EEPOKT OF THE SECEErAKY OF AGRICULTURE. CXI 



two methods of removing the surplus water and making- it available 

 for use elsewhere. The carrying out of these plans will probably 

 require additional legislation on the part of the State, and a local com- 

 mittee has been formed to frame bills and promote the enactment of 

 needed laws. 



At the request of the Hon. A. J. McCune, State engineer of Colo- 

 rado, the Department has assisted in the investigation of the drainage 

 problems of that State. This work is under the direction of C. G. 

 Elliott, a drainage engineer of wide experience. The information 

 already gained makes it certain that these studies are to be worth 

 many times their cost, both to the localities where they have been 

 carried on and in their influence on the larger and better use of the 

 water supply. Some fears have been expressed that the water coming 

 from these drains would be unfit for use because of the large per- 

 centage of alkali it contained, but analyses made b}^ the State experi- 

 ment stations of Colorado and California have shown that this is not 

 the case. 



I 



STUDIES OF lERIGATION LAWS. 



The larger problems which the complete use of Western rivers is 

 destined to create and the measure of public control which recent irri- 

 gation legislation renders inevitable gives added interest to the Depart- 

 ment's studies of the legal and economic phases of irrigation. The 

 division of the water of streams among farms scattered for hundreds of 

 miles along their courses, so that each acre cultivated shall receive its 

 just share of the common water supply, is one of the most complex 

 administrative problems which confronts Western agriculture, and the 

 establishment of titles to these streams by methods which shall pre- 

 vent speculative appropriations of water and the creation of water 

 monopolies is one of the imperative needs of the immediate future. 



The larger opportunities which national aid affords should awaken 

 the civic pride of the States benefited in seeing to it that not only in 

 material development but in their institutions the irrigation systems 

 of this country rank among the foremost of the world. 



A beginning of the studies of the conditions and experiences of other 

 lands was made during the past year. Mr. C. T. Johnston, assistant 

 chief of these investigations, visited Egj'pt for this purpose. Through 

 the courtesy of Government officials he was enabled to become fully 

 acquainted with the administration of the laws which govern the use 

 of the Nile, and his report will show the character of the rights to 

 water recognized and the manner in which these rights are enforced 

 in times of scarcity. While differences in conditions will doubtless 

 prevent the adoption of man}^ of the methods pursued, the lesson of 

 one of the oldest irrigated countries in the world can not fail to be of 

 great interest and value to one of the youngest. In addition, Mr. 



