THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



without deferring to the convenience of others, or yield- 

 ing obedience to rules and regulations essential to the 

 orderly administration of systems which supply large 

 numbers of consumers. The original cost of such a 

 plant, exclusive of the farmer's own labor in construct- 

 ing his reservoirs and ditches, is two hundred dollars, 

 and the plant suffices for ten acres. The farmer thus 

 pays twenty dollars per acre (about double the average 

 price paid to canal systems in this region) for a per- 

 petual guaranty of sufficient "rain" to produce bounti- 

 ful crops ; but to this cost must be added two dollars per 

 acre as the annual price of maintaining the system. 



Farming under these conditions is limited to small 

 areas, and intensive methods of cultivation become im- 

 perative. The result has been the evolution of a multi- 

 tude of five-, ten-, and twenty-acre farms, each sur- 

 rounded by its tall fringe of protecting cottonwoods, 

 which inclose grounds variously planted to orchard, 

 field, and garden. Perhaps these methods present a 

 closer parallel to European agriculture than anything 

 else found in this country, while the numerous wind- 

 mills suggest comparison with Holland. Nowhere are 

 there sharper contrasts than that which is presented by 

 these green and fruitful farms, gleaming like islands of 

 verdure upon the brown bosom of the far-stretching 

 plains, which have been seared by the hot breath of rain- 

 less winds. 



The uses of the artificial reservoirs are not limited to 

 irrigation; they are usually stocked with fish, which 

 multiply with surprising rapidity and enable the farmer 

 to include this item of home produce in his bill of faro 

 every day in the year. These fish are very tame, and in 



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