106 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



essary to agricultural development. 

 Though out of the Senate, Judge Carey is 

 still a power; and as President of the Na- 

 tional Irrigation Congress he will have 

 large opportunity to use his power for the 

 advancement of the irrigation interests of 

 the Great West. Senator Warren, also of 

 Wyoming, is likewise a student and an ad- 

 vocate of irrigation: and his work in the 

 Senate is likely to have even greater prac- 

 tical results than that of his predecessor 

 for the reason that he has the advantage 

 of accumulated knowledge and experience. 

 Wyoming's system of water rights and 

 water administration is the best in the 

 west due mainly to the engineering skill 

 and administrative ability of her territor- 

 ial and state engineer, Elwood Mead, and 

 to the long lease of official life she has 

 given him. For the reasons here stated or 

 suggested, it seems that a discussion of the 

 resources of Wyoming is bound to be of 

 more than local interest, especially when 

 it is carried on by men of such standing as 

 to make their statements authoritative in 

 the best sense. The writers of this series 

 of articles, who were members of the party 

 which examined the valleys of Wyoming 

 in 1897, are men of large practical experi- 

 ence and unusual technical ability. Pro- 

 fessor Mead and Colonel Nettleton are too 

 widely known among those familiar with 

 the irrigation history of the West to need 

 introduction to our readers. Captain 

 Chittendon was the former engineer officer 

 of Yellowstone Park, and is one of the 

 most distinguished engineer officers of the 

 U. S. Army. Clarence T. Johnston, as 

 assistant state engineer of Wyoming, has 

 been principally employed in making 

 stream measurements for that office and 

 for the U. S. Geological Survey. We con- 

 fess to feeling a good deal of pride in being 

 able to present so valuable a series of arti- 

 cles to our readers. THE EDITOR. 

 Reports to In his report to the Secretary 

 tary S of T \eri- of Agriculture for the year 

 culture. ending June 30, 1898, Mr. 



John Hyde, the statistician, recommends 

 that there be appointed five traveling in- 

 spectors, whose duty it shall be to visit 

 periodically the state and county agents 

 to visit the principal agricultural regions 

 after seed time and during critical periods 

 of the growing season, and report to the 



statistician the results of their observa- 

 tions In this way more accurate and re- 

 liable reports may be obtained than by 

 the present system of reports from state 

 agents, supplemented by voluntary re- 

 ports. Mr. Hyde further calls attention 

 to the necessity of making adequate pro- 

 vision for establishing a system of crop in- 

 vestigation and reporting for the islands 

 recently acquired by the United States. 

 Methods of investigating soil conditions 

 have been considerably improved during 

 the past year by the department having 

 charge of the work, and among the inter- 

 esting investigations carried on was that 

 regarding the alkali soils of the Yellow- 

 stone Valley. It was found that in the 

 original prairie soil above the ditch there 

 is not sufficient alkali to be injurious to 

 vegetation. The amount of alkali was 

 greater in the lower depths of the subsoil. 

 As a rule, water is used in excess on all of 

 these lands under irrigation, and in all 

 cases the first injury was from the accumu- 

 lation of water from excessive application. 

 The Bureau of Animal Industry has 

 made experiments upon hog cholera and 

 swine plague with such gratifying results 

 that the experiments will be continued. 

 Dipping cattle to destroy the ticks, which 

 spread the infection of Texas fever, has 

 met with such success that preparations 

 are made to adopt it generally, as a solu- 

 tion has been discovered into which the 

 cattle may be dipped without injurious 

 effects. Cattle may then be shipped north 

 of the quarantine line. The dipping of 

 sheep to prevent sheep scab was also ad- 

 vised. It was recommended that during 

 the coming year the government inspec- 

 tion and certification of meat and meat 

 products for export from this country be 

 extended to include butter, cheese and 

 condensed milk. 



Dr. A. C. True, Director of the Office of 

 Experiment Stations, in his yearly report, 

 gives encouraging news from his depart- 

 ment. The agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions are, as a rule, doing more thorough 

 and effective work than ever before and 

 while the number and importance of insti- 

 tutions organized for scientific researches 

 on behalf of agriculture are constantly in- 

 creasing in all parts of the world, nowhere 

 has so comprehensive and efficient a sys- 



