13 



and the storage of the water are for the purpose of pro- 

 ducing a proper physical condition of the soil. The soil 

 must be in such condition that there will be the greatest 

 development of roots. There must be development of 

 roots and these roots must be able to take from the soil 

 the elements of plant growth. There must be available 

 fertility. The time comes nearly every season, in almost 

 every climate, when there is severe drouth for a few days; 

 and unless the roots are properly developed in good soil, 

 disaster comes to the growing plants. It is not uncom- 

 mon to find that the apparently fine growth of weeks is 

 withered by a day or two of extremely dry and hot weather. 

 Such could not be the case if the plant was prepared for 

 such an emergency. The essential thing is to have the 

 moisture available, to have the soil condition such as 

 to develop good roots, and then drouths can be defied. 



If the reader is interested in irrigation, then let it be 

 borne in mind that the principles which are here applied 

 are applicable as well to irrigated land. We have no 

 doubt that much that is here written will be found espec- 

 ially useful to irrigation farmers the moisture and its 

 relation to soil fertility, the movement of moisture in the 

 soil, the part played by air and other elements in the soil, 

 and the general principles regarding fertility. 



This book is offered to the intelligent and progressive 

 farmers of the great west. And this term "the great west" 

 has come to have a new meaning to very many in recent 

 years. It is indeed the land of great possibilities. We 

 have never more than half appreciated it in the past. It 

 is a region which, under application of true scientific 

 principles in the cultivation of the soil, is destin^ d to be 

 covered with countless homes of happy American fami- 

 lies, with cities and towns prosperous and growing. May 



