378 



ARID AGRICULTURE. 



DISTANCE 

 FROM 

 RAILROAD 

 TRANSPOR- 

 TATION 



man who would buy land should select that kind 

 of an agent. 



The arid West is a big country. It is a land 

 of grand and magnificent distances. The arid 

 rancher thinks nothing of traveling fifty miles 

 one day to attend a dance given by a neighbor 

 and go back home again the next day. The cli- 

 mate, the roads, the horses, make fifty or seven- 

 ty-five miles a day merely pleasure excursions. 

 The man who is going to locate a farm, however, 

 will give this matter of distance his earnest at- 

 tention. If he is going to raise cattle, horses, or 

 sheep, and can walk all he produces to market, 

 the distance from a railroad is of less importance 

 than securing conditions of ranch and range most 

 suitable to his stock. The farmer who would 

 raise grains for market or who produces stock 

 feeds, and makes the feeding industry the main 

 part of his operations, should not ordinarily 

 locate more than ten or tw r enty miles from a ship- 

 ping point. The pure farmer who raises sugar 

 beets, potatoes or fruits, will generally find it un- 

 profitable to haul his products in wagons more 

 than four or five miles. 



WATER 

 SUPPLY 



The nomadic sheepherder and his flock will 

 thrive through the winter on waterless deserts, 

 if there is even a limited snow supply. The 

 home builder must have water. The rainfall is 

 not sufficient in amount or constant enough 



