CHAPTER I. 



DEFINED 



The Arid Kegiow. 



It has again taken forty years of wandering in the 

 wilderness before entering into the fuller possession of 

 our promised land. 



^jtjj, Arid agriculture is the agriculture of the 



AQBicuiiTUBE arid region. An arid country is one in which 

 there is a small amount of rainfall. The word 

 rainfall as here used means the total precipita- 

 tion during the year, incliiding rain, snow, sleet, 

 and hail. A "small amount of rainfall" means 

 an amount which v^ed to he considered insuffi- 

 cient for the raising of field crops without the 

 artificial application of water. The line between 

 possible fanning by natural rainfall and impos- 

 sible farming with natural moisture was for- 

 merly somewhat definitely fixed. More than 

 twenty-five inches of precipitation in a year was 

 considered sufficient for the production of gen- 

 eral crops. In places where between twenty-five 

 inches of rain and fifteen inches occurs farming 

 jt'os considered uncertain, so regions receiving 

 this amount of moisture were classed as sub- 

 humid, or semi-arid. 



FSOaBESS 

 STEP BT 

 STEP 



In parts of the country where the total rain- 

 fall is less than fifteen inches there is compara- 

 tively little natural vegetation. Early statesmen 

 named the whole region the "Great American 



