DRAINAGE INVESTIGATIONS. 47 



The reclamation of tidal marshes as practiced in New England, 

 Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick was investigated in detail and 

 reported upon by George M. Warren.^ 



A study of the- effectiveness of tile drainage in the " buckshot " 

 soils of Mississippi was carried on by C. W. Okey. Many special 

 problems peculiar to the drainage of irrigated lands were investi- 

 gated by various engineers of the office. 



PRELIMINARY EXAMINATIONS AND RECONNOISSANCE. 



Under this head may be classified a large part of the activities of 

 drainage investigations. Advice is given by the engineers based 

 upon actual field examinations, although little or no instrument work 

 is done in such cases. A reconnoissance is always made by an en- 

 gineer preliminary to an actual drainage survey undertaken by the 

 office. Some of the more important projects covered in this way 

 during the past year are the following: 



The prairie lands of Alabama ; swamp land in Effingham - and 

 Telfair Counties, Ga.; lands OA^erflowed by the Kootenai River, 

 Idaho; overflowed bottom land of the Potomac River, Montgomery 

 County, Md. ; Green Harbor marsh lands, Plymouth County, Mass. ; 

 Wyaconda River, Clark County, Mo.; Beaver Dam Swamp, Flea 

 Hill drainage district, and Selma Creek, N. C. ; Sumter, Levy Bay. 

 Wappahoola, and Dean Hall plantations, Wadmalaw Island, the 

 lands of the Okeetee Club near Switzerland, and Great Pedee River, 

 S. C. ; Drainage District No. 1 in Norfolk County, swamp land near 

 Newport News, and overflowed land along the Meherrin River, Va. 



DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION. 



There is constant application to the office, through the mails, for 

 information and advice on questions covering all phases of land 

 drainage. Thus by correspondence there is given out a great deal 

 of information, some of a general nature and some applied to the 

 specific conditions described by the inquirers. 



While most of the reports upon examinations and surveys are pre- 

 pared only in typewritten form, a limited number, pertaining to 

 projects peculiarly representative of large areas or affecting a large 

 number of interests, are published for general distribution. The 

 publications of the office during the year that relate to drainage of 

 lands for agriculture are as follows: Report on the St. Francis Valley 

 Drainage Project in Northeastern Arkansas (Office of Experiment 

 Stations Bui. 230) ; A Report upon the Reclamation of the Over- 

 flowed Lands in the Marais des Cygnes Valley, Kans. (Office of Ex- 



1 U. S. Dept. Asr- Office Expt. Stas. Bui. 240. 

 -V S. Dept. Agr., Office Expt. Stas. Circ. 113. 



