CAMPBELL'S SOIL CULTURE MANUAL 235 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



IRRIGATION. 



There is no conflict or antagonism between scientific 

 soil culture and irrigation. There is nothing in our teach- 

 ings that need be taken as in any sense hostile to the great 

 development of irrigation projects in the west. Neither 

 is the solution of the problem of the semi-arid region to be 

 found in the adoption of irrigation. 



Irrigation farming is being carried on in many of the 

 splendid valleys of the west with great success. The irri- 

 gated area is sure to be rapidly and greatly enlarged, and 

 no man can tell what results are possible. The United 

 States government, under authority of congress, has en- 

 couraged this by special laws under which irrigation dis- 

 tricts are created and favors given to large companies, and 

 by direct appropriation for construction of gigantic dams 

 and reservoirs. That this is money well spent will not 

 be disputed by persons familiar with what is being accom- 

 plished. 



But it is true that the area which may be brought under 

 cultivation with irrigation is limited, as compared with the 

 vaster areas where ditches are not possible. It is also 

 true that at best irrigation farming is expensive and it 

 necessitates special farming and intensive work in order 

 that it will pay. Under such circumstances the farmers 

 must get immense returns for their labor. 



Scientific soil culture and irrigation therefore supple- 

 ment each other. There are millions of acres of the most 



