238 



THE IKRIGATION AGE. 



forefathers have practiced for countless generations. 

 In China and Afghanistan there are districts where 

 much more elaborate systems have been evolved by the 

 local inhabitants, not only with excellent results, but 

 exhibiting, on a small scale, no doubt, some of the very 

 principles which are applied by the modern engineer 

 in the great works which have added so largely to the 

 material wealth of the world. 



It is, however, in considering the conquests of the 

 modern irrigation engineer over nature that we are 

 able to realize the immense importance of his work for 

 humanity. In our own Western States, areas which 

 under natural conditions would only have supported the 

 scantiest population, are now the homes of a thriving 

 agricultural community, producing large quantities of 

 foodstuffs and raw material for many industries. The 

 most conspicuous and best known instances of recent 

 times is furnished by the work in Eg^ypt, where the 

 great dam at Assuan, the minor one at Assuit, and the 

 other work which will be completed in about two years, 



NEW LINES OF EXPERIMENTS BY THE DE- 

 PARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Investigation of unusual interest to the farmers of 

 the semi-arid and the so-called arid regions of the West 

 are now in progress under the direction of Dr. Elwood 

 Mead, chief of the irrigation and drainage investiga- 

 tions of the Office of Experiment Stations. 



After careful investigation of the conditions which 

 confront the settlers of the regions of scant rainfall, the 

 office has come to the conclusion that there is need of 

 carefully conducted experiments to determine and ad- 

 vise farmers what are the best methods of crop produc- 

 tion in dry seasons. Two methods are being investi- 

 gated as feasible. 



First. For each farmer to provide for himself a 

 small irrigation plant from which he can irrigate a few 

 acres of his farjn and on which he can be insured of 

 such crops as will maintain his family and live stock 

 in case of excessive drousht. 



A Diversion Dam in Eastern Washington. 



will represent a total expenditure of more than thirty- 

 five million dollars. But the money has been well spent. 

 It is a splendid investment, for the capital value of the 

 land irrigated is one hundred and forty million dollars. 

 It would not be difficult to multiply examples of the 

 magnificent results which the irrigation engineer has 

 obtained by the application of science and capital to 

 the land. The subject is one of absorbing interest and 

 opens up a wide field for the beneficent action of gov- 

 ernments. Here and there, in restricted areas, or where 

 there is a local population which has reached a relatively 

 high level of civic development, it is possible that pri- 

 vate initiative may be trusted to deal with the problem. 

 But, to succeed, irrigation works on a large scale must, 

 in the great majority of cases, be undertaken by some 

 central authority, and as it is certain that with the 

 growing requirements of mankind the utilization of 

 water to increase the productivity of the soil will be- 

 come more and more a necessity. 



Second. By means of special implements and extra 

 cultivation to conserve all the available moisture in the 

 soil for the benefit of the crop, instead of allowing the 

 rain to pass over the surface into the streams and thus 

 be entirely lost to the field. 



For the purpose of these investigations experiment 

 stations have been established at Wichita Falls, Tex., 

 Cheyenne, Wyo., and near Imperial, Neb., and the plan 

 is to establish similar stations in the rest of the States 

 in the West where such experiments are of value to the 

 settlers. 



For the purpose of demonstrating what can be done 

 by irrigation of small tracts from individual irrigation 

 plants, three different methods are adapted at the three 

 stations already established. At Wichita Falls the water 

 for irrigation is obtained from a storage reservoir which 

 is made by constructing an earth dam across a small 

 creek bed and which obtains its supply from the sur- 



