200 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



chiintjino: the nature of its production l)y cultivation and by the 

 various impro\(Mncnts incident to a more complete utilization of 

 fields has modified the How of streams, aufrmenlinf; the flood con- 

 ditions in some instances and on the whole materially interfering 

 with the former uniform discharge of streams. Levees which have 

 been sufficient during a cycle of years become overtopped and 

 destroyed by the unusual and spasmodic rainfall during a cycle which 

 follows, so that the problem is to construct levees which shall meet 

 the changed conditions and be permanent. To do tliis requires a 

 close study of the changes in flow which have taken place in streams 

 during the past and the various causes of levee failures. The 

 expense of this kind of reclamation is consequently increased. Yet 

 the value of the land for jjroduction purposes is so much greater 

 than in former times that the same or a greater margin exists 

 between the cost of the work and returns that may be expected. It 

 has been ascertained that the complete leveeing and draining of a 

 levee district of ordinary size,. 4,000 to 10,000 acres, along the Illi- 

 nois Kiver will cost from $20 to $24 per acre for the land protected 

 and benefited, and yet with this formidable expense in sight land- 

 owners are now arranging to carry out protection works for the 

 complete and permanent reclamation of some of those valuable 

 lands. 



The levee problem is also important in the coast and tidal river 

 lands of Georgia and the Carolinas, where the freshets in recent years 

 have destroyed the banks which protected valuable rice lands, leading 

 in many cases to their entire abandonment. The Office is securing 

 data and making surveys for the purpose of furnishing plans to per- 

 sons interested in the protection of those lands .^id in ascertaining 

 the probable cost of their execution. If the returns from the land 

 protected Avill be commensurate with the cost of such work it will 

 be reconnnended and an attempt made to induce owners to repair 

 and rebuild their banks and again take up the cultivation of these 

 lands. 



The banks and levees in the South were constructed years ago by 

 hand labor, and have been repaired from time to time in the en- 

 deavor to make them secure against the changing flood conditions. 

 It would appear ui)on a cursory examination that with the scarcity 

 of labor and the necessity for more permanent Avorks, machinery 

 such as is employed in other places should be introduced in the 

 southeast coast lands. If this should be done some cooperative or- 

 ganization or method of letting Avork b}^ contract and provision for 

 payment should be adopted in order to obviate the labor and financial 

 contingencies Avhich now beset the owners of these lands. 



The same conditions to some extent exist along the Santee KiA'er, 

 Avhere levees haA^e been Avashed aAvay, and lands, formerly protected 



