404 
as  economically  ought  to  satisfy  the  crops  of  the  Rocky  Mountain 
States.  It  is  possible,  I believe,  to  reduce  our  average  duty  from 
4^4  per  acre  to  3 feet  without  in  any  way  lessening  the  yields. 
While  the  chief  work  of  our  office  during  the  past  ten  years  has 
been  the  prevention  of  waste  of  water,  we  have  also  tried  to  assist 
in  the  solution  of  the  many  problems  which  have  arisen  and  are 
continuing  to  arise  in  connection  with  its  proper  use.  A few  years 
ago,  our  office  published  a little  work  on  the  preparation  of  lands 
for  irrigation  and  methods  of  applying  water.  The  demand  for 
this  bulletin  was  so  great  that  edition  after  edition  had  to  be 
printed.  We  have  now  decided  to  issue  a series  to  take  its  place 
The  first  of  this  series,  The  Irrigation  of  Alfalfa,  is  now  in  press, 
and  others  will  follow  as  speedily  as  they  can  be  published.  The 
series  will  comprise  seven  bulletins,  the  irrigation  of  alfalfa,  sugar 
beets,  orchards,  grain,  rice,  potatoes  and  small  fruits.  In  addition 
to  what  has  already  been  published,  our  agents  are  preparing  prac- 
tical manuals  on  windmills,  pumping  plants,  small  storage  reser- 
voirs, concrete  structures  in  irrigation,  the  delivery  of  water  to 
irrigators  and  the  management  of  irrigation  enterprises. 
Our  office  has  likewise  joined  hands  with  the  state  engineers 
and  other  prominent  state  officials  of  western  states  in  the  pub- 
lication of  a series  of  state  reports  on  the  irrigation  conditions 
of  these  respective  commonwealths.  Professor  O.  L.  Waller  is  the 
author  of  the  report  of  this  State  and  I feel  certain  that  no  one 
can  read  that  report  without  having  broader  conceptions  of  the 
irrigation  possibilities  of  this  young  giant — the  State  of  Wash- 
ington. 
These  reports,  coming  as  they  do  from  the  highest  authorities 
on  irrigation  conditions  in  the  west,  will  serve,  I believe,  a useful 
purpose  in  correcting  erroneous  ideas  which  prevail  in  the  East 
and  Middle  West  regarding  irrigation.  There  the  belief  is  common 
that  little  or  nothing  was  done  in  the  way  of  irrigation  until  the 
Government  took  hold  of  it  and  that  all  the  works  of  any  conse- 
quence have  been  built  by  the  Reclamation  Service.  These  re- 
ports show  that  practically  all  the  irrigated  products  are  as  yet 
derived  from  lands  under  private  enterprises  of  one  kind  or  an- 
other, such  as  the  cooperative  canal  company,  the  irrigation  dis- 
trict and  the  State  acting  under  the  Carey  Land  Act,  and  that  as 
I have  stated  fully  95  per  cent,  of  the  present  irrigation  area  lies 
outside  the  Government  projects. 
The  purpose  of  the  reclamation  laws  was  to  supplement  the 
efforts  of  private  enterprises  and  it  will  continue  to  serve  this 
purpose  during  the  life  of  the  present  generation. 
Such  being  the  facts,  this  Congress,  it  seems  to  me,  should  use 
every  legitimate  means  to  encourage  and  extend  the  work  done 
under  private  enterprises  so  that  they  may  reach  to  higher  stand- 
ards. The  problems  of  irrigated  agriculture  are  being  solved 
chiefly  by  the  more  intelligent  and  progressive  irrigators,  but  in 
addition  to  this,  the  Western  experiment  station  worker  and  the 
