THE NEW SOIL IRRIGATION. 89 



more and more to the intensive system in which the control 

 of Nature in the mastery of her elements is a primary and 

 important part. The extensive greenhouses seen in the neigh- 

 borhoods of our great cities are the embryonic beginnings of 

 much greater things, and the next stage of this evolution will 

 be the inclosed farm. Better than 200 acres exposed to an 

 unmitigated climate will be from 5 to 40 acres under cover, 

 where the temperature will never be allowed to fall below 

 the freezing point, and where water will be supplied as sys- 

 tematically as the pharmacist applies it in the compounding 

 of a prescription. 



In general, therefore, irrigation means smaller farms and a 

 much denser population than we are accustomed to think of 

 as living in the country. This means a more even and general 



prosperity, and the stimulated development throughout the 

 



country of every species of industry, and this, in turn, means 

 the rapid accumulation of wealth. 



It is thus that irrigation stands for the development of the 

 highest industrial life in the regions where it has been found 

 or may yet be found practicable. It reduces uncertainty in 

 agriculture to a certainty; it removes restlessness and discon- 

 tent. The compactness of its communities makes for better 

 educational facilities and higher educational standards. It 

 stimulates a higher political development, and is thus con- 

 ducive of better government. Altogether it means better 

 schools, better churches, better social opportunities, better roads 

 and more rapid communication ; it means telephones through- 

 out the country districts, and electric lights and rural delivery 

 of mails ; it means, in short, the most wholesome, and, in many 

 respects, the most attractive life in the land. 



