THE STATE AS FARMER 41 



unless his plants get nourishment in their 

 own way. But the special characteristics of 

 his district in this respect need the careful 

 study of the general in command. The 

 adequate tillage, the manuring and liming, 

 the cover crops, the deep-rooting grasses and 

 wheat, or, alternatively, good meadow grass — 

 these different treatments all bear upon the 

 problem. But it is quite possible that a 

 broader consideration of some of our areas 

 might bring about the introduction of more 

 direct water methods. It seems as if one of 

 the most fundamental laws of the universe 

 calls for continual movement in water. 

 Stagnant water might almost be considered 

 a disease and treated as such. But the 

 farmer has not yet come to this knowledge. 

 He will still let his cows drink stagnant and 

 polluted water, and allow the mosquito plague 

 to injure man and beast, because he has 

 obstinately refused during long years to have 

 anything to do with the expense of obtaining 

 a supply of it pure. But his ordinary opera- 

 tions, even his permanent pasture, would be 

 more successful if some system were set on 

 foot for regularly draining his stagnant ditches 



