four] water supply 



The remedy by tree and forest planting, and by 

 reservoir control of spring floods, is a slow one to 

 compass; and it will remain incomplete, without a 

 system of artificial distribution of the water. At 

 any rate, the Eastern farmer is facing the problem of 

 how best to spread water over his very uneven fields; 

 mainly obtained from wells, by windmills, and held 

 in reservoirs. Occasionally brooks can be utilized 

 without windmills, the water being dammed to a 

 height sufficient to compass its distribution over 

 lower fields. Small lakes, more common in Michi- 

 gan and other Western States, can be brought into 

 service. The windmill and tank must, in many 

 cases, be on the bank of the lake. Unfortunately, 

 we can seldom work out the problem by a general 

 system, as is done in arid sections of the West. It 

 must be thought out and wrought out in each case 

 according to conditions. 



Our Eastern homesteads have to meet the prob- 

 lem of irrigation over very uneven ground. The 

 difficulties are so complex in the New England 

 and the Middle States, as to induce us to anticipate 

 enough annual rain, and in spite of repeated disap- 

 pointment, to put off artificial preparations. Sta- 

 tistics, however, show that at least one year out of 



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