THE NEW AGRICULTURE. 59 



and yet, so startling were our statements, and so far short had we 

 yet come of a satisfactory demonstration, that we went slowly, 

 proceeding step by step, fortifying as we progressed. Not all of 

 the members of our family, nor so much as a single individual 

 among our more intimate neighbors and friends were able to 

 understand us, so complete was the revolution impending. Then 

 too, we may as well confess it, faithful friends never before doubt- 

 ing, felt that we were deceiving ourself, over confident, and were 

 spending money in a way that would never return. That our 

 credit correspondingly suffered is a fact we may as well confess. 



At this juncture, through the kind consideration of President 

 Arthur and the Hon. Henry M. Teller, Secretary of the Interior, 

 both of whom had know us a lifetime and had taken a deep interest 

 in our discoveries, we received a commission sending us to the 

 Pacific Coast, to examine the last completed link of the Northern 

 Pacific Railroad. This, though helping to the extent of less 

 than a thousand dollars, came at the time most needed, enabling 

 us to go forward with the work of demonstration. Before going on 

 our official western visit, we assured the President and Secretary 

 that we had no doubt whatever that such were the nature of our 

 discoveries, that were our system to be applied to the reclamation 

 of the lands belonging to the government in that desolate region 

 denominated the Great American desert, these could be made as 

 generally productive as those of other sections of our country, 

 now thickly populated, and in certain portions, vastly more produc- 

 tive. Going out, and returning, we were convinced, beyond the 

 shadow of a doubt that millions of acres of the lands skirting 

 that greatest of lines, the Northern Pacific Railway, as seen along 

 mountain sides, plateaus, plains and valleys found in treeless and 

 rainless regions could be completely reclaimed, and made as fertile 

 and productive as those of the most favored countries of earth. 



