ge-fruited
jujubes (as good as dates) from the dry fields of Central Asia; seedless
Chinese persimmons which have just been successfully fruited in North
Carolina; a Japanese salad plant and a vegetable called _udo_ which is
similar to asparagus; edible roots called _aroids_ which thrive in swampy
land where the potato rots; hardy alfalfa from central Asia successfully
crossed with our own varieties for our cold northwest; drought-resisting
cherries, apricots with sweet kernels, Caucasian peaches, olives hardy in
zero temperatures, mangoes from Porto Rico, the Paradise apple which grows
wild in the Caucasus, the Slew Abrikose, an apricot as smooth as the
nectarine, and wild strawberries fruiting in February on the dry cliffs of
western Asia which, through cross-breeding may help to carry our native
strawberry many miles still farther to the north.

The story is endless; but these items suggest to us the thoroughly
statesmanlike way in which our agricultural leaders are increasing year by
year the possibilities of our soil in spite of all drawbacks of condition
and climate. No wonder they are already prophesying that our annual
agricultural production will before long reach twenty billions. When it
comes, a large part of the credit must be given to the skillful
agricultural scientists who are furnishing all progressive farmers these
newer species of plants and animals which are superseding the inferior
varieties.

_Irrigation and the Problem of the Desert_

When it is the problem of sterility, it is hopeless. But usually it is
merely the problem of aridity; which is only a challenge to enterprise.
Much of our "Great American Desert," as the old geography used to
describe it, is in reality the most fertile of all soils; no wonder it can
easily be made to "blossom as the rose."

Dr. W. E. Smythe in his fascinating book "The Conquest of Arid America"
calls attention to the fact that the real dividing line between the east
and the west is the 97th meridian which divides in twain the Dakotas,
Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. East of this line is the region of
fairly assured rainfall. To the westward stretches the vast area of arid
land with a rainfall insufficient to sustain agriculture; and with only
three or four people to the square mile, though with resources enough to
support a hundred million people. With a climate matchless for health and
a varied and beautiful scenery, coupled with untold mineral deposits an