84 LANDS OF THE ARID REGION OF THE UNITED STATES. 
do duty on many occasions; but these statements are rather misleading, as 
the experience of farmers in the Arid Region has abundantly demonstrated. 
- The writers who have used them have in general overestimated the quanti- 
tative value of water in irrigation. The facts in Italy, in Spain, in Gren- 
ada, and India are valuable severally for discussion in the countries named, 
but must be used in a discussion of the arid lands of the United States with 
much care. It seemed better, under these circumstances, to determine the 
quantitative value of water in irrigation in Utah from the experience of the 
farmers of Utah. Irrigation has there been practiced for about thirty 
years, and gradually during that time the area of land thus redeemed has 
been increased, until at present about 325,000 acres of land are under 
cultivation. A great variety of crops have been cultivated—corn, wheat, 
oats, rye, garden vegetables, orchard trees, fruits, vines, etc., etc.; and even 
the fig tree and sugar cane are there raised. 
During the past six or seven years I have from time to time, as occasion 
was afforded, directed my attention to this problem, but being exceedingly 
complex, a very wide range of facts must be considered in order to obtain 
a reasonably approximate average. During the past year the task of more 
thoroughly investigating this subject was delegated to Mr. Gilbert. The 
results of his studies appear in a foregoing chapter, written by him; but 
it may be stated here that he has reached the conclusion that a continuous 
flow of one cubic foot of water per second, 7. e., a second-foot of water, will, 
in most of the lands of Utah, serve about 100 acres for the general average 
of crops cultivated in that country; but to secure that amount of service 
from the water very careful and economic methods of irrigation must 
be practiced. At present, there are -few instances where such economic 
methods are used. In general, there is a great wastage, due to badly con- 
structed canals, from which the water either percolates away or breaks away 
from time to time; due, also, to too rapid flow, and also to an excessive use 
of the water, as there is a tendency among the farmers to irrigate too 
frequently and too copiously, errors corrected only by long experience. 
The studies of Mr. Gilbert, under the circumstances, were quite 
thorough, and his conclusions accord with my own, derived from a more 
desultory but longer study of the subject. 
