80 WHAT I KNOW OF FABMING. 



may be led across that plain, adown that valley, in 

 irrigating streams and ditches, until they have been 

 wholly drank up by the soil. I have seen single wells 

 in California that might be made to irrigate suffici- 

 ently hundreds of acres, by the aid of a reservoir into 

 which their waters could be discharged when the soil 

 did not require them, and there retained until the 

 thirsty earth demanded them. 



An old and successful farmer in my neighborhood 

 affirms that Water is the cheapest and best fertilizer 

 ever applied to the soil. If this were understood to 

 mean that no other is needed or can be profitably 

 applied, it would be erroneous. Still, I think it 

 clearly true that the annual product of most farms 

 can be increased, and the danger of failure averted, 

 more cheaply by the skillful application of water than 

 by that of any other fertilizer whatever, Plaster 

 (Gypsum) possibly excepted. 



I took a run through Yirginia last Summer, not far 

 from the 1 st of August. That State was then suffer- 

 ing intensely from drouth, as she continued to do for 

 some weeks thereafter. I am quite sure that I saw 

 on her thirsty plains and hillsides not less than three 

 hundred thousand acres planted with Indian Corn, 

 whereof the average product could not exceed ten 

 bushels per acre, while most of it would fall far below 

 that yield, and there were thousands of acres that 

 would not produce one sound ear ! Every one deplor- 

 ed the failure, correctly attributing it to the prevail- 

 ing drouth. And yet, I passed hundreds if not 



