IKRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS. 425 



toiy which extends westward from the Missouri River for 250 miles, 

 and the results can fairly be taken as representing what may be expected 

 in seasons of scanty rainfall throughout the greater part of the sub- 

 humid district. 



IRRIGATION IN THE HUMID PORTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The experience thus far gained makes it certain that irrigation is 

 destined to be an important means of improving the already prosper- 

 ous conditions of agriculture in humid and subhumid portions of the 

 United States. The possibilities along this line have not yet been fully 

 established, but the lessons thus far learned seem to be that it has a wide 

 field of usefulness wherever intensive agriculture is practiced or where 

 insurance from drought is important. The irrigation investigations of 

 this Office now include a study of the problems of irrigation in this 

 region — in Wisconsin and Missouri, to determine what can be done in 

 the States of the Middle West; in New Jerse}\ to ascertain its field of 

 usefulness in the North Atlantic States; in the Carolinas and Georgia, 

 to determine its possibilities in the South Atlantic region; and in 

 Louisana and Texas, in connection with the increasing use of irrigation 

 in the production of rice. 



IRRIGATION IN THE MIDDLE W"3ST. 



During the past season studies of the benefits of irrigation in Wis- 

 consin have been carried on under the immediate direction of Prof. 

 F. H. King, of the College of Agriculture of the University of 

 Wisconsin, at the station farm at Madison and at Stevens Point. In 

 both cases the water supply had to be provided by pumping, and 

 records have been kept to show the amount of water used, the time of 

 its application, the cost of pumping, and the increase in yield of the 

 various crops to which it was applied. Owing to the exceptional 

 drought which prevailed, the results were highly favorable to irriga- 

 tion. The difference in the yield and size between the irrigated and 

 unirrigated potatoes is shown graphically in the illustration (PI. XL), 

 in which the larger piles of larger potatoes represent the product 

 of the irrigated rows and the smaller piles of smaller potatoes the 

 unirrigated rows. If the results of one season's trial would justify 

 drawing definite conclusions, it would be that irrigation in Wisconsin 

 is a marked success; but that is not the case, and it is the intention to 

 continue these studies for a number of years, the work being broad- 

 ened so as to include all the crops which promise beneficial results. 



A cooperative investigation in irrigation is also being carried on 

 between the Missouri Experiment Station and this Office at Columbia, 

 Mo. , under the direction of Prof. H. J. Waters. Apples, strawberries, 

 and nursery stock were the crops receiving the most attention, arrange- 



