150 IRRIGATION OF LAND. 



efforts of man for the same purpose by other means, are but child's 

 play, has been kept up -without cessation from near the commence- 

 ment of history to the present time, and this same reliability may 

 unquestionably be placed upon its durability for all future time, not 

 only in this country, but throughout the ■world, and where deterio- 

 ration of the soil on nearly all our cultivated lands, especially in 

 the older States of the Union, has become painfully evident, such a 

 method of increasing production as irrigation affords, whenever avail- 

 able, is entitled to the consideration of all farmers, and should be 

 regarded as an important item in farm management. 



