ex REPOKT OF THE SECEETAEY OF AGRICULTURE. 



the Department is .securing and disseminating through this investiga- 

 tion, and in doing this it has enlisted in its service many of the leading 

 irrio'ation engineers and scientists of the arid States. The services of 

 these men would have involved a prohibitor}^ expense if it had been 

 necessary to employ them continuously, but through cooperative 

 arrangements with the State agricultural colleges and experiment 

 stations and the State engineers' offices the scope of both local and 

 national investigations has been broadened and made more effective, 

 while the outlay to each of the parties to these arrangements has been 

 greatly reduced. 



THE DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF WATER. 



The Department is now making measurements of the water used in 

 irrigfation in all of the arid States but one and in a number of humid 

 States. The results of these studies during the past three years, while 

 not conclusive, have already done much to educate farmers and ditch 

 managers as to the direction from which improvements of methods 

 and practices must come. They have made plain the need of better 

 work in constructing and maintaining canals. They have shown that 

 the water lost thi'ough leakage in transit is far greater than has been 

 general!}' supposed, and that its loss causes a double injur}-. It returns 

 in many instances to the surface of lower-lying fields and converts 

 productive areas into unsightly swamps and marshes, rendering them 

 for the time practically worthless. The loss of water through evapora- 

 tion from these submerged areas is large. If this could be prevented 

 and the water saved applied to crops it would largely increase the 

 cultivated area. One of the leading lines of work of these investiga- 

 tions will therefore be a more careful study of losses from seepage, in 

 order to determine measures by which this can be lessened. 



In a number of instances these studies have led to careful inquiries 

 by canal owners to determine Avhether or not it will be profitable to 

 cement the main ditches and canals, and to recjuests for further assist- 

 ance from this investigation to determine how this may be done to the 

 best advantage. The Report of Irrigation Investigations for 1901 will 

 give the methods pursued and the cost of cementing one of the prin- 

 cipal canals of southern California. 



DRAINAGE SURVEYS. 



In response to numerously signed petitions from the agricultural 

 and horticultural interests of the valley of Kings River, in California, 

 the Department has carried on a comprehensive drainage survey to 

 determine what plans can be best adopted for relief of the overwatered 

 lands of that section. This work has been under the direction of Prof. 

 O. V. P. Stout, of the University of Nebraska, and the report, which 

 is now approaching completion, will give the plans and estimates for 



