CONSERVATION 
391 
gasoline, and other articles of daily use. A broader use of 
the word includes our natural resources, such* as land, water, 
and mineral wealth, as well as the more personal ones. 
Conservation of land is being accomplished in three distinct 
ways, as follows: 
1. The Reclamation of Desert Land by Irrigation. — This 
is carried on in the western United States where the rainfall 
Figure 358. — Irrigating Ditch. 
is so scanty that only a few plants, especially adapted to 
extremely dry conditions (see page 371) can live. This 
region, although now a desert, lacks only water to make it 
productive. The water for irrigation is secured by building 
dams in suitable places and storing throughout the summer 
the water from spring freshets and melting snow on the 
mountain peaks. Closely connected with this phase of land 
conservation is dry farming , so called. This is possible as 
strains of wheat and other crops have been found which can 
