278 WHAT I KNOW OF FARMING. 



usually be warmer than though obtained from near 

 the surface, and hence better adapted to Irrigation. 



Of course, the Artesian well is costly, and will not 

 soon be constructed for uses purely agricultural ; but 

 the railroads traversing the Plains and the Great Basin 

 will sometimes be compelled to resort to one with- 

 out having use for a twentieth part of the water they 

 thus entice from the bowels of the earth ; and that 

 which 'they cannot use they will be glad to sell for a 

 moderate price, thus creating oases of verdure and 

 bounteous production. The palpable interest of rail- 

 roads in dotting their long lines of desolation with 

 such cheering contrasts of field and meadow and 

 waving trees, render nowise doubtful their hearty 

 cooperation with any enterprising pioneer who shall 

 bring the requisite capital, energy, knowledge, and 

 faith, to the prosecution of the work. 



These are but hasty suggestions of methods which 

 will doubtless be multiplied, varied, and improved 

 upon, in the light of future experience and study. 

 And when the very best and most effective methods 

 of subduing the Plains to the uses of civilized man 

 shall have been discovered and adopted, there will 

 still remain vast areas as free commons for the herds- 

 men and sporting-grounds for the hunter of the Elk 

 and the Antelope, after the Buffalo shall have utterly- 

 disappeared. 



I do not doubt the assertion of the plainsmen that 

 rain increases as settlements are multiplied. Cross- 

 ing the Plains in 1859, 1 noted indications that timber 



