FOUR] WATER SUPPLY 
The remedy by tree and forest planting, and by 
reservoir control of spring floods, is a slow one to 
compass; and it will remain incomplete, without a 
system of artificial distribution of the water. At 
any rate, the Eastern farmer is facing the problem of 
how best to spread water over his very uneven fields; 
mainly obtained from wells, by windmills, and held 
in reservoirs. Occasionally brooks can be utilized 
without windmills, the water being dammed to a 
height sufficient to compass its distribution over 
lower fields. Small lakes, more common in Michi- 
gan and other Western States, can be brought into 
service. The windmill and tank must, in many 
cases, be on the bank of the lake. Unfortunately, 
we can seldom work out the problem by a general 
system, as is done in arid sections of the West. It 
must be thought out and wrought out in each case 
according to conditions. 
Our Eastern homesteads have to meet the prob- 
lem of irrigation over very uneven ground. The 
difficulties are so complex in the New England 
and the Middle States, as to induce us to anticipate 
enough annual rain, and in spite of repeated disap- 
pointment, to put off artificial preparations. Sta- 
tistics, however, show that at least one year out of 
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