DRY LANDS AND FORESTS 121 



tility of the Great Plains regions with suf- 

 ficient water undoubtedly dates back to its 

 early history. How long an exploitive sys- 

 tem of farming, where fallow is the only "fer- 

 tilizer" and the only organic matter returned 

 to the soil is the dry stalks of grain, can re- 

 main on its own feet is a question another gen- 

 eration will have to answer. At the present 

 time it seems that a sufficiency of water alone 

 can solve the problem. The Chinese, who have 

 been farming for more than forty centuries, 

 and are many hundred years ahead of the rest 

 of the world in efficiency, solve the problem 

 of water by turning back their rivers from the 

 sea by means of lateral canals. Their acres 

 are forced to grow not one, but several crops 

 each year; and what a western nation would 

 consider a sufficiency of water is inadequate 

 in China. It is for this reason principally, and 

 to provide transportation incidentally, that 

 conservation has reached a point in China 

 where every gallon of river water that escapes 

 to the sea is considered just so much potential 

 fertility lost. 



Is it not possible then, conceivable at least 

 as a dream of the distant future, that the 

 United States will some day arrive at a point 



