960 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 364. 



has therefore asked for a special appropria- 

 ation of $5,000 to enable the Office of Ex- 

 periment Stations to enlarge its work with 

 a view to giving definite aid and encourage- 

 ment to farmers' institutes in the different 

 States. 



Nutrition Studies. — Thedietary studiesand 

 experiments in cooking, digestion and me- 

 tabolism, have been conducted in various 

 parts of the United States in cooperation 

 with experiment stations, agricultural col- 

 leges and universities. The results of 

 nutrition investigations already made 

 should, the Secretary thinks, be practically 

 and beneficially applied to the feeding of 

 men wherever a considerable number of 

 persons are to be fed on a systematic plan. 

 He instances the hospitals for the insane in 

 the State of New York, the annual cost of 

 food for which is over $1,000,000, and 

 states that of the $26,000,000 expended for 

 100,000 persons maintained in the public 

 institutions in 'New York State alone, 

 $6,000,000 is expended for food. He urges 

 investigations to determine the best dietary 

 for the use of our soldiers and civil officers 

 in tropical regions, and states that a special 

 appropriation of $5,000 has been asked for 

 the study of the food supply and consump- 

 tion of people living in the tropics. 



IRRIGATION MATTERS. 



The Secretary devotes a great deal of 

 space to a discussion of irrigation investiga- 

 tions. These have been conducted through 

 the Office of Experiment Stations, and em- 

 brace (1) studies of irrigation laws and the 

 social and industrial institutions of irri- 

 gated agriculture ; (2) investigations of the 

 methods by which water is conserved, dis- 

 tributed and used. 



Titles to Water. — In reference to the first 

 subject the Secretary states that ibhe char- 

 acter of the titles to water finally recognized 

 will do more than all other influences com- 

 bined to determine whether the Western 



farmers ought to be tenants or proprietors. 

 Naturally, this makes the disposal of the 

 water resources of the West a matter of 

 vital importance not only to the persons 

 directly interested, but to the country at 

 large. Every consideration which justified 

 the general government in the control, the 

 survey, and disposal of public lands, ap- 

 plies equally to the orderly and just estab- 

 lishment of titles to water by public au- 

 thority, either state or national. He points 

 out the confusion and trouble and almost 

 endless litigation frequently attending the 

 settlement of this question, and declares it 

 to be absolutely necessary that some simple 

 and final method of determining and pro- 

 tecting rights to streams should be pro- 

 vided. In the meantime the conditions, as 

 they exist in arid states, are being carefully 

 studied by the Department. 



Improved Instruments. — Irrigation experts 

 of the Departments have designed improved 

 instruments for measuring water, by which 

 registers are now furnished to irrigators at 

 about one-half the cost of the foreign in- 

 struments. 



Irrigation in Humid Regions. — Attention is 

 directed to the growth of irrigation in the 

 humid regions, and the remarkable fact is 

 stated that in Louisiana more money has 

 been expended on pumping-plants in the 

 past two years than in any arid state. By 

 irrigation, rice-growing in Louisiana and 

 Texas has raised the price of land origi- 

 nally worth $5 to $10 per acre to $50 and 

 even $100 per acre. 



Legislation by Congress. — The Secretary ex- 

 presses the belief that irrigation will, in the 

 near future, become a subject for legislation 

 by Congress, there being important reasons 

 why it should have the attention of that 

 body. At the same time, he says that 

 those best informed believe that the uncer- 

 tain character of water rights can only be 

 remedied by a larger measure of public 

 control and the making of certain classes of 



