DRY LANDS AND FORESTS 123 



is rendered sterile by shallow lakes for many 

 months every year) westward to the arid 

 Southwest to Texas, where thirteen million 

 acres of parched soil reverted to bunch grass in 

 ten years because of not enough water. It 

 is not taxing the imagination too far to assume 

 than another billion dollars worth of pro- 

 ductive land could be added to the wealth of 

 the nation and the Panama Canal cost less 

 than one-half that amount. It is a crying 

 need of both the swamp and overflow regions 

 of the South and the semi-arid region of the 

 West, and such an undertaking at least de- 

 serves a survey of its possibilities. Dry land 

 with enough water at hand for irrigating pur- 

 poses frequently touches a valuation of over 

 $2,000 in the arid West. Wet land, with 

 too much water, in the southern states 

 touches $10 in normal seasons and is 

 valueless for the crops suited to its pe- 

 culiar climate when the super-abundant rain- 

 fall exceeds normal. Some day, surely, we 

 must come to learn the story of conservation 

 of water, which the Chinese have practiced for 



thousands of years. 



* * * # * 



Vast as is this expanse of land of little rain 



