CHAPTER II. 



THE ADVANTAGES OF IRRIGATION. 



Some one has spoken of irrigation as the "wedding 

 of the sunshine and the rain." A great many people 

 hearing the word irrigation experience the same sensa- 

 tions that they do when Madagascar or AViju is spoken 

 of. They have a feeling that it is something a great 

 distance off hard to reach intangible. They read 

 about it as they like to read Arabian Nights or Hans 

 Andersen's Fairy Stories, and it leaves on their minds 

 about the same impressions of wonder, magnificence and 

 untruth as do the stories named. To them the very 

 word "irrigation" puts their reasonings to flight, and 

 they imagine that the art of applying water to cultivated 

 lands is some complicated and wonderfully intricate pro- 

 cess, not easily understood or attained by mortal man. 

 The fact of the matter is, as the author proposes to show 

 in the succeeding chapters, that irrigation is as simple 

 as child's play and may be accomplished by the most 

 commonplace day laborer in the fields. In enumerating 

 a few of the advantages attendant upon irrigating 

 methods, we will cite the facts that irrigation reclaims 

 arid wastes ; makes a prosperous country ; causes the 

 desert to blossom and overcomes the destructive effects 

 of the parching southern winds ; insures full crops every 

 season ; improves land at each submergence, and con- 

 sequently does not wear out the soil ; produces support 

 for dense population ; multiplies the productive capacity 

 of soils ; destroys insects and worms and produces per- 

 fect fruit ; creates wealth from water, sunshine and soil ; 



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