e had distributed the rainfall of the United States a
bit more evenly, land enough to feed about fifty millions of people
would not have required an expenditure of half a century of time and
several hundred millions of good, hard dollars. One must bear in mind,
however, that if Dame Nature had done otherwise, it is just as likely
that the same time and the same amount of money would have been required
elsewhere for those same fifty millions of people.

The reclaimable swamp lands of the United States east of the Rocky
Mountains aggregate about one hundred and twenty thousand square miles
in extent--an area nearly equal to that of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
combined. Of this, Louisiana has about fifteen thousand square miles, a
tract about as large as Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut
combined, and Florida has about half her entire area in swamp land. West
of the Rocky Mountains, California takes the lead, with enough swamp
land to make a state of respectable size.

In the case of California, if the "forty-niners" could have waited about
a thousand years they would have found the precious swamp lands all
properly filled in for them and ready for use; for the Sacramento and
San Joaquin Rivers long since have been working at the task of filling
up the big hollow between the mountain ranges. But the rivers are a
trifle slow, and Californians are always in a steaming hurry. So Uncle
Sam's engineers are driving their reclamation schemes with railroad
speed. A few years ago these lands were worth nothing; drain them and
they are worth one hundred dollars per acre; improve them according to
modern farming science and they are worth ten times as much.

[Illustration: The Everglades of Florida]

In many instances even the quick methods of the reclamation authorities
are too slow for the California farmer, and so he takes matters into his
own hands. First he acquires his land; then he mortgages all his worldly
possessions to surround the land with a ditch deep enough and wide
enough to make a dike high enough to keep out flood waters. His land
after draining is full of the stuff for which he otherwise would pay
thousands and thousands of dollars. Phosphates and lime form the
coverings of minute swamp life and nitrogen compounds are a part of
their bodies. The polders of Holland are not richer than this swamp
land; indeed, they are not so rich. One or two crops will pretty nearly
extinguish the mortgage and three or