THE NEW EARTH 



the uses of the plants. And after the water 

 was in the soil, the next problem was to 

 select such crops as would get along with the 

 least possible amount of water and yet yield 

 abundantly. 



The actual work on a large scale began in 

 1904, so that but little time has yet elapsed in 

 the prosecution of the work, though a certain 

 form of arid farming had been carried on by 

 intelligent farmers in certain regions of the 

 state long enough fully to justify the belief 

 that the more extended work of the station 

 would yield rich results. Tests were at once 

 begun in careful analyses of the soils and in 

 the selection of drought-resistant wheats, oats, 

 millet, sugar-beets, vegetables, Kaffir corn, and 

 so on. The farms were desert when the tests 

 began, covered with sage brush, the very antith- 

 esis of fertility. The transformation wrought 

 was complete, the desert was made a garden. 

 While some of the tests were not satisfactory, — 

 as, indeed, was to be anticipated, as the work 

 is essentially experimental at the start, — enough 

 was developed to show that the arid farming 

 in Utah has absolutely conquered the desert. 

 An exhibition of the products of these dry 



^48 



