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lands on the east to the arid region on the west, from the semitropic glades of the south Gulf coast to the high plains of the interior, is to be found almost every variety of physical condition and of mechanical device for supplying needed water to the soil.

When we consider the State of Texas-in area nearly a tenth of the whole United States, and with a population less than that of the little State of Massachusetts, sparsely scattered even in the humid portion, with enormous areas of rich soil but poorly tilled-the question arises, Why should irrigation be practiced? Agriculture by this method is necessarily intensive farming-a method which should be practiced amid a dense population, and one where success is attained only by thorough tilling and careful attention to details. Why then should this be taken up in a State where fertile land is so cheap and where great areas have not been touched by the plow? The answer lies in the fact that many farmers are beginning to discover that larger profits can be made by carefully tilling a small area than by attempting to diffuse their efforts over plantations of considerable size, and that in order to produce the largest yield from a given outlay of time and labor it is necessary to insure the presence of sufficient moisture at the right time. This lesson, however, has not been universally learned. The education of the great majority of farmers or planters has been such as to make them adhere to old methods, and often it is only after object lessons have been many times repeated that they are willing to concede that their broad farming is not the most profitable.

Included within the State of Texas are lands upon which irrigation was practiced as early as, if not earlier than, in any other portion of the United States, and it would thus seem that this method of agriculture should have spread and be more generally practiced than it is. It is a fair question, Why, if irrigation is so profitable, has it not become the rule rather than the exception? The answer can probably be found in the character and training of the population and in the unfriendly attitude of the laws of the State toward the development of irrigation works. The very extent of the State-the enormous areas of land that might be had almost for the asking-has tended to make the farmer look down upon little methods and disregard the small economies and the attention to detail so essential in intensive agriculture. Thus the tendency has been to leave irrigation to the Mexican, who originally practiced it, and to regard it as something almost unworthy of the consideration of a "white man." The time has come, however, for a change in general sentiment. A more diversified farming has been introduced, together with better methods, brought in to a certain extent by immigration from other States. The rapid growth of the Territories to the northwest, which are dependent for their agriculture upon irrigation, has stimulated a desire and an endeavor to attain like results by similar means, and opportunities which before have been neglected are being seized upon.