CHAPTER XVII 



THE HISTORY OF DRY-FARMING 



The great nations of antiquity lived and prospered 

 in arid and semiarid countries. In the more or less 

 rainless regions of China, Mesopotamia, Palestine, 

 Egyjjt, Mexico, and Peru, the greatest cities and the 

 mightiest peoples flourished in ancient days. Of 

 the great civilizations of history only that of Europe 

 has rooted in a humid climate. As Hilgard has 

 suggested, history teaches that a high civilization 

 goes hand in hand with a soil that thirsts for water. 

 To-day, current events point to the arid and semi- 

 arid regions as the chief dej^endence of our modern 

 civilization. 



In view of these facts it may be inferred that dry- 

 farming is an ancient practice. It is improbable that 

 intelligent men and women could live in Mesopo- 

 tamia, for example, for thousands of years without 

 discovering methods whereby the fertile soils could 

 be made to produce crops in a small degree at least 

 without irrigation. True, the low development of 

 implements for soil culture makes it fairly certain 

 that dry-farming in those days was practiced only 

 with infinite labor and patience ; and that the great 

 ancient nations found it much easier to construct 



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