300 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



THE SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF THE IRRIGATION 



INVESTIGATIONS OF THE OFFICE OF 



EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



BY ELWOOD MEAD, IRRIGATION EXPERT IN CHARGE. 

 Courtesy U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



(Continued.) 



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 prosperous conditions of agri- 

 culture 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 wher- 



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 drouth which pervailed the results were, 

 highly favorable to irrigation. The difference in the 

 yield and size between the irrigated and unirrigated 

 potatoes is shown graphically in the illustration 

 (Plato XL), in which the larger piles of larger pota- 

 toes 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 draw- 

 ing 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 broadened so 

 as to include all the crops which promise beneficial re- 

 sults. 



A co-operative investigation in irrigation is also 

 being carried on between the Missouri Experiment Sta- 

 tion and this office at Columbia, Mo., under the direc- 



Showing growth of strawberry patch on the unirrigated plat at the close of the season. 



ever intensive agriculture is practiced or where in- 

 surance from drouth is important. The irrigation in- 

 vestigations of this offica 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 Jersey, to ascertain 

 its field of usefulness in the North Atlantic States; 

 in the Carolinas and Georgia, to determine its possi- 

 bilities in the South Atlantic region, and in Louisiana 

 and Texas in connection with the increasing use of 

 irrigation in the production of rice. 



IRRIGATION IN THE MIDDLE WEST. 



During the past season studies of the benefits of 

 irrigation in Wisconsin have been carried on under 

 the immediate direction of Prof. F. H. King, of the 

 College of Agriculture of the University of Wiscon- 

 sin, at the station farm at Madison ,and at Stevens 

 Point. In both cases the water supply had to be pro- 

 vided by pumping, and records have been kept to show 



tion of Prof. H. J. Waters. Applies, strawberries and 

 nursery stock were the crops receiving the most at- 

 tention, arrangements for the water supply not hav- 

 ing been completed in time to prepare for its applica- 

 tion to other staple farm crops. The beneficial effects 

 of the irrigation of strawberries are shown in the illus- 

 tration of the irrigated and unirrigated rows (Plate 

 XLI, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2). Careful records were kept of 

 the quantity of water used, the cost of furnishing it 

 and the time of its application. The report of Profes- 

 sor Waters states that "the season was very disastrous 

 to strawberry plants, many of the old plants dying and 

 practically no runners being formed under ordinary 

 treatment. The irrigated plants developed strong 

 crowns and undoubtedly stored an abundant supply of 

 food for next year's crop. The strawberry nursery- 

 man, the man whose business it is to supply plants for 

 the commercial strawberry grower, will find in irriga- 

 tion absolute protection against failure." It will re- 

 quire next year's record of the yield to determine the 



