342 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



with the New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station at State 

 College. Field experiments have been carried on in cooperation 

 with the University of California at Davis. Bulletins giving the 

 results of experiments have been published by the University of 

 California and the New Mexico station, and results of the work at 

 Fort Collins have been published in the Journal of Agricultural 

 Research. Bulletins based on these results have also been prepared 

 for publication by this department. One promising device developed 

 at Fort Collins laboratory has been submitted for public patent. 



CUSTOMS, REGULATIONS, AND LAWS RELATING TO IRRIGATION. 



Under this project are carried on studies of the influence of cus- 

 toms, regulations, and laws relating to irrigation on the success of 

 farmers practicing irrigation, on the reclamation of arid lands by 

 irrigation, and on the economical use of public water supplies. 

 Studies of the operation of irrigation districts and mutual and coop- 

 erative water companies, the financing of irrigation enterprises, and 

 public control of irrigation have been carried on. A bulletin on irri- 

 gation districts in California, prepared in cooperation between the 

 State and this office, has been published by that State, and reports on 

 the other subjcts mentioned are in preparation. 



DRAINAGE OF IRRIGATED LANDS. 



Because of the close relation between irrigation practice and the 

 drainage of irrigated lands and for administrative reasons the work 

 under this project was transferred on March 1, 1916. from the divi- 

 sion of drainage to the division of irrigation, except that work under 

 way on that date is being completed by the drainage division. 



DRAINAGE INVESTIGATIONS. 



S. H. McCroey, Chief. 



The transfer of the division of drainnge investigations from the 

 Office of Experiment Stations to the Office of Public Roads and Rural 

 Engineering was effective July 1, 1915. To centralize the work local 

 offices in the various States, except those maintained under cooperative 

 agreement with State experiment stations and agricultural colleges, 

 were discontinued. The project relating to irrigated lands was trans- 

 ferred to the division of irrigation, so that the work of this division 

 is now devoted exclusively to the humid and semihumid sections. 



The drainage division has clone more research work and devoted 

 more attention to the requirements of the individual farmer in the 

 way of farm drainage. 



The principal projects for which surveys, plans, and estimates were 

 completed are as follows : 



Overflowed lands. — Mayfield Creek. Ky., 25,000 acres; Panther 

 Creek, Ky., 42,000 acres; Luxapallila River, Ala., 22,000 acres; Mo- 

 nona-Harrison drainage district, Iowa. 70,000 acres. 



Swamp lands. — Buckfield Lodge, S. C., 1,500 acres; Combahee 

 Corporation tract, South Carolina, 2,000 acres. 



Irrigated lands. — Palisade drainage district, Colorado, 630 acres; 

 French prairie district, Oregon, 15,000 acres; Hershey drainage dis- 

 trict, Nebraska, 41,000 acres. 



Surveys, plans, and estimates were made for farm drainage sys- 

 tems on 98 separate tracts in the humid section and 28 tracts in the 

 irrigated region. 



