40 THE FUTURE OF ARID LANDS 
fundamental studies of physiological genetics, applies also to crops 
grown under near-arid conditions. Here I am thinking of cereals, 
including crops like grain sorghum, to be used for feed as well as 
for food. 
Other Research 
So far I have spoken mainly about lines of research that are 
directly related to arid lands. Before we come back to some of the 
specific problems, we should remind ourselves of the many other 
researches that may have important special implications in the 
arid region. 
Perhaps one of the first of these that comes to mind is the possi- 
bility of low-cost production of potable water, or even irrigation 
water, from the sea or other brackish sources. Active research is 
going on in this field; but from what I can discover the industrial 
chemist has a task to bring down the costs. 
This problem is not unrelated to the future developments of 
low-cost power. Wind power has already proved to be practicable 
in many parts of northwestern Europe. It may have a place in 
those arid regions with nearly continuous wind. Or perhaps the 
current research on ways of converting sun power to electric 
power may lead to practical inventions. 
Then too, modern medical research is telling us a lot of new 
things about human health in hot countries. These results in the 
hands of the engineering specialist in air conditioning may greatly 
increase the efficiency of labor and the ease of living in places 
where most Europeans have not formerly been able to adjust 
themselves. 
Soil-Use Problems 
Despite this reasonably optimistic picture of accurate methods 
for predicting the harvest and the effects of management under 
grazing, dry farming, and irrigation, our soils are not yet used 
under anything like optimum sustained production. In other 
words, the potentialities of the arid lands of the world are very 
much higher indeed than our present realization. 
Although good methods for research are available, they have 
