12 The Colorado Experiment Station. 
Nevada it represents the flow through an orifice two inches high, 
with a head above the opening, of six inches. In other cases, the 
head has been four inches, six inches, eight inches, and sometimes 
the opening is extended to the surface of the water and no pressure 
is used. The whole area of the opening is then counted as “inches” 
of water. In this system, an opening six inches high and sixteen 
inches long would be, for example, 96 inches, and one six inches 
high by eight inches long would be 48 inches. If the system met 
the proper conditions of unit, the flow through one opening should 
be twice as much as the other. As a matter of fact the one opening 
will give considerably more than twice the other. This is due to 
the fact that the retardation by the sides of the opening from fric¬ 
tion is relatively greater in the smaller one than in the larger. 
There are other conditions also, which may affect the quantity ma¬ 
terially. The law does not prescribe the size or fall of the channel 
bringing water to the boxes, nor how rapid shall be the descent away 
from it—only providing that it shall be not less than one-eighth of 
an inch to the foot. 
In some cases the term, “customary inch” has been used, and 
generally has represented 1 the area of the cross section of the chan¬ 
nel in square inches. This leaves out of account the rapidity of 
flow, which is of exceedingly great importance. In one water 
district in this state, the decrees of the ditches, has been expressed 
in “customary inches,” a term which has not been convertible into 
definite quantities. It contains the germs of serious disputes, for 
while it may be expressed in cubic feet per second, the results would 
not be accepted without much objection. 
Fortunately a better understanding of the objections to the 
“inch” has become wide spread, and the attempt to measure in 
inches is very rarely made. In California, a statute was once 
passed defining the inch in terms of its ratio to a cubic foot per 
second, and the inch under their conditions, was defined as 1-50 
of a cubic foot per second. 
In the ordinary form, an inch describes a method of meas¬ 
urement rather than a quantity of water. There is a common im¬ 
pression in this State that a Colorado Statute provides that 38.4 
statute inches is the equivalent to one cubic foot per second. This 
is a mistake, for no statute has fixed this or any other ratio. As a 
matter of fact the ratio may vary all the way from 35 to 44. The 
basis for this impression seems to be a statement made in the 
second annual report of the State Engineer in 1884. 
The State laws widely provide that in the statement of appro¬ 
priations, the quantity shall be given in cubic feet per second. Not¬ 
withstanding this, the decrees in some districts have been given 
in other terms. This term, “cubic feet per second,” is often ex- 
I 
