PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 605 



greatest economy in une and tlie largest yields must be studied, and the mutual rela- 

 tion of pi'oph's wlio depend on the same water supply must lie ascertained in order 

 that we may luive institutions which will secure harmony and justice. 



An excellent begiimin^M 1 1 the study of these questions has been made in a few 

 institutions and by the Oilu-e of Experiment Stations, but there is a great*liekl for 

 the extension of l)oth instruction and research and for a broader cooperation l^etween 

 the Department and the State institutions in l)Oth the cultural and engineering sides 

 of this branch nf agriculture. 



Of wider application and scarcely less importance is the subject of drainage. The 

 marsh and overflowed lands along our seacoast and the bottom lands bordering many 

 of our rivers are at pri'sent unsightly, un[)roductive, and in somi- instances a menace 

 to the health of surrounding districts. They need only to be diked ;uid drained to 

 be the most valuable lands in the country. The carrying out of these imiirovementa 

 will adil inunensely to the agricultural values of the country, and the work is certain 

 to be undertaken in the near future. It involves, however, a larger knowledge of 

 agricultural engineering than can now be obtained in our land-grant colleges. In 

 fact, the profession of agriculttn-al engineer, so prominent in Europe, is almost 

 unknown in this country. Very little has Ijeen done in this country to develf)p a 

 satisfactory drainage jiractice. The principles of drainage are understood by but 

 few, and instruction in our colleges is meager and far from being up to date. Drain- 

 age laws are far from satisfactory and need to be modified because this work is 

 beyon<l the means of individuals and must be carried out by organizations of large 

 numbers of landowners associated under some definite legal jilan. Careful work 

 must be done in the study of tlu' practical side of this subject, in determining the 

 most effective mt'thods of constructing ditches, in determining the kind of under- 

 drains to be used, the depth at which they should be laid, the distance apart, etc. 



We l)elieve that in irrigation and drainage there is a field for cooperation l)etween 

 the Department of Agriculture and the experiment stations and colleges which ought 

 to be more fully utilized, the Department of Agriculture coordinating the work of 

 the stations and aiding them in carrying out original researches. 



Associated with drainaj^e and irrigation is another branch of hydraulic agriculture 

 whose importance has not been properly realized. This is the terracing and draining 

 of hillside farms in order to protect them from the destructive effects of erosion. It 

 is an unfortunate fact that nmch of the activity of the last century in subduing and 

 settling this i-ountry has been <jf a destructive character. Forests have been cut from 

 the headwaters of streams; the hillsides which they protect have been exposed to 

 the erosion of storms, an<l the evils of the work done by rainfall liavi' Iteen aggra- 

 vated by the planting of these lands to crops which require clean culture, such as 

 corn, tobacco, and cotton, which provide no binding material for the soil. As a 

 result, nuich of the accunudated fertility has been carried down into the channels of 

 streams, thus leaviui,' tluiusandsof acres of what was fertile land not many yi-ars ago 

 scarred with gullies and practically abandoned to weeds and brush. We nuist stop 

 this destructive style of farming if we are to maintain the prosperity and jirovide an 

 adequate food su[)ply for many sections in the eastern half of the United States. To 

 fin<l out how best to do this and to encourage farmers to lH';.rin action is a work 

 wliich botli the Dejiartment of Agriculture and the different Stale exiieriment sta- 

 tions should take up at once. Tiie hill lands of France, (lermany, and England are 

 as fertile as they were a century ago, although many of them are devoted to culti- 

 vated crops. The credit for these results is due to the existence of a body of trained 

 agricultural engineers, a class of iirofessional men not now existing in the Uiiited 

 States. The time has come when our coIIcuts shoujil icml themselves actively to this 

 sort of training. The opiiortunitics for em|>lovment in irrigation, drainage, and hill- 

 side ]>rote«-tion are sudiciently great to make it an attractive course to young men 

 having aptitude for such work, and it is the field to which we nuist look for the 



