850 HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. 
ment with reference to the continuation of the appropriation, perhaps 
an increase of it, that has heretofore been made for the purpose of 
carrying on experiments and investigations in irrigation throughout 
the country. 
I do not desire to discuss this matter generally, but merely to make 
a statement as to the conditions prevailing in my State, in so far as 
they apply to this question. 
There is a pressing necessity for the work that has been carried on 
by this bill, in what we call the semiarid region of the State of Texas. 
This region is in the western part of the State and embraces perhaps 
150,000 square miles, or something like 100,000,000 acres, a territory 
about equal in size to all the New England States, New York, and 
Pennsylvania combined. The lands in that section of the State, or 
most of them, asa general rule, are very fertile and very productive 
whenever there is sufficient rainfall and whenever the crops are put 
under irrigation. That section of the State is rapidly settling up by 
farmers—an industrious, thrifty set of farmers, from all parts of the 
United States, from almost every State in the Union. To give you 
an idea, gentlemen, of the growth and development of that country, 
1 desire to state that we have gained two Congressmen within the last 
ten years, since the last apportionment. I mean in the western part 
of the State. I am not speaking of the eastern part of the State, 
where they usually have sufficient rainfall. As I say, this portion of 
the State is very fertile. There is no more productive land, perhaps, 
anywhere in the whole country than is to be found in that part of 
Texas. The only obstacle in the way of the farmer is the want of 
water. Asa general rule, there is not sufficient rainfall for the crops. 
Frequently the crops are completely destroyed, and they are almost 
every year injured greatly by the drought. 
That part of the State, as I say, is in great need, right at this par- 
ticular time, of the usual experiments that have been carried on by 
the Department. There are a number of rivers traversing the arid 
region of the State of Texas, running from the northwest to the south- 
east, with a great many smaller tributaries, through which during the 
year a great deal of water flows, and, of course, for the want of proper 
irrigation work in construction, the water is wasted and lost to the 
farmers. Furthermore, there are a great many draws and natural 
depressions where water can be stored for irrigation purposes, if the 
farmers understood how to go at it. In addition to that, through 
almost all of that country plenty of underground water can be found 
ata reasonable depth, and in some places an abundance of artesian 
water at a depth of from 90 to 250 feet. 
Along one of the rivers are two or three different irrigation plants, 
owned and controlled by large corporations, and they are farming 
under those irrigation plants very successfully; but in the greater part 
of the country there is no irrigation whatever, and I believe if the 
farmers were properly instructed, if proper experiments were made 
down there, where there is a small water supply, the farmers of that 
section could at once take up the work, if they understood it, and ina 
great part of that section of the State furnish plenty of water to raise 
abundant crops, where they are now almost failing in their efforts to 
carry on farming successfully. : 
Gentlemen, I do not know how long these irrigation experiments 
have been carried on hy the Department of Agriculture, but some 
