The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-21
LESSONS OF THE DROUGHT.

LESSONS OF THE DROUGHT.
Experience, although sometimes very
costly, is always valuable. All our woes
have their compensations.= There is an
eternal fitness of things that in the end
seems to even up the equation of life
The drought and excessive heat through
which the country is now passing, al
though it may destroy crops and pros
trate both man and beast will force upon
us lessons which we otherwise would not
learn-lessons which viii be of inestima-
bic benefit to the whole country.
The experience of Kansas, Missouri and
Nebraska this year and the similar ex-
perience Of the Northwest last year, will
go far to prove to the whole country
the necessity of storage reservoirs and ir-
rigation bitches in the semi-arid regions.
If these regions. are ever to be used for
agricultural purposes. Had the surplus
water in the Southwest been conserved
instead of allowed to seek the gulf, a
possible, because Of the Increased local
evaporation. Water enough falls on the
State of Kansas each year to make it's
crops certain If 1t were properly distrib-
uted as to time. This statement is true
Of all the semi arid portions OF the Unit
ed States. The topography of the Mis-
ell
is such that an artificial lake can with
very little work be constructed on ev-
cry quarter section Of land Everywhere
we find coulees, draws and basins which,
If damned, will catch and retain bodies
Of water covering from one to twenty
acres. The height of the dam will de-
pend upon the slope of the surface. We
have reports Of stock dying from lack Of
water in Missouri and Kansas This Is
the result of pure egligence-inattent,on
to the ordinary precautions which COM
mon sense should dictate. If these local
reservoirs were maintained. beside afford
ing surfaces for evaporation which would
showers by increasing the general hui
nudity of the atmosphere, they would
also afford a never failing supply of wa
ter for the stock, This is one lesson
which the droughts of the past years
will teach-the lesson Of storage and irri-
cation.
Another lesson which the people of the
West are learning by experience is that
a timbered country with unvarying rain
fall is far superior to the prairie regions
with uncertain rainfall, as place 10
dig a living out of the ground The west
ward immigration has passed the north
ern parts of Michigan, Wisconsin and Min
nesota, because they appeared rugged and
uninviting. Where nature has covered
the surface with a rank growth of tim
Der. the soil cannot be poor The honest
working man, who. with a few hundred
goes into the woods Of the section re-
ferred to, need never be In want for the
essentials and ordinary comforts Of life.
He builds his house and his barn from the
timber off the land that he clears. His
fuel is at hand. There need be no suffer-
ing from the cold of winter for lack of
money to buy coal The pasturage for
his stock is generally unlimited. The
finest clover and bluejoint are Indigenous
to the soil. The earth will produce every
article of agriculture, except corn: the
season being too short for that as 9, COM
mercial crop. Everything that he raises
has a good and abundant market at his
very door In the winter he does not need
to remain idle but can find employment
in the lumber camps or in converting his
own timber into wood for the market
While making a living each year he adds
a few acres to his clearing Compared
with the life of the prairie farmer his ia
the ideal existence. He does not get rich
in one year or in five or in ten, but Mt
the end Of the decade, if he has been
frugal and Industrious. he has a farm
with comfortable improvements and Is
out of debt. His farm never falls him
He is without anxiety for the future.
This lesson is being so well taught, that
already there is movement on foot to
ship cattle from the Southwest to North
ern Wisconsin to be grazed on the cut
over land-land from which the pine tim
her has been taken. These lands have
been fire-swept, rendering them compare
lively clear. Following the fire invariably
comes the red and white cIoVers in the