were irrigated by flooding and the superfluous water was carried away by drainage ditches. The irrigation of orchards was effected by means of furrows drawn around the trees. The irrigating water was taken from the Fehér-Kőrös river, at high water stages by gravity and at low stages by pumping. The farmers lifted the water from the canals in some places by water wheels, but mostly by centrifugal pumps. As the cost price of pumps would have imposed a considerable burden on the farmers, the levee company purchased the pumps and let them out at moderate rates to the users. Many of the new irrigating farms met with difficulties due to want of sufficient experience, but the older plants were successful. The yield of one hectare of market garden suitably cultivated amounted to 1700 pengő. There are further great possibilities in this field, especially in producing the tomato, which is a product in demand abroad. The greatest trouble is that the sale of products is not properly organised, and most of the profit due to the farmers falls to the transporting trade. Attempts to introduce a proper organisation have not as yet proved successful. On the irrigated lands corn, sugar beets, cabbages and potatoes were produced by irrigating them twice : in the middle of July and at the beginning of August ; the increase of crops amounted to 80—100 per cent. Meadows and orchards also showed good results. The irrigation of alfalfa is of special importance for cattle-breeding and manuring. The quantity of water used at first irrigation was 200 mm and at the successive irrigations — after each mowing — 150 mm. The cost of investment of irrigations established by the levee company was about 170 pengő per hectare. The annual expenses of operation on a hectare, including amortisation, manuring, materials, increase of wages and the price of water, amounted to about 110 pengő. The net income due to irrigation was about 75 pengő with corn and beets, 500 pengő with potatoes, and 255 pengő with irrigation of meadows. The data for the yield of alfalfa and orchards are not definite, because the plants are new and sufficient experience is still wanting. The levee company has an experimental farm of 4-6 hectares, and the town of Gyula a model farm of 14 hectares. But these plants are too small for the purpose of securing reliable data. Seeing that as yet only the owners of larger estates have tried to establisch irrigation, the levee company has been carrying on an energetic campaign of propaganda among the small landowners. VII. REGIME OF OUR RIVERS IN 1936 ; SNOW AND ICE CONDITIONS IN THE BASIN OF THE DANUBE IN THE WINTER OF 1936—37. By Gy. POGONYI. The article is of purely local interest : a summary is not given.