RECLAIMING THE EARTH 



which will be a long time in the future, there 

 will be remaining nearly forty-five millions of 

 acres still arid. Out of the eighty-two thou- 

 sands of square miles in the state, only nine 

 hundred and eighty- three square miles are now 

 under irrigation. The problem in reclamation 

 here has been, What can be done without 

 water, or with the very smallest amount of 

 water? 



In the answering of this question some 

 exceedingly interesting facts have been devel- 

 oped. It is so strange a thing, this farming in 

 defiance of sun and heat and drought, it seems 

 hard by the land of miracles. 



When the discussion of the subject of arid 

 farming was well under way, as a result of the 

 preliminary experiments of the station, the 

 state legislature of Utah enacted a bill provid- 

 ing for the establishment of five experimental 

 farms in arid regions of the state, and it is 

 largely upon these farms that the work has 

 been carried on. One of the most important 

 problems has been to make use of what little 

 water does come in the way of rain or snow so 

 to store this water in the soil, which in Utah 

 is of unusual depth, that it may all be saved for 



247 



