152 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



methods than those now in vogue. A Farmers' Bulletin on the 

 irrigation of rice for the benefit of beginners will soon be pubhshed. 



IRRIGATION IN THE HUMID REGION. 



The widespread drought of the past summer throughout most of 

 the humid region has greatly increased the interest in the irrigation 

 of gardens, truck farms, and orchards, and the demands on the one 

 agent we have been able to detail to this work have been far greater 

 than he could meet. The advantage of irrigation as an insurance 

 against the long dry spells for some of the common crops has been 

 brought out in a striking manner on several farms where experiments 

 w^ere conducted this summer. As a result of adding both moisture 

 and fertilizer to the soil on experimental plats in Iowa by irrigating 

 with sewage, the yield of beets was increased one and one-half times, 

 that of timothy was doubled, while the yield of bluegrass was ten 

 times as great as on the nonirrigated plats. 



At Neenah, Wis., it was found that irrigation prolonged the bearing 

 season of strawberries ten days and increased the yield 50 per cent. 

 On the same field irrigated carrots yielded 50 per cent and irrigated 

 onions 150 per cent more than the nonirrigated crops. 



The utilization of a flowing well at Albany, Ga., in irrigating corn 

 the past season quadrupled the yield, and as the result of an experi- 

 ment conducted by this Department wells are now being sunk in this 

 district for the irrigation of corn, cotton, and legumes in order to 

 insure against droughts, to introduce scientific rotation, and to 

 increase the profits from small farms. 



DRAINAGE INVESTIGATIONS. 



During the past five years the Office of Experiment Stations has 

 made surveys and plans for the improvement of more than 9,000,000 

 acres by drainage. This has been done at an expense of about 3 

 cents per acre. Wlien these lands are fully improved and utilized 

 the crops raised on them will annually add many millions to the 

 country's wealth and furnish food for many thousands of men. 



OFFICE OF PUBLIC ROADS. 

 PRESENT STATUS OF ROAD IMPROVEMENT. 



By reason of a rather remarkable combination of conditions, the 

 immediate present may be considered the most important period in 

 the history of road improvement in the United States. The old sys- 

 tems of road administration, involving the principle of extreme local- 

 ization, are fast breaking up, and new systems, involving the princi- 

 ple of centralization, are taking their place. Road administration is, 

 therefore, in a transitional or formative stage, and it is of the utmost 

 importance that the movement be directed along right lines. 



