OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS 209 



in which irrigation practice and legislation should be developed in 

 that island to secure the best results. 



As soon as funds ai-e available questions relating to the drainage 

 systems needed for our irrigation regions should be included in these 

 investigations. In some of the older irrigated districts the need of 

 drainage is conspicuous, and laws to provide for this according to 

 some comprehensive plan will soon have to be enacted or the litiga- 

 tion which now prevails over putting water on land will be duplicated 

 by controversies over the mannei" of its removal. One of the first 

 things to be done is to make a study of the experience of the States 

 of the Middle West, where drainage is already an important feature 

 of agriculture and is carried out as a public improvement. A bul- 

 letin describing some of the State drainage laws and the applicability 

 of these laws and the methods emj^loyed in digging ditches and laying 

 tiling to the reclamation of some of the submerged areas under irri- 

 gation canals is what is proposed. The Poudi-e Valley in Colorado, 

 the San Joacpiin Valle}" in California, and the lower Humboldt Valley 

 in Nebraska are examples of districts where this improvement can 

 not much longer be neglected. 



COOPERATIVE INVESTIGATIONS. 



Thus far the efforts of this Office in the conduct of the irrigation 

 investigations have been directed toward the marking out of a distinct 

 field of investigation and the inauguration and organization of 

 important enterprises within this field. Leaving to the U. S. Geo- 

 logical Surve3^ questions relating to the determination of the water 

 supplj^ contained in the natural streams of the arid region, and the 

 topography of this region as connected with the location of reservoirs 

 and irrigation works, this Olfice has undertaken the study of the dis- 

 tribution of water and its utilization in agriculture. Such utilization 

 involves, however, many problems touching the whole range of agri- 

 cultural science, and thus the way will be opened, as our investigations 

 develop, for the study of many problems in cooperation with other 

 Di\isions of this Department. Among these will be investigations 

 relating to the extension of irrigation in soils now deemed unsuited to 

 agriculture; the establishment of the proper system for the utilization 

 of the remaining public lands through a combination of irrigation 

 farming and grazing, and the relation of forests to such a system. It 

 is hoped that definite steps ma}' soon be taken for a systematic study 

 of such problems by the Department on the cooperative plan. 



OB.JECTS AND RESULTS OF IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS. 



Although the irrigation investigations now in charge of this Office 

 have been in progress too short a time to permit the publication of 

 any extended reports, nevertheless it is believed that they have already 

 had important results. As the basis for these investigations an effort 

 has been made to ascertain the actual needs of the people of the irri- 

 gated region as regards the investigation of irrigation problems. This 

 has led to widespread discussion of this subject in agricultural and 

 other associations, as well as in the public press. Through the publi- 

 cations of this Office already issued and the addresses of our agents in 

 public meetings in different parts of the irrigated region, the existing 

 conditions have been described as accurateh' as a preliminary survey 

 would permit. The lines along which investigations must proceed 

 AGR 1900 14 



