562 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



food, in order that production and consumption in general may be 

 considered on the basis of information much needed but now lacking 

 and other important economic problems furthered. 



The development and extension of earlier work on food prepara- 

 tion and use have resulted in an " experimental kitchen," well pro- 

 vided with physical and chemical apparatus, as well as household 

 equipment, where a great variety of problems have been studied. A 

 feature of this work has been the development of cooperation with 

 home-economics workers in agricultural and other colleges. 



A plan has been devised for determining proper food selection in 

 such a way that any housekeeper may feel sure that the food she pro- 

 vides her family will meet their needs. This generalization can be 

 so simply expressed that anyone can understand and apply it. On 

 the other hand, it is so fundamental in its nature that it proves 

 equally useful for advanced teaching and for technical discussions. 



More than a beginning has been made in work on clothing and 

 household equipment, with the result that several bulletins have been 

 published, and material accumulated for others includes results of 

 tests as well as some generalizations. 



IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS. 



With the spread of irrigation in the Western States during the 

 second half of the nineteenth century many problems arose regarding 

 available water supply, water rights, control of appropriation and 

 distribution of water, methods of irrigation, amounts of water re- 

 quired for different crops, and the like. The Geological Survey 

 was given authority to study the problems of water supply and stor- 

 age, and issued numerous publications on these subjects. The ex- 

 periment stations in the States where irrigation was practiced col- 

 lected information and made experiments on agricultural problems 

 connected with irrigation. In several States irrigation engineers' 

 offices were established to administer State laws relating to irri- 

 gation and collected considerable information bearing on legal and 

 regulatory problems. 



In the appropriation act of the Department of Agriculture for the 

 fiscal year 1893 was an item of $6,000 for " the collection of infor- 

 mation as to the best modes of agriculture by irrigation." This 

 appropriation was continued for three years and was raised to 

 $15,000 for 1896 but discontinued the next year. An office of irri- 

 gation inquiry was established. Department agents visited the 

 Western States and collected information which was published in 

 various ways. Among these publications were articles on " Irriga- 

 tion in California " in the Yearbook for 1895, and " Irrigation on 

 the Great Plains " in that for 1896. Irrigation had been practiced 

 for many years in the Eastern States on a limited scale, especially 

 on grasslands, and the success of irrigation in the West led to at- 

 tempts to use this aid to agriculture more largely in the humid 

 regions, particularly with garden and truck crops. The Yearbook 

 for 1895 contains an article by L. R. Taft, of the Michigan Agri- 

 cultural College, on " Irrigation for garden and greenhouse." 



The Office of Experiment Stations had from its beginning pub- 

 lished in Experiment Station Record abstracts of the publications of 

 the experiment stations bearing on irrigation. 



