2 BULLETIN 376, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
and operated in sizes up to 12 and 13 feet in diameter, the largest to 
date being 13J feet. This great increase in size and carrying capac- 
ity has been brought about by providing yokes or cradles which 
support the lower part of the pipe and thus prevent its collapse. 
Being well adapted to low heads and large diameters, such pipe 
has proved one of the best and cheapest means of conducting large 
volumes of water under low or medium heads from the sources of 
supply to the places of use, regardless of whether the latter be a 
power plant, a storage reservoir, the highest portion of an irrigated 
tract, or the distributing reservoir of a municipality. Stave pipe is 
also frequently used in the construction of inverted siphons, so 
called, in conjunction with canals and grade pipe lines, to convey 
water across gulches, ravines, or other depressions or down chute 
drops to lower levels. It is likewise well adapted to rolling ground 
where the building of canals on grade might be impracticable. 
Finally, in the smaller sizes it is often used to convey and distribute 
water to orchard tracts, manufacturing plants, and municipalities. 
The present economic importance of stave pipe in this country, 
which arises from its adaptation to so many diverse uses, its wide 
range of capacities, the ease with which it can be laid on rough ground, 
and its cheapness when compared with other pressure pipes, has led 
this department to investigate and report upon its merits and de- 
merits. About three years ago a study was begun which comprised 
the types, materials, methods of construction, and durability of wood 
pipe. The results of this study were summarized in a recent depart- 
ment bulletin. 1 During the past two years another phase of the 
same general subject has been investigated. This investigation has 
included the making of tests and the collection of data on the flow of 
water in wood-stave pipe, the results of which are embodied in this 
report. Field work during the summer seasons of 1914 and 1915 
consisted in the performance of 64 experiments on the flow of water 
in wood-stave pipes ranging in diameters from 8 inches to 13 J feet, 
while the office work consisted in the collection and analysis of avail- 
able records of all previous experiments of a similar character and 
the preparation of the data herein presented. From the results of 
all experiments made, which combined reach a total of 286, there 
has been deduced a new set of formulas for the flow of water in stave 
pipe which is here presented. (See p. 48.) 
In another publication 2 the writer has endeavored to show that 
Kutter's formula is applicable to the design of any open channel and 
that the recommendations of the earlier writers on this subject con- 
cerning the values of n (which comprises all the influences retarding 
1 Wood Pipe for Conveying Water for Irrigation, by S. O. Jayne, Bulletin 155, U. S. Department of 
Agriculture. 
2 The Flow of Water in Irrigation Channels, by Fred. C. Scobey, Bulletin 194, U. S. Department of 
Agriculture. 
