THE NEW EARTH 



ing of the fact that cultivation, and, with cul- 

 tivation, a knowledge of the structure and 

 needs of the soil, was not less important than 

 irrigation. All the water in the world will do 

 but little good if allowed to run to waste, or 

 if it is not used with intelligence. Professor 

 Hilgard, for example, took up the study of a 

 certain desert section. He made the most 

 searching analyses of the soil at all depths, 

 determining precisely its constituents and its 

 needs. In the midst of the study of these sec- 

 tions, he arrived at results that have had an 

 important bearing on the cultivation of fruits, 

 and have added great wealth to his state. For 

 example, he proved that the soil in the arid 

 regions was very deep, with an absence of sub- 

 soils, showing that cultivation might reach to 

 any feasible depth, and thus crops would be able 

 to root deep and withstand drought. Again, 

 a system of preliminary tests developed many 

 facts both as to the chemical and physical char- 

 acter of the soil itself, and as to the soil in the 

 main, showing thus what crops were best fitted 

 to given soils before the crops or orchards 

 were planted. Some five hundred soils are thus 

 analyzed by this station free of all cost every 



24.4 



