OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 309 



Measurements of water diverted from streams and that delivered 

 for use disclosed very large losses of water in transit from stream 

 to farm. Studies to determine the location and magnitude of these 

 losses and means of preventing them have been carried on and the 

 results published, resulting in great improvement in all classes of 

 conduits and the saving of much water. 



It has been found that the types of contracts and regulations gov- 

 erning the use of water have a large influence on the quantity of 

 water used; that is, on the disposition of the irrigator to use water 

 economically or wastefully, and much has been done to promote the 

 adoption of regulations which will encourage economy of water. 



Along with the investigational work outlined above, the office has 

 carried on extension work, devoting considerable time to personal 

 advice to farmers and publishing a large number of bulletins giving 

 practical direction for the g-uidance of irrigators, and describing 

 structures of various kinds for the use of irrigation engineers. Sev- 

 eral recent textbooks on irrigation are based almost wholly on the 

 publications of this office, and the same is true of several foreign 

 publications recently received. 



DRAINAGE INVESTIGATIONS. 



Drainage work was carried on during the year in all of the arid 

 States and in practically all those of the humid section with the ex- 

 ception of the New England States. The investigations were in 

 general similar in character to those of the last several years. They 

 included the preparation of plans for improving (1) farm lands 

 already under cultivation but too wet to produce maximum yields ; (2) 

 tracts of swamp and marsh which under present conditions can only be 

 classed as waste land ; (3) agricultural land that is subject to periodic 

 overflow by streams; (4) land in the arid West or in part unpro- 

 ductive owing to the rise of ground water and consequent concen- 

 tration of alkali near the surface; and (5) technical investigations. 



As regards farm lands already under cultivation, the resources of 

 the office were severely taxed to meet the growing demand for advice 

 and assistance in the installation of tile drainage systems. In certain 

 parts of the South, notably North Carolina and Alabama, the eco- 

 nomic value of tile drainage is now generally recognized, while in 

 the other Southern States, perhaps more especially in Maryland and 

 Virginia, the growing appreciation of this form of improvement is 

 very encouraging. A representative of the office was constantly avail- 

 able in each of the Southern States to those seeking assistance in tile 

 draining their land and in preventing hillside erosion. In a large 

 number of cases complete surveys were made and plans worked out in 

 detail. 



The improvement of tracts of permanent swamp and marsh was an 

 important phase of the work. Such tracts, especially in the South, 

 often compose the bottom lands adjoining a stream which is so 

 shallow and otherwise inefficient as at no time to afford adequate 

 drainage to the adjacent land. The largest project of this nature on 

 which surveys and plans were made during the year was the Cow- 

 castle Swamp drainage district, Orangeburg County, S. C, contain- 

 ing 42,350 acres. 



