EDITORIAL. 603 



safe course to pursue, if success is to l)e assured, is to plan and 

 construct the irrigation system of each indivi'.hial farm with the 

 same care and skill that are exercised in the larger features of the 

 plant. 



In every atteni])t to convert desert land into fruitful fields there is 

 a transition period which tries men's souls to the utmost. This 

 transition from sage brush to profitable croi)S calls for the exercise 

 of skill and patience and self-denial to Avhich the settlement of the 

 prairie lands of the Mississippi Valley is not comparable. The most 

 profitable crops on an irrigated farm require time to mature. The 

 land for vine3"ards and orchards must be thoi-oiighly pi-epared before 

 the plants are set in the ground, and a period of varying length nuist 

 intervene before any returns can be expected. Staple crops like 

 alfalfa often fail to give a heavy yield on new land the first season. 



The new settler with limited means is forced to confine his efforts 

 at first to the seeding of small patches of grain and the planting of 

 vegetables, and to work into more profitable crops by degrees. In 

 this transition })eriod, which marks the passing of the desert plants 

 and desert conditions and the introduction of profitable crops under 

 irrigation, the new^ settler is especially in need of help; and the 

 measure of success which a new irrigated district attains will dejiend 

 in no small degree upon the assistance which is given the new farmers 

 during the first three years of their fight with the desert. 



Attention has frequently been called to the waste of water in 

 irrigation in the West. Too nnich water is used, and there is an 

 inclination to rely too much on irrigation and too little on cultiva- 

 tion. After all, the man is the most important factor in irrigation 

 as in other farming. There is great need throughout the irrigated 

 districts not only for more farmers but for better farmers. The 

 difference between a heavy and a light yield can in very many 

 instances be traced to the man who growls the crop. As a whole, 

 the distinguishing feature of the good farm in the irrigated districts 

 is usually the good farmer, which often transcends dill'erences in the 

 quality of the soil. It usually happens that the careless farmer who 

 applies from three to four acre-feet of water per acre receives much 

 less from the soil in the way of crops than the more careful farmer 

 who uses less than half this amount. 



Some twenty years ago it was feared that the water supplies of 

 the West would pass eventually into the hands of rich corporations 

 wdio would oppress the water users l)y levying heavy tribute. There 

 are now^ few such corporations in existence; the companies organ- 

 ized for the purpose of selling water rights and collecting water 

 rentals have sold out as a rule to the farmers who own the land 

 under the system. There is still no end of monopoly in irrigated 

 waters, but the monopolists do not happen to be wealthy capitalists. 

 They are the farmers who have received more than their legitinuite 



