ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATIONS 311 



The division of iuland waters has supervision over 

 the streams, to insure the free flow of the water and 

 to provide for its use for personal purposes and for 

 water power. In order to protect tlie public no dam 

 may be built except in the country and under ten 

 feet in height, on streams having a flow of not to 

 exceed three hundred cubic feet a second, without the 

 approval of the Commission. 



One feature of special interest to the farmer is 

 the provision by which the services of the Conserva- 

 tion Commission may be invoked in draining and de- 

 veloping swamp land for agricultural purposes. An- 

 other and independent provision for the same purpose 

 is under the agricultural drainage law. In these laws 

 the conditions are stated under which wet lands and 

 tracts of swamp may be drained by means of canals 

 and ditches. By presenting a verified petition to tlie 

 Conservation Commission requesting the investiga- 

 tion and improvement of any area of wet land, the 

 machinery of that institution is brought to bear on 

 the problem. Its engineers carry out the work and 

 supervise the financial arrangements necessary. The 

 cost of the improvement may be distributed over any 

 number of years up to forty so that the financial bur- 

 den in any one year is not heavy on the farmer. 

 The fundamental authority for draining land for 

 purely agricultural purposes and for acquiring such 

 rights of way and for the distribution of the cost 

 of such improvement over all the land benefited lies 

 in Article I, Section 7 of tlie State Constitution as 

 finally amended in 1919, after a long period of un- 



