THE COUNTRY HOME [CHAPTER 
of the United States of greater importance than 
that of the water supply and the reclamation of 
the arid lands, and their settlement by men who 
will actually build homes and create communities. 
Throughout our history the success of the home- 
maker has been but another name for the upbuild- 
ing of the nation.” Irrigation by the government, 
supplemented by individual economy, shows that 
in Arizona, where high-class fruits are cultivated, a 
family of five can obtain a good living upon forty 
acres, or even from twenty. 
A bulletin issued by the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture reports on the cost of a small 
system of irrigation. It makes its estimate of a 
ditch one and a quarter miles long, with main lat- 
erals five-eighths of a mile long. The first cost of 
removing the dirt from the ditches would be a little 
over sixty-two dollars. The cost of head-gate, 
drop, division boxes, and other appurtenances is 
set down at one hundred and twenty-five dollars, 
adding twelve dollars for making levels and running 
lines. The total cost will not be far from two hun- 
dred dollars. The annual outlay for maintaining 
ditches and irrigating will be about sixty-eight dol- 
lars more. In this estimate the farmer is supposed 
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