288 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



The essential features of a system of public control of irrigation are: Some 

 method of defining rights ac(iuired before the assumption of control by the 

 State ; a procedure for the acquirement of rights, and an administrative system 

 for distributing the water of streams to those entitled to its use. The laws of 

 each State are discussed from these three standpoints. There is now fairly 

 complete control of irrigation by the State in Wyoming, Nebraska, Idaho, Utah, 

 Nevada, North and South Dakota, and Oklahoma, while Colorado, Montana, 

 Oregon, and New Mexico have only partial provision for such control. 



The bulletin sketches the history of irrigation legislation in each of these 

 States and shows the efficiency of the laws enacted as demonstrated by 

 experience. 



Irrigation and the permeability of soils, A. MtJNTZ and L. Faure {Conipt. 

 Rend. Acad. Sci. [Paris']. I'/S (1D<I6), Ao. 7, pp. 329-335: ahs. in Rev. Sci. 

 [Paris], 5. scr., 6 (1906), Ao. 8, p. .?//2).— In this note the authors discuss the 

 relatively slow development of irrigation in France. 



Large enterprises backed by private capital are uniformly unsuccessful finan- 

 cially, due chiefly to the conservatism and ignorance of the farmers together 

 with the change of habits and system of cultivation which the adoption of irri- 

 gated agriculture necessitates. Governmental control or aid in these enter- 

 prises is therefore recommended, and to break down the conservatism of the 

 farmers and increase the acreage of land irrigated the authors advocate prin- 

 cipally the division and sale of water by volume rather than by continuous flow 

 during the season. To make it possible for the farmer to use the volume of water 

 bought most advantageously, the writers propose a system of investigations into 

 the permeability of soils, fipm which it will be possible to classify the soils with 

 respect to their relative permeability. Experiments on the water requirements 

 of soils of certain permeabilities are to be made, from the results of which it 

 will be possible to predict the water requirement of soil of any degree of 

 permeability. 



The duty of well water and the cost and profit on irrigated crops in the 

 Rio Grande Valley, J. J. Vernon, A. E. Lovett, and J. M. Scott (yeir Mexico 

 8ta. Bill. .76. pp. 52. figs. 3). — This bulletin contains the results of observations 

 made during the seasons of 1903 and 1904 in cooperation with this Office. 



Four subjects were investigated: (1) The relative value of well and river 

 water for alfalfa; (2) the cost of growing alfalfa with well and river water: 



(3) the cost of growing wheat, corn, and sweet potatoes with well water; and 



(4) the determination of eff'ects of temperature of irrigation water upon plant 

 growth. From the results the following principal conclusions were drawn : 



" No perceptible difference, due to a difference in the temperature of the water, 

 was noticeable between the crops grown with well and with river water. The 

 well water in New Mexico was 8.4° F. warmer on the average than Utah river 

 water used for irrigation. 



" The largest yield i»er inch of water was obtained when a depth of 24 in. was 

 applied to wheat, and 39 in. to alfalfa, 5 cuttings of alfalfa being secured 

 during the season. 



" The results of these exi)eriments have shown quite conclusively that the 

 yearly profits may be considerably increased during years of shortage in the 

 water supply by supplementing the river water with well water. 



" Averaging the results obtained from cro})s grown with well water during 

 the season of 1904, we have the following : 



"(a) Depth of water required: Alfalfa, 36.4: wheat, 2(;.C>; corn, 25.2; and 

 sweet potatoes, 17.G in. 



"(b) Cost of pumping per acre: Alfalfa, .$10.50; wheat, .$9.80; corn, $0.92; 

 and sweet potatoes, .$4.91. 



