EDITORIAL. 9 



others for work along these lines, in consequence of their apprecia- 

 tion of the value of the studies with foods already undertaken. 



In 1898 Congress added further to the work of the Office by appro- 

 priating $10,000 " for the purpose of collecting from agricultural 

 colleges, agricultural experiment stations, and other sources . . . 

 valuable information and data on the subject of irrigation, and pub- 

 lishing the same in bulletin form." This work has grown from year 

 to year as Congress has increased the appropriations, the allotment 

 for the past year being $106,400. At the time the work was begun 

 the most conspicuous need of the arid region was legislation con- 

 trolling the use of water for irrigation. Largely through the efforts 

 of this Office most of the arid States have since that time adopted 

 comprehensive codes of water laws. 



As demands for legal studies have decreased more attention has 

 been given to engineering and agricultural improvement in irrigation 

 practice. Local appreciation of the value of this work is evidenced 

 by the fact that in most of the arid States either the States them- 

 selves or some of their public institutions have of late been cooperat- 

 ing with the Office on a dollar for dollar basis. The object of all 

 these investigations is the best use of the water supply of the arid 

 region, which is so limited that under the most favorable conditions 

 only a small percentage of the arable land can be irrigated. 



Previous to 1902 the Department gave no special attention to land 

 drainage, although it has been estimated that there are in the United 

 States approximately seventy-nine million acres of land, exclusive of 

 tidal marshes, that can not be profitably cultivated on account of 

 excess moisture but which could be reclaimed at a net profit of nearly 

 $1,600,000,000. In that year authority was given the Office in con- 

 nection with its irrigation investigations to investigate the making 

 of plans for the removal of seepage and surplus water by drainage. 

 Subsequently the work was further extended in scope, and in 1907 

 was organized as a separate division of the Office. 



In recent years it has included a study of the requirements of 

 drainage in various localities and under different conditions, the 

 collection of technical data of service to engineers and others having 

 to do with the design of drainage improvements, and the rendering 

 of assistance by correspondence to owners of land needing draining, 

 by personal consultation, and occasionally by surveys with reports 

 presenting detailed plans for the requisite improvements. Investi- 

 gations have been conducted in nearly every State and approximately 

 ten million acres have been surveyed. Of late much attention has 

 been given to the many difficult problems in the abatement and pre- 

 vention of seepage and alkali in irrigated sections. 



