XII. 



IRRIGATION MEANS AND ENDS. 



WHILE few can have failed to realize the important 

 part played by "Water in the economy of vegetation, 

 I judge that the question " How can I secure to my 

 growing plants a sufficiency of moisture at all 

 times?" has not always presented itself to the farm- 

 er's mind as demanding of him a practical solution. 

 To rid his soil and keep it free of superfluous, but 

 especially of stagnant water, he may or may not 

 accept as a necessity; but that, having provided for 

 draining away whatever is excessive, he should turn 

 a short corner and begin at once to provide that 

 water shall be supplied to his fields and plants when- 

 ever they may need it, he is often slow to apprehend. 

 Yet this provision is but the counterpart and com- 

 plement of the other. 



I had sped across Europe to Venice, and noted with 

 interest the admirable, effective irrigation of the 

 great plain of Lombardy, before I could call any land 

 my own. I saw there a region perhaps thirty miles 

 wide by one hundred and fifty along the east bank 

 of the Po, rising very gently thence to the foot of the 



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