758 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Arrangoinciits were made for llie preparation of a report on irriga- 

 tion conditions in each of the arid States and Territories, most of 

 these being prepared by the state or territorial engineers of the re- 

 spective Connnonwealths, and where this Oflice does not exist other 

 local parties familiar with the water resources and agricultural con- 

 ditions wore employed to prepare the reports. Seven of these reports 

 were published during the preceding year, four were published during 

 the year just closed, and the others are either in hand ready for pub- 

 lication or are in preparation. The demand for these bulletins has 

 been so great as to amply justify their publication. Parties inter- 

 ested naturally turn to this Department for reliable information 

 regarding conditions in the sections advertised, and the bulletins 

 included in this series should be of great service in the settlement of 

 the lands being reclaimed, by calling attention to the opportunities 

 afforded by these lands and at the same time informing intending 

 settlers as to the conditions which they will find and the expenses 

 which it will be necessary to incur. 



The settlers for the lands being brought under ditch must come 

 principally from sections where irrigation is not practiced. They 

 need not only the information regarding climate, crops, and general 

 conditions contained in the bulletins just mentioned, but even more 

 they need practical directions as to how to perform those operations 

 connected with crop growing in the new sections which are peculiar 

 to irrigated land. Most of these settlers are from agricultural sec- 

 tions, and are therefore familiar with growing the standard farm 

 crops, but they are ignorant of the use of water in irrigation. For 

 this reason a series of bulletins covering the irigation of the standard 

 crops is being prepared. During the summers of 1908 and 1909 the 

 regular field "force of this Office and a number of special agents were 

 engaged in collecting information as to the best practice in all the 

 irrigated sections of the West. Bulletins on the irrigation of alfalfa, 

 sugar beets, grain, and orchards have been prepared and published 

 as Farmers' Bulletins. These bulletins deal in a practical way with 

 preparing land for irrigation by various methods, .the building of 

 farm ditches and structures for distributing water to the fields, and 

 applying water to the land, and with other operations connected with 

 the use of water for irrigation. The establishment of a home on new 

 lands is always a difficult undertaking, in which many fail, but it is 

 doubly so when there is added to the usual labor and expense the 

 burden of leveling land, building ditches, and applying water, with 

 all of which the settler is unfamiliar. Settlers must learn much by 

 experience, but plain descriptions and directions, such as are con- 

 tained in these bulletins, will increase very greatly the chances for 

 success on the part of these settlers. There has been a large call for 

 these bulletins, both from settlers and from the builders of irriga- 

 tion works, who recognize that they can succeed only through the 

 success of the water users. 



The men of the field force of the Office devote as much of their 

 time as possible to aiding settlers by personal advice and by deliver- 

 ing addresses, but the efficiency of the work would be greatly in- 

 creased by the establishment of demonstration farms on which all 

 the standard methods of preparing land and controlling and distrib- 

 uting water should be illustrated. The one feature new to settlers 



