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Widtsoe, John Andreas, 1872-1952

"Dry-Farming : a System of Agriculture for Countries under a Low Rainfall"

This irrigation plant was under expert observation for
considerable time, and it was found to furnish sufficient water for
domestic use for one household, and irrigated in addition 61 olive
trees, 2 cottonwoods, 8 pepper trees, 1 date palm, 19 pomegranates,
4 grapevines, 1 fig tree, 9 eucalyptus trees, 1 ash, and 13
miscellancous, making a total of 87 useful trees, mainly
fruit-bearing, and 32 vines and bushes. (See Fig. 95.) If such a
result can be obtained with a windmill and with water ninety feet
below the surface under the arid conditions of Arizona, there should
be little difficulty in securing sufficient water over the larger
portions of the dry-farm territory to make possible beautiful
homesteads.
The dry-farmer should carefully avoid the temptation to decry
irrigation practices. Irrigation and dry-farming of necessity must
go hand in hand in the development of the great arid regions of the
world. Neither can well stand alone in the building of great
commonwealths on the deserts of the earth.



CHAPTER XVII
THE HISTORY OF DRY-FARMING


The great nations of antiquity lived and prospered in arid and
semiarid countries.


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