164 



THE 1RR1GA TJOiV A GE. 



ever we do in this way in Kansas, must be done tentatively and pro- 

 ceed slowly as we learn how. That cremona-loving residenter of Ar- 

 kansas freely acknowledged to the fiddling traveler that he realized the 

 porous condition of his roof, but he plead in extenuation of his neg- 

 lect that in dry weather the necessity for repairs was gone, while in 

 wet weather the ability to repair was lacking. Has it not been some- 

 what so with us? When we have had rain in plenty, water to burn, as 

 we might say, we have felt independent of artificial moisture; and then 

 afterwards when the plants ' 'drooped and died in the stillness of 

 noon" it was plainly too late to save that crop; and so we have al- 

 lowed one precarious season after another "to slip into the silent 

 hollows of the past" without any other effort than that which is found 

 in draining, to avail ourselves of the way out, to which in many 

 cases we have only thirty feet to go. 



