GENEEAL KEPOET, 
xlix 
The larger and more constant supply of water from tlie Walisatcli and 
Uintas renders possible a mucli more general improvement of the resources 
of Utah. The lands at the western base of the Wahsatch, large j)ortions of 
the valleys of the Bear, Weber, and Prove Rivers, and such of tlie paries as 
are not too elevated may all be brought under cultivation. Yet the actual 
cost of bringing water upon these lands, fencing them and pulling lliem in 
a producing condition, at the ordinary rates of wages, is said lo be nearly liCly 
dollars an acre. 
For grazing purposes the region is not generally adapted, as is proven 
by the absence of all graminivorous animals excepting rabbits in the valleys 
and rarely a few mountain sheep or antelopes in the higher ranges. In llie 
spring and early summer there is a considerable supply of nourishing grass 
in many localities, but it is not continuous, and for several months forage is 
very scanty except as scattered through the mountain canons. A substitute 
for grass is sometimes found in the Eurotia lanata^ and some other chenopo- 
diaceous plants are eaten by sheep. Frdmont and Carrington Islands in Salt 
Lake are occupied as sheep pastures by the Mormons, though the amount 
of grass is small and there is a supply of only brackish water for much of 
the year. 
The possibility of the more general cultivation without irrigation of some 
forms of perennial or woody vegetation is an interesting question. That there 
can be to a certain extent a vigorous growth of such plants with only the 
ordinary natural supply of moisture is certain from the number of prevalent 
species of this character, and it seems not chimerical to believe that with the 
necessities of a future more crowded population there will be found either 
profitable use for these or more serviceable; sul^stitut(,'s that shall be equally 
capable of thriving under the i)resent climatic condilions. 
The source of supply of the moisture by which life is sustained in these 
plants through the droughts of summer has been a mailer of doubt. It lias 
been supposed eilher lhal they are in some degree air-plants, drawing tin; n-- 
quisite moisture from the atmosphere itself, or that the structure of the leaf- 
surface and the pubescence or glutinous secretion that often covers them 
prevent in a great measure the usual evaporation of the juices of the plant. 
It is true that in many of the localities where there is no diminution in the 
amount of veiretalion water cannot 1)e found })ut by <li^ldng to a great depth. 
At Stockton Station, in a valley 20 miles east of Mrginia City, between 
vii 
