312 WATER MONOPOLY AND IRRIGATION. 



Each inch in depth of water on an acre is upward of one hundred 

 tons in weight. A good crop of wheat, say twenty-eight to thirty 

 bushels, with its straw, just before it is in the blossom, will weigh 

 about ten tons, and contains about three fourths of one tenth of an 

 inch of water, or about seventy-five per cent. 



It is found in England that wheat, barley, and clover exhale dur 

 ing five months growth more than two hundred times their dry 

 weight of water. To grow half a ton of wheat grain to the acre, 

 with its straw, which will weigh about a ton, or one and one half 

 tons of grain and straw together, requires three hundred tons, or a 

 depth of three inches to the acre in England. The evaporation in 

 this valley is probably double that of England, and therefore six 

 hundred tons, or six inches depth of water would be necessary. 



Land that is hard, smooth, and free of vegetation, reflects the 

 solar heat, whereas land that is broken up and porous absorbs it dur 

 ing the day, and radiates it during the night, and consequently 

 causes a greater deposit of dew from the vapor in the atmosphere, 

 caused by evaporation during the day. This thorough cultiva 

 tion and the system of deep plowing, if carried out throughout thi,s 

 valley, must, I think, reduce the present summer temperature, as 

 the solar heat, instead of being reflected and heating the air would 

 be absorbed and radiated by the loosened surface, and the temper 

 ature being lowered, the winds would be reduced, and the evapora 

 tion would be lessened, and therefore both grain and grass crops 

 would thrive better during the hot season. 



Liebig, in his letters on agriculture, says: &quot;With the chemical 

 properties of soils there is associated a physical quality not less re 

 markable in its nature and influence, viz: the power which they pos 

 sess of attracting moisture from the air, and condensing it in their 

 pores.&quot; &quot;When in a hot summer the surface of the ground is dried, 

 and there is no apparent moisture by capillary attraction from their 

 lower strata, the powerful attraction of the soil for the vapors of 

 water in the air provides the means for supporting vegetation.&quot; 

 &quot;The vapor of water which is thus condensed by the soil is derived 

 from two sources: During the night the temperature of the air falls, 

 the tension of its watery vapor becomes less, and then without the 

 temperature of the air falling to the dew-point, there follows through 

 the attraction of the soil, absorption of moisture (with ammonia and 

 carbonic acid) accompanied by evolution of heat, which moderates 

 the cooling of the ground from radiation. 



&quot;A second source from which the dry soil derives its moisture by ab 

 sorption is presented by the deeper-lying moist strata. From these 

 a constant distillation of water is taking place toward the surface, 

 accompanied by a corresponding evolution of heat in the upper 

 strata on its absorption. 



&quot; In the above facts we recognize one of the most remarkable nat 

 ural laws. The outermost crust of the earth is destined for the de 

 velopment of organic life, and its broken particles ?rre endowed, by 

 the wisest arrangement, with the power of collecting all the elements 

 of food which are essential for the purpose.&quot; 



The hot, dry winds in this valley and in the Colorado desert, and 

 the excessive heat of these plains are -simply local, and created by 



