248 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



A living guaranteed by the principle of 

 New Forms self-sustenance, and at least the hope of 

 Social Life, a competence furnished by the system- 

 atic production of a surplus, the next 

 great desideratum will be the social life of the new 

 colony. The leading feature under this head will be 

 a village site at the most accessible point in the midst 

 of the colony tract. Each' purchaser of a farm will 

 be given an ample lot probably an acre in this 

 village, provided he will agree to build his home and 



has been successfully realized in Europe, and the 

 Mormons in Utah have used it very effectively for 

 forty years. In the writer's judgment the farm village, 

 when brought to the highest development, is destined 

 to do more than all other causes combined to attract 

 a very desirable class of population from Eastern 

 cities and towns to the arid lands. The isolation of 

 country life, and the lack of companionship it in- 

 volved, has been the prime cause of the somewhat 

 alarming movement of population out of the country 



A TYPICAL GARDEN HOME IN THE ARID REGION. By courtesy of North-west Magazine. 



live there. From the center of the village to the far- 

 thest outlying farm will be less than three miles. The 

 school, postoffice, stores and public library will be lo- 

 cated in the park in the center of the village. The 

 entire tract will be improved with roads and boule- 

 vards, lined with shade trees. In this programme 

 we have the bare skeleton of a most charming social 

 life, which shall combine the best features of town 

 and country. Of course this is not a new idea. It 



and into the great cities. The farm village plan will 

 supply neighbors, while the public library, especially 

 if combined with a public hall_ suitable for entertain- 

 ments, will supply the best advantages of town 

 life. We realize, of course, that this system must be 

 more highly developed than has yet been done to 

 bring the best results. But it is a system which 

 contains the germ of enormous possibilities for 

 good. 



