Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-12-21

mented as they have been by the vast
herds Of animals that have traversed
them, and they wait only the magic
of moisture to burst joyously into
bloom, In Egypt and other countries
where irrigation Is necessary TO pro-
duce crops, the yield Is more abundant
than in areas of corresponding size that
depend on rains Organic matter Is
apparently stored in the earth and con-
illusions based on something over
thousand analyses are that the desert
soil west of mid Kansas Is richer than
the country east Of the Mississippi by
an average Of three times as much pot
ash six times as much magnesia and
fourteen times as much lime. The
settler has often 20 contend with salt,
but that is readily soluble and easily
washed out of the ground.
Here. then, Is raw material Of fertil-
lty, Astounding. II would be absurd In
this people not to use them II does
not imply expenditures for manures in
order to obtain yield Of crops. Every
river that courses through the country
Is turbld with mineral riches. In and
about Tucson II has been found that
the actual market value Of the plant
foods carried to an acre IN an ordinary
irrigation system Is over 81 a seuson-
more than the average farmer thinks
Of spending for fertili2iuC material in
almost any part Of the worle.
There are IN our West 50OO0OOO0 acres
OF arid land which are yet IN the pub
lie gift. Wonderful results have been
obtained through individual efforts TO
reclaim the desert and when one con-
siders what might be done By federal
management, Imagination Is startled
and gladdened by the possibilities. II
is an empire that lies falloW beyond
the mountains, an empire wherein mil
Hons who now oYeroroWd our cries may
live In the comfort and freedom that
are denied In stony towns. TO make
homes for these millions II viii be nee
essary that the government prepare the
way. The cost and the labor are too
vast for personal undertaking. For
ests must be planted 10 insure con-
stancy In water supply reservoirs must
be created by damming valleys IN or
der that the supply may be ample IN
volume: canals and drains must be aug
across the country for miles, with gates
and bikes and other such appliances
and there must be uniformity In laws
respecting rights TO use Of water Most
Of the arid land Is in what have recent
" become states but by the same au-
thority or cooperation whereby forest
reserves and national parks, Indian ana
military reservations and experiment
stations have been secured for public
uscs the needed ponds and canals could
be created
And. apart from the immediate gain
Of this great conversion Of the Arserl-
can desert, the gain, that Is, TO settlers
and TO the industries which they VIII
create, Is the profit Of the whole coun.
try by the increase in It's output ana
the guarantee Of permonence IN I'm"
proved climatic conditions. For water
has tendency TO recreate It's Supply
Irrigation In the West has made tree
planting feasible; tree planting In turn
has increased the springs, deepened the
brooks and increased the rain and dew
fall. Land has risen tenfold IN value
under these conditions. In the desert u
must rise an hundred. Wrong, partial