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NEW PLANS FOR IRRIGATION 217
With our minds filled with impressions of the vanished
past of this gifted people \ve drove back at sunset along the
road which divides the cultivated plain from the desert, and
then between the gardens in the valley of the Zanga till wc
reached Erivan.
Our Proposal.
Our work in Armenia was now practically at an end. Wc
had investigated, as well as wc could for the time being, the
plans for the cultivation of new land, and could draw our
own conclusions as to what ought to be undertaken first.
During the next two or three days wc had several meetings
with Mr. Ersingian, the Commissar of Agriculture, with the
Government, and with the Government committee. Wc
explained to them the conclusions at which wc had arrived
as a result of our investigations, and laid before them the
following plan.
Wc had formed the opinion that the various plans—for
irrigating, draining, and cultivating land now lying idle—
which had been submitted for our consideration were all
practicable and ought all to be tåken in hand as time went
on. But wc considered that the largest of these projects,
involving the irrigation and cultivation of the so-called
Sardarabad desert, where about 43,000 dessiatins of new land
could be cultivated, would cost so mueh—wc estimated the
total cost at 15 or 20 million gold roubles—and take such a
long time (at least three years), that wc could not recommend
beginning upon it at present.
On the other hand, wc found that the plans for irrigating
the Kirr districts, and for draining and irrigating the Kara-su
region and Zangabasar, would be far easier to carry out, take
less time, and involve a smaller expenditure. Accordingly wc
recommended that the first step should be to try to give effect
to these plans. Wc calculated that in this way at least 30,000
dessiatins (81,000 acres) of fertile land could be cultivated;
and that at least 2 5 ,000 people (probably a considerably larger
number) could obtain a livelihood there. If wc helped to
l-aise the necessary money for these undertakings, wc should
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