.516 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



December, 



amined, and 224 plans made. Not only 

 does the example set by each plantation 

 affect the neighborhood, but in many 

 cases it has led to a public agitation of 

 the question of tree-planting, and ex- 

 tensive planting on other land has fre- 

 quently followed. 



The Secretary enters an earnest plea 

 for the establishment of the Appalachian 

 Forest Reserve. He states that the 

 water power, at an aggregate annual 

 value of twenty million dollars, is being 

 gradually destroyed through increasing 

 irregularity in the flow ; that the soils 

 washed down from the mountain slopes 

 are rendering annually less navigable 

 the Ohio, Tennessee, and Mississippi 

 and other rivers. These are the results 

 of the deforestation of these mountain 

 slopes. He states that the rate of land 

 erosion on these slopes from which the 

 forest cover has been removed is as great 

 now in a single year as during ten cen- 

 turies when covered with primeval 

 forests. 



SOILS SURVEYS. 



Valuable work has been done by the 

 Bureau of Soils. The methods devised 

 for the analj'sesof soils in the field have 

 been so perfected that the amounts of 

 nitrates, phosphates, sulphates, and the 

 like can be determined to within four 

 or five pounds per acre, one foot deep. 



An investigation was begun during 

 the year as to the possibility of reclaim- 

 ing soils in the arid regions injured by 

 seepage water and the accumulation of 

 alkali. Important work on this line 

 is being carried out on a tract of 40 

 acres near Salt Lake City. Arrange- 

 ments are being made to carry on simi- 



lar work at Fresno, Cal., and it is pro- 

 posed to extend it to the tropical area 

 in Montana and possibly in Arizona, to 

 demonstrate that these unfavorable con- 

 ditions can be controlled. Land located 

 in the immediate vicinity of Salt Lake 

 City, he believes, can be increased in 

 value by at least three millions of dol- 

 lars, exclusive of the cost of reclama- 

 tion, should it prove successful. 



IRRIGATION, 



The distribution and use of western 

 rivers requires legislation on the irriga- 

 tion industry, which, in turn, renders it 

 necessary that there should be a better 

 understanding of the subject than now 

 exists. The department is securing 

 information as to the quantity of water 

 used, where it is used, how much water 

 is required in the matter of crops, how 

 it can be distributed with the least loss, 

 and applied to the best advantage. 

 Much has been done to educate farmers 

 and ditch managers as to the direction 

 in which improvement in the method of 

 practice must come. They have made 

 plans, have shown the need of better 

 work in constructing and maintaining 

 canals, and have shown that the loss of 

 water through leakage in transit is far 

 greater than is generally supposed. 



Through the courtesy of government 

 officials in Egypt the representative of 

 the department was enabled to become 

 fully acquainted with the administration 

 of laws governing the use of the Nile. 

 Allowing for differences in conditions, 

 the lesson of one of the oldest irrigated 

 countries in the world cannot fail to be 

 of interest and value to one of the 

 youngest. 



II. FROM THE REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE 



INTERIOR. 



On the day following the passage of 

 the law for the reclamation of arid lands 

 at the last session of Congress plans 

 were submitted by the Director of the 

 Geological Survey for putting it into 

 effect ; and these being approved by the 

 Secretary, survey parties were at once 

 put in the field to obtain all of the facts 



concerning the feasibility of various 

 projects. 



Great care is being exercised in se- 

 lecting projects which will be of the 

 greatest benefit to the country ; which 

 will settle upon the land the greatest 

 number of people, and which will re- 

 turn to the Treasury the cost of the 



