Soil‐filled gasoline drums (55 gal) have been used to measure maximum evapotranspiration at Waynesville, North Carolina. Installation involves no mechanical devices, and maintenance is at a minimum. Water is added manually to prevent water supply to the plants from becoming a limiting factor. Tensiometers are used to indicate when water must be added. Tanks are placed in the center of areas of the same vegetation. Data for one year under grass cover are presented and compared with values calculated from Thornthwaite's and Penman's formulas. The latter appears, upon statistical analysis, to fit the data better than the former.
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