Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1907 — WORK OF IRRIGATION. [ARTICLE]

WORK OF IRRIGATION.

Mew Flans Adopted Contemplate Many Improvements. * In the irrigation division of the Agricultural Department the three main lines of work will be, as heretofore, dissemination of practical information, scientific and technical investigations, and reporting on irrigation conditions in Mrtaln dWTcS. that probably about 5.0Q0.000 acres of land provided with water for irrigation will be available for settlement at the close of 1908, it is believed that in po other way can more good be done than in supplying practical information through publications and -expert advice to the new settlers on this land, and it is therefore deemed advisable te broaden the scope of this work so as to make it valuable to every class of farmers dependent upon irrigation and to every project, whether public or private. The scientific and technical inveetlgations will be a continuation and extension of what has already been done. Prominent features of the work will be to determine what becomes of’the large quantity of water which is annually spread over cropped soils, involving a study of evaporation, seepage and distribution of losses, with a view to securing higher economy In the use of water; the relation of irrigation water to quantity and quality of crop and the adaptation of methods to different soils and crops, and a study of. the more, technical features of the measurement, conveyance, storage and distribution of water on farms, the various devices used for pumping. In the study of Irrigation conditions in different localities emphasis is to be laid especially on possible improvements of present methods which will lead to a more economical use of water.