2 INFORMATION FOR EMIGRANTS. 



supply some of the omissions in the many flattering descriptions which 

 are scattered broadcast respecting the much-advertised Northwest. 



Some of the railways in Kentucky are now pursuing the short-sighted 

 policy of having emigration agents, whose duty it is to disseminate the 

 pubhcations of the Northern and Western land agents, and offer cheap 

 fare and other inducements to citizens of this State to move West. 

 Knowi.ig as I do that many persons are thereby induced to emigrate 

 from the State, and that few of them have bettered their condition by so 

 doing, and that most of them have been deceived by untrue statements, 

 I deem it my duty to publish a warning to the people of this. State and 

 the South, and ask of such as contemplate removing to the West a care- 

 ful study of the facts presented in the following communication. 



It is my intention to confine myself to extracts from official publica- 

 tions of the United States Government, the State Agricultural Societies, 

 &c. , so that the information conveyed shall be conclusive and unanswer- 

 able. The haste necessary in making this compilation will render it 

 somewhat desultory, but it will repay the reading to any one who wishes 

 to emigrate to the region treated of. 



Rain-fall. 



The amount of land in the United States uniting all the conditions, 

 requisite for successful agriculture is much less than is generally sup- 

 posed. Says Maj. Powell : * 



The limit of successful agriculture without irrigation has been set 

 at twenty inches of rain-fall, that the extent of the arid region should by 

 no means be exaggerated ; but, at twenty inches, agriculture will not 

 be uniformly successful from season to season. Many droughts will 

 occur; many seasons in a long series will be fruitless; and it maybe 

 doubted whether, on the whole, agriculture will prove remunerative. . 



In fact, a broad belt separates the Arid region of the West from the 

 Humid region of the East. Extending from the one hundredth meridian 

 eastward to about the isohyetal line of twenty-eight inches, the district 

 of country thus embraced will be subject more or less to disastrous 

 droughts, the frequency of which will diminish from west to east. For 

 convenience, let this be called the Sub-humid region. 



The eastern boundary of this sub-humid region passes west of the 

 isohyetal line of twenty-eight inches of rain-fall in Minnesota, running 

 approximately parallel to the western boundary, and including, accord- 

 ing to Maj. Powell, nearly one tenth of the whole area of the United 

 States, whilst the Arid region includes something more than four tenths 



* Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States by Maj. J. W. Powell, 

 Washington, 1878, page 3. Since the above was written Maj. Powell has been appointed 

 Director of the United States Geological Survey, in recognition of his eminent services,. 



