THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



15 



ver district reads as follows: "The total since January 

 1st is 10.93 inches, or 1.37 below the normal." This 

 has been about the condition every day since January 

 1st. Only about a dozen times during the year was the 

 precipitation up to normal even, and then not during 

 the vital part of the growing season. No one ap- 

 preciates more keenly than the writer the great value 

 of artificial irrigation in the reclaiming of the lands of 

 the semi-arid West, He believes that the Reclamation 

 Act was one of the most important statutes ever en- 

 acted by Congress, and that it is the most glowing 

 star in the crown of Mr. Roosevelt's well earned re- 

 nown. But let it never be forgotten that there are 

 scores of millions of acres of the richest soil in all 

 our land of superlative wealth that can never be re- 

 claimed by artificial irrigation for many very obvious 

 reasons. 



It is because of this fact that we who live in the 

 West and who believe in her promising future have 

 set resolutely to work to reclaim these vast stretches 

 of barren acres by the methods now commonly known 

 as "Dry Farming." It would be a real delight for us 

 who are doing' the work, attempting to solve the prob- 

 lems at close range, to tell you our views of what "Dry 

 Farming" is doing, what its limitations are, and what 

 it is absolutely certain to bring to pass as the years 

 pass into history. 



ALCOHOL VS. GASOLINE. 



"The Comparative Values of Alcohol and Gasoline 

 for Light and Power," is the name of Bulletin No. 93, 

 which is just being issued by the Agricultural Engineer- 

 ing section of the Experiment Station at Ames. 



In the spring of 1906 the National Congress passed 

 an act which became a law January 1, 1907, permitting 

 the withdrawal from bond, tax free, domestic alcohol 

 when it was denatured or rendered unfit for human 

 consumption by the addition of certain materials re- 

 pugnant to the taste and smell. The passage of this 

 law has aroused much speculation into the possibilities 

 of this new fuel. The Experiment Station compared 

 gasoline and alcohol with four objects in view, > viz: 

 (1) the heat value of the fuels; (2) their economy in 

 the production of light; (3) their economy in the pro- 

 duction of power; and (4) the relative safety of gaso- 

 line and alcohol for general .use. The conclusions 

 reached in these experiments will prove interesting to 

 every reader. 



This bulletin may be obtained by asking for Bul- 

 letin No. 93. Apply to Director Chas. F. Curtiss, Iowa 

 Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa. 



DIVISION OF THE WORK OF IRRIGATION AND 

 DRAINAGE INVESTIGATIONS. 



In view of the fact that Dr. Elwood Mead has been 

 called to Australia to assume direction under Govern- 

 ment auspices of irrigation work in that country, the 

 Secretary of Agriculture has divided the work of Irri- 

 gation and Drainage Investigations of the Office of 

 Experiment Stations, which Dr. Mead has managed 

 with such marked ability since its establishment in 

 1898, into two sections. Dr. Samuel Fortier, irriga- 

 tion engineer in charge of the Pacific district of the 

 Irrigation and Drainage Investigations, and stationed 

 at the University of California, Berkeley, Cal., has 



been made Chief of Irrigation Investigations. Mr. 

 C. G. Elliott, for several years past engineer in charge 

 of the drainage investigations of the office, has been 

 made Chief of Drainage Investigations. Both of these 

 officers will report directly to Dr. A. C. True, Director 

 of the Office of Experiment Stations. 



Samuel Fortier, B. S. A., M. E., D. Sc., is a gradu- 

 ate of McGill University. His practical training began 

 with employment on a survey of the route of the Den- 

 ver & Rio Grande railroad, and has included experience 

 as assistant engineer of the Denver Water Company, 

 chief engineer of the Ogden Water Works, chief engi- 

 neer and superintendent of the Bear River Canal sys- 

 tem, in planning of irrigation dams and reservoirs in 

 Utah and Montana, and the Modesto and Turlock 

 irrigation system in California, the measurement of 

 stream flow, and the Irrigation and Drainage Investi- 

 gations of the office of Experiment Stations, with 

 which he has been connected in one capacity or an- 

 other almost from their organization. As director of 

 the Montana Experiment Station he demonstrated ad- 

 ministrative capacity in a somewhat different field and 

 was brought into close relations with the farming in- 

 terests. Here as in earlier experience at the Utah 

 Experiment Station and later at the California Experi- 

 ment Station he gained an intimate knowledge of the 

 strictly agricultural side of irrigation and the problems 

 which are pressing for solution in this field. His, 

 therefore, has been a well-rounded experience in practi- 

 cal engineering and construction work, investigation in 

 irrigated agriculture, and- administrative duties. TKe 

 results of Professor Fortier's work in the different lines 

 named have been embodied in numeous papers in engi- 

 neering journals, in reports and bulletins of the Utah, 

 Montana, and California experiment stations, and in 

 the publications on irrigation and drainage of the Office 

 of Experiment Stations. 



C. G. Elliott, C. E., who has been placed in charge 

 of the drainage work, received his training in civil 

 engineering -at the University of Illinois, and has been 

 in active engineering work since 1878. He was for 

 many years editor of the Drainage Journal, published 

 at Indianapolis, Ind., the leading journal of its class in 

 the United States. He is also the author of numerous 

 reports and technical papers on drainage, and of two 

 books, "Practical Farm Drainage" (1882 and 1903), 

 and "Engineering for Land Drainage" (1903), which 

 are generally recognized as authorities on the subject 

 of drainage. Mr. Elliott has been in charge of the 

 drainage investigations of the Office of Experiment Sta- 

 tions since 1902, and the results of his work in this 

 capacity have appeared in the form of numerous tech- 

 nical and popular bulletins on farm drainage, recla- 

 mation of swamp and overflowed lands, and related 

 subjects, published by the Office of Experiment Sta- 

 tions. 



In the irrigation division the three main lines of 

 work will be, as heretofore, (1) dissemination of prac- 

 tical information, (2) scientific and technical investi- 

 gations, and (3) reporting on irrigation conditions in 

 certain districts. 



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 1 year, and the Primer of Irrigation 



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