302 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



401, pis. 64, figs. 12) : This is the third of the annual reports of the 

 irrigation investigations of this Ofl&ce. It deals chiefly with the duty 

 of water, but contains also reports from four stations in the humid 

 States, and related questions, where irrigation is not a necessit}^ but a 

 means of increasing the returns from farm lands; a report on the 

 underground water supply of the San Bernardino Valley, California, 

 and the second progress report on silt measurements. 



The manuscript for the following publications is in hand: Irriga- 

 tion Water Contracts, by J. S. Greene; Report on Irrigation in Egypt, 

 by C. T. Johnston; Irrigation Investiga I ions in Utah; and the Irriga- 

 tion System of the Gallatin Valley in Montana, b}' S. Fortier. 



A list of references to publications relating to irrigation and land 

 drainage has been prepared by the Library of the Department with 

 the cooperation of the Ofiice. 



The increasing demand for the irrigation bulletins has rendered it 

 necessary to reprint Bulletins 58, 92, 96, and 100, Congress having 

 ordered an edition of 3,200 of the last named. It has also been nec- 

 essary to reprint the separates of Bulletins 86 and 104, containing the 

 reports of the first and second years' investigations on irrigation. 



While, as the above statement shows, the volume of published mat- 

 ter relating to irrigation has been large, and its distribution wide, the 

 publications have not been the whole or perhaps the most effective 

 means emploj^ed in the educational work of the irrigation investiga- 

 tions. The answering of specific inquiries which come to the Depart- 

 ment has been a large feature of the work of the office in Washing- 

 ton. The addresses in public meetings in different parts of the arid 

 region, and conferences with officials and others interested, have also 

 been effective agencies for promoting the work. In this way the 

 experience and knowledge already obtained have been brought to bear 

 on the public mind more effectively than heretofore and has resulted 

 in a great quickening of interest in this matter throughout the West. 



The increase in the appropriation for irrigation investigations 

 ($15,000) made by the last Congress will be almost entirelj^ absorbed 

 by the growing outlay for publications and the investigations of the 

 rights of riparian i^roprietors. The broadened scope of these investi- 

 gations and the increased interest in the questions with which they 

 deal, growing out of the rapid development now taking place, have 

 increased the opportunity for the useful employment of a still larger 

 fund. I recommend, therefore, that $75,000 for the conduct of the 

 irrigation investigations of this Office be asked for in the estimates 

 of the ensuing j^ear. 



Agricultural Engineering. 



It will be admitted without question that under an advanced system 

 of agriculture successful farming is impossible without a properly laid 

 out farm, thorough drainage, suitable and properly constructed farm 

 buildings, and efficient farm implements and machinery, and yet it 

 may be safely asserted that no feature of our agriculture has received 

 less attention from the organized agencies for agricultural research 

 and investigation — namely, this Department and the agricultural 

 experiment stations — than such subjects as these, which may be 

 classed under the broad term of agricultural engineering. 



It maybe trul}^ claimed that American inventive genius and mechan- 

 ical skill have unaided surpassed the world in the construction of 

 farm machinery and stand in the front ranks as regards other lines of 



