72 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT RTATI0N8. 



INVESTIGATIONS IN TMK SKMIAUID DISTUK'TS. 



HetwoiMi the ciistcin ]):ir( ot" Toxas. ( )kliili()iiiii. KjiM>as, Nclu'aska, 

 and llic Dakotas, and the (lisliiictivclN arid coiinli'v wliicli lies at the 

 western Ixudcr ol' tlicvsc States, tluM-c is a broad strip of coiiiiti-y wliicli 

 extends from the northeni bouiidai-y of the I'liilfd States ahiiost to 

 the Gull" of Mexico. In lliis Ixdt there-is plenty of rain in man}' 

 seasons to pi-oduce crops, hut in others a<,''ri<'ulture without irrii«;ation 

 is a failuiv. In all years the period in which irri«,nition is necessary is 

 of hrief duration oidy. In these sections fai'niers ai'e confronted l)y 

 two problems: How to make the limited water su})ply of that rej^ion 

 available, and how to utilize it to the best advanta«rc. Owin^ to the 

 absence of large rivers and the intermittent character of the streams, 

 farmers must depend upon two sources for their water supply^ — on 

 what they can pump out of the subsoil of their farms and what they 

 can store in small reservoirs. In this reoion there have been recur- 

 ring periods of wet and dry years, wdiich have peopled and depopulated 

 certain sections three or four times. Rainy 3'ears attract farmers and 

 dry years drive them away. A special system of agriculture nuist l)e 

 worked out for this part of the country, in which the total holdings of 

 land will l)e comparativcl}' large, but where each settler will be forti- 

 fied ])y having from lO to 2(1 acres of ground which he can irrigate 

 and which will assure him every year, whi^ther it ))e a wet or a diy 

 one, an ample supply of vegetables from his garden, a few fruit trees, 

 and enough alfalfa and forage to support his milch cows and other live 

 stock. 



This Office has received numerous petitions from individuals and 

 associations of farmers to take up the stud}- of irrigation nietliods 

 suited to this region and to outline plans for agricultural development 

 based thereon. We made a beginning b}^ cooperating this year with 

 the station established 1)}^ the State of Kansas at Ha3\s. This work 

 was under the personal direction of J. G. Hane}", a member of the 

 station staff of the Kansas Experiment Station. It included the instal- 

 lation of a pumping plant, the measurement of water used in irrigation, 

 and a record of the cost and of the increased yields of crops. 



In South Dakota the investigations were cai'ried on by A. B. Crane, 

 professor of civil engineering in the State Agricultural College, and 

 included a stud}- of irrigation from artesian wells in the James River 

 Valley. 



The investigations in Nebraska arc carried on under a cooperative 

 agreement with the State experiment station and are luider the per- 

 sonal direction of Prof. O. V. P. Stout. The}' included studies of the 

 duty of water under a canal system near Culbertson, which lies on the 

 border line between the humid and scmiarid States, and will help to 

 determine the amount of water required and the best methods of its 



