326 ANKUAL EEPORTS OP DEPARTMENT OP AGEICULTUKE. 



viduals or communities to change the natural course or rate of flow 

 from a drainage basin. 



The reorganization of the department does not contemplate any 

 material change in the scope of drainage investigations work. 

 Greater emphasis will be laid upon the research investigations; and 

 the extension work will be correlated with that of other bureaus of 

 the department. 



FARM IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS. 



Samuel Foetieb, Chief. 



In the act providing for the reorganization of the department the 

 wording of the clause providing for irrigation investigations was 

 modified, but the law did not change materially the work to be done, 

 merely defining it more specifically and making it relate more directly 

 to farm irrigation. There were no changes in personnel or in the 

 general organization for directing the work. In view of the segrega- 

 tion of the extension work in the reorganization of the department 

 it has seemed advisable to confine the work of this division more 

 closely than heretofore to research. This change has led to a change 

 in the organization of the field work, which heretofore has been ad- 

 ministered on a territorial basis. Under the new plan it will be 

 handled On a subject basis, and the local offices heretofore maintained 

 in the several States will be abandoned, and the men will work from 

 three central field offices or from Washington. The work for the 

 field season of 1915 was outlined and begun under the supervision 

 of this office, and consists principally of a continuation of studies of 

 duty of water, measurement of water, pumping for irrigation, and 

 economic questions relating to irrigation. The. work of this division 

 for this fiscal year is given in the report of the Director of the Office 

 of Experiment Stations. 



DIVISION OF RURAL ENGINEERING. 



The farm architectural work, formerly under the Office of Farm 

 Management Investigations, was placed under the supervision of the 

 Office of Public Eoads on April 1, 1915. There was no change in the 

 personnel engaged on that work, but it was designated as one project 

 of the new work of rural engineering to be taken up under the new 

 organization. This work since April 1 has followed activities which 

 had been planned in the Office of Farm Management Investigations, 

 and, in addition, the administrative details of the work have been 

 coordinated with that of the new organization. The report of work 

 for the fiscal year will be included in that of the Office of Farm Man- 

 agement Investigations. 



Preliminary steps were taken toward combining the architectural 

 work and certain features of the work of other divisions of a rural 

 engineering character to form a division of rural engineering, of 

 which E. B. McCormick has been designated chief. All work of a 

 rural-engineering character which was planned to come under the 

 jurisdiction of the office officially on July 1 was informally placed 

 under Mr. McCormick's direction as of April 1. 



