, but which yield far larger profits than farm
crops.

Within the last few years a new system of farming has been developed in
the West, which is of great interest to all of us, both because it is
opening up for production a large part of our country that has seemed
valueless, and because the lessons that have been learned there are of
the greatest advantage in every part of the country.

West of the one-hundredth meridian, which crosses North and South
Dakota, the western part of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, and
including the states west of them, lies a vast region that used to be
known as the "great American desert." It comprises almost half of the
United States. Here the noble forests of the eastern states and the
prairie grasses of the plains were replaced by sage-brush and cactus.
The soil was light in color and weight, and the rainfall very scanty.

It seemed impossible that it could ever be fitted for agriculture. But
there were a few great rivers, rich mining districts, and excellent
grazing lands. These attracted settlers, and to them some cultivation of
the soil became almost a necessity. The waste waters of the rivers were
used for irrigation and the land when watered was found to produce
remarkably fine fruits and agricultural products. Yet there were
hundreds of thousands of acres that could not be irrigated for lack of
water, and the problem of finding a use for these barren, semi-arid
lands remained unsolved for many years.

But here and there in different states and under varying conditions,
after many experiments and failures, men began without water to grow
successful crops on these semi-arid lands, where the rainfall was
scarcely more than ten inches per year. Others following this method
found success, and it began to seem possible that all this territory
might some day become a great farming region.

By comparing the methods employed in different states, the few general
laws have been worked out which must be applied in order to farm
successfully in this region, though the details differ with local
differences in altitude, climate, soil, and rainfall. Here farming is
being reduced to a science. In other parts of the country a man sows his
seed and nature cares for it, and gives him his harvest; but here he
must wring from nature all that he gets, so it is only the man who farms
according to fixed laws who can hope to succeed.

This system is usually called "dry farming," though "scie