The land of Babylonian farmers was prepared for irrigation before it was sown by being divided into a number of small square or oblong tracts, each separated from the others by a low bank of earth, the seed being afterwards sown within the small squares or patches.  Some of the banks running lengthwise through the field were made into small channels, the ends of which were carried up to the bank of the nearest main irrigation canal.  No system of gates or sluices was employed, and when the farmer wished to water one of his fields he simply broke away the bank opposite one of his small channels and let the water flow into it.  He would let the water run along this small channel until it reached the part of his land he wished to water.  He then blocked the channel with a little earth, at the same time breaking down its bank so that the water flowed over one of the small squares and thoroughly soaked it.  When this square was finished he filled up the bank and repeated the process for the next square, and so on until he had watered the necessary portion of the field.  When this was finished he returned to the main channel and stopped the flow of the water by blocking up the hole he had made in the dyke.  The whole process was, and to-day still is, extremely simple, but it needs care and vigilance, especially in the case of extensive irrigation when water is being carried into several parts of an estate at once.  It will be obvious that any carelessness on the part of the irrigator in not shutting off the water in time may lead to extensive damage, not only to his own fields, but to those of his neighbours.  In the early Babylonian period, if a farmer left the water running in his channel, and it flooded his neighbour’s field and hurt his crop, he had to pay compensation according to the amount of damage done.

It was stated above that the irrigation-canals and little channels were made above the level of the soil so that the water could at any point be tapped and allowed to flow over the surrounding land; and in a flat country like Babylonia it will be obvious that some means had to be employed for raising the water from its natural level to the higher level of the land.  As we should expect, reference is made in the Babylonian inscriptions to irrigation-machines, and, although their exact form and construction are not described, they must have been very similar to those employed at the present day.  The modern inhabitants of Mesopotamia employ four sorts of contrivances for raising the water into their irrigation-channels; three of these are quite primitive, and are those most commonly employed.  The method which gives the least trouble and which is used wherever the conditions allow is a primitive form of water-wheel.  This can be used only in a river with a good current.  The wheel is formed of rough boughs and branches nailed together, with spokes joining the outer rims to a roughly hewn axle.  A row of rough earthenware cups or bottles are tied round the outer rim for picking up the water, and a few rough paddles are fixed so that they stick out beyond the rim.  The wheel is then fixed in place near the bank of the river, its axle resting in pillars of rough masonry.