56 TILLEES OF THE GEOUND CHAP. 



These were the kind of questions the Govern- 

 ment seemed disposed to put, so we thought it wiser 

 to wait a little while before selling all we had and 

 starting for the great desert. In the meantime, 

 though, while we are waiting, we may as well try 

 to find out how the people there got their oranges 

 and grapes and dates, and how they learnt to grow 

 them. Men of our blood, men whose fathers grew the 

 humble potato, turnip and cabbage, how did they 

 learn all that they must have learnt, and where 

 did they get their lucerne and all their wonderful 

 fruit trees ? Well, the answer is rather a long 

 one. Let us at least look at parts of it. 



We have seen that there is in the United States 

 a body of engineers called the Eeclamation Service, 

 whose work it is to plan roads and canals, to bring 

 water to land which is crying out for it, and to 

 take it away from the marsh-land which is unpro- 

 ductive because it has too much water. 



There is also another body of men, botanists and 

 agriculturists this time, whose duty it is to find, all 

 over the world, plants suitable for all the different 

 soils and climates of the United States. They must 

 first find the plants, and that is not always easy ; 

 then they must grow them, to make sure that the 

 plants are suitable and to get enough seeds or cuttings 

 to distribute to the farmers. Even then their work 

 is not done, for they quite often find that, with the 



