THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



141 



IMPORTANT MEETING OF IRRIGATION AND 



DRAINAGE OFFICIALS HELD AT 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



Beginning January 16, a conference of the men 

 in the Washington office of the Irrigation and Drainage 

 Investigations and a number of the field men, was held 



but where some crops can be raised without irrigation. 

 The reason for taking up this work is the belief that 

 by the irrigation of small areas five to twenty acres- 

 in connection with the dry farming of a much larger 

 area, farmers can maintain themselves profitably on the 

 semi-arid plains where existence is now precarious. The 

 plan of the work is to establish experimental farms 

 at some half a dozen points in this region, where small 



Dam on Tuolumne River above La Grange. 75,000 miner's inches diverted. 



in Washington. Those present at the conference from 

 outside of Washington were : Mr. Fortier from Berke- 

 ley, who is in charge of the Pacific District; Mr. Her- 

 mann from Cheyenne, in charge of work in the Central 

 District ; Mr. Stover from Oregon ; Mr. Culbertson from 

 Texas; Mr. Roeding from Colorado; Mr. McLaughlin 

 from Utah, and Mr. Raschbacher from Idaho. Those 

 in Washington and attending the conference were: 

 Dr. True, Dr. Mead, Mr. Elliott, Mr. Woodward, Mr. 

 Teele, Mr. Zintheo, Mr. Wright and Mr. Singleton. 



Dam 327 feet long and 127 feet high. 



areas will be irrigated and other small areas farmed 

 without irrigation. This will supply data as to cost of a 

 water supply, and comparative yields. Such a farm is 

 now being operated at Cheyenne, Wyo., under the di- 

 rection of F. C. Herrmann, and others will be estab- 

 lished. 



The extension of dry farming into this semi-arid 

 region is based on thorough cultivation as a means of 

 conserving soil moisture, and the study of implements 

 for the seeding and cultivation of grain crops will be 



A Stanislaus Irrigating Canal, fed from La Grange Dam. 



The conference was chiefly concerned with methods 

 of carrying on work, but much of general interest 

 was discussed. 



A line of work which is comparatively new, and one 

 which for that reason received a large amount of at- 

 tention, was irrigation as related to dry farming, in 

 regions where there is a very limited water supply 



carried on at all the stations established. 



Careful determinations of soil moisture will be 

 made at all stations, to determine the effect of cultivation 

 in various ways on the conserving of natural precipi- 

 tion and irrigation water. A committee was appointed 

 to work out a cheap and convenient method of deter- 

 mining soil moisture in the field. 



