AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING. 721 



AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING. 



Report of drainage commission, (.. A. Ralph i Trrig. Age, 20 (1905), No. 8, p. 

 78). — In the report of the chief engineer of the State Drainage Commission of Minne- 

 sota it i> stated that 1100,000 has been expended by the Statu in construction of 

 drainage ditches which have benefited 370,860 acres of land. There are 24 ditches 

 with a total length of 88.78 miles. 



"The benefits resulting from the construction of these ditches have been much 

 greater than the original estimates .-.how. Lost River ditch, in Polk and Beltrami 

 counties, 3.7 miles long, has transformed an impassable bog of several thousand 

 acres into rich meadow and tillable land. Badger and Skunk creeks, in Roseau 

 County, 8.5 miles long, will afford an outlet for a drainage system covering upward 

 of 50 square miles, ami has made salable thousands of acres of land at prices aver- 

 aging $8 an acre, which prior to the construction of the ditches had no market 

 value." 



Contributions to the hydrology of eastern United States, 1903, M. L. 

 Fullek | U. S. Geol. Survey, Water Supply and Irrig. J'<i/>ir No. m_>. /,/,. 522): — This is 

 •'a statistical progress report covering hydrologic work done in eastern United 

 States during the year indicated. The reporl contains a list of such publications of 

 the Survey as relate to hydrology, an account of the work of the eastern section of 

 the division of hydrology tor 1903, and 27 contributions, by -'■'> geologists, presenting 

 extended notes on the wells, springs, and general water resources of 17 States." 



A review of the laws forbidding pollution of inland waters in the United 

 States, E. I'.. Goodell i U. S. Geol. Surrey, Water Supply and Trrig. J J <i/»r No. J".;. 

 pp. 120). — This review contains (1 i a summary of the common law upon the subject 

 of water pollution — i. e., the law as pronounced and determined by the courts inde- 

 pendently of legislative action— and (2) a summary or abstract of the statutes enacted 

 by the various legislatures aimed at the correction of the evil. 



Report on irrigation investigations in humid sections of the United States 

 in 1903 ( U. S. Dept. Agr., Office of Experiment Stations />'"/. 148, />/>. 45, ph. 3).— 

 This report contains descriptions of irrigation plants in use on market gardens near 

 New York City, on Long Island, and in New Jersey, and account- of experiments at 

 the New Jersey Station in irrigating asparagus and small fruits, by E. B. Voorhees; 

 ■ •f experiments at the Missouri Station in irrigating strawberries, asparagus, nursery 

 stock, onions, and corn, by II. J. Waters: ami of the history, present status, and 

 possibilities of irrigation in the artesian basin of South Dakota, by A. I'». Crane. 



The bulletin as a whole shows the great advantage of irrigation as a means of 

 increasing production and as an insurance against drought even where the expense 

 of securing a water supply is comparatively large. 



Irrigation in the United States, 1902, C. J. Blancharh I U. S. Dipt. Com. mnl 

 Labor, Bureau of the Census Bui. /'»'. j>j>. 92). — This report, which was prepared in 

 compliance with Congressional authorization to the Director of the Census "to com- 

 plete and bring up CO date of the crop year of L902 the statistics relating to irrigation, 

 the area of land reclaimed, the cost and value of the works, and such other informa- 

 tion as can be obtained bearing upon the present condition of irrigation,'' is based 

 upon statistics secured by correspondence supplemented by Held work in a few- 

 States, and on information obtained from State engineers and their assistants. The 

 statistics are grouped according to regions — arid, semiarid, rice States, and humid 

 States — drainage basins, and by States and Territories. ( Noted editorially. ) 



Report of progress of stream measurements for the calendar year 1903, 

 J. C. Hoyt (U. S. Geol. Survey, Water Supply and Trrig. Paper No. mo, //p. 588, mnp 

 l). — The territory covered by this paper includes Interior Basin, Pacific, and Hudson 

 Bay drainage. The data reported include measurements made at regular gaging sta- 

 tions, "the results of the computations based upon the observations, and such other 



