OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. Sll 



on the subject of tile drainage also were prepared for publication 

 by the States of North Carolina, Virginia, and Alabama. 



S. H. McCrory, chief of drainage investigations, had direct 

 charge of the work throughout the year. 



GENERAL REVIEW OF DRAINAGE INVESTIGATIONS, 1902-1915. 



On April 1, 1915, general supervision of the drainage investiga- 

 tions was transferred to the Ouice of Public Roads. In less than 

 13 years from the appointment of the first drainage expert, the 

 staff increased to 27 engineers and the scope and influence of the 

 drainage work increased correspondingly. Drainage investiga- 

 tions are largely responsible for introducing tile drainage into the 

 Southern States, from Maryland to Texas, for the amount of such 

 work that had been done previously was quite inconsiderable and 

 the people generally in those States were without knowledge of how 

 their wet fields might be made more productive through this means. 

 A great number of farms in that section are now underdrained and 

 State institutions acting either in cooperation with the office or in- 

 dependently have undertaken the work of informing those interested 

 in agriculture concerning the advantages of drainage and the proper 

 methods for controlling soil water. 



A most significant result of the drainage work is the fact that 

 since 1909 at least eight States where our drainage engineers have been 

 established have passed general laws providing for the establish- 

 ment of drainage districts and for financing those districts through 

 the ono practical method of issuing bonds that are a lien upon the 

 lands benefited. These laws have been enacted at the desire of land- 

 owners who have learned something of the value of drainage, the 

 magnitude of the necessary reclamation works, and the methods of 

 organization necessary. Under these laws hundreds of drainage dis- 

 tricts have been organized, about fourscore in North Carolina alone, 

 and hundreds of thousands of acres of swamp and overflowed lands 

 have been drained for cultivation. 



The peculiar problems of drainage for reclaiming irrigated lands, 

 injured by seepage and alkali, in the so-called arid States, have 

 engaged the attention of the office since the beginning of the drain- 

 age work. Satisfactory progress has been made toward under- 

 standing these problems and their solution, and in introducing effi- 

 cient methods of protection or reclamation by drainage. 



The engineering data collected and the published discussions of 

 the engineering problems are serving a constantly increasing number 

 of engineers and communities in planning improvements and de- 

 signing drainage structures. 



HOME ECONOMICS INVESTIGATIONS. 



The work of the year in this division of the office was broader in 

 scope than heretofore, since it included studies of clothing, house- 

 hold equipment, and household labor, as well as food and nutrition. 



An experimental study of the nutritive value and digestibility of 

 culinary and table fate showed that they are very thoroughly as- 

 similated, although those with high melting point, like suet and 



