One result of the reclamation and utilisation of large areas of the arid lands through irrigation will probably be the increase of the rainfall in the sub-humid regions adjoining, to an extent which will render them far more valuable and reliable for the cultivation of the cereal crops. Most of the above acreage is already in private ownership, but as ditch companies hold large areas obtained through the desert law, or purchased from railroad companies, it can be bought at reasonable prices, on long-time payments. A conservative estimate of the amount of land under ditch is about 25,000,000 acres, and probably one-half of that is under cultivation. Statistics gathered by the Government experts in the last census make the average expense of reclamation $8.15 per acre. The first ditches were built close along streams where the land was comparatively level, and the cost was merely nominal, but in some of the later projects, embracing immense reservoirs and concrete aqueducts, the expense has been $100 per acre. The reclaimable lands not yet under ditch will necessitate much more difficult engineering, and will raise the average price per acre of reclamation very considerably. The average annual return from irrigated lands, according to the census, is $14.87 per This is much lower than it should be, as grass and pasturage lands are included in the estimate. Even that figure is, however, at least three times the average return of all the farms in the country cultivated without irrigation. The value of irrigated lands will soon become so great that in the near future the large ranches now devoted to pasturage and cereal crops will be divided into small holdings, when intensified farming will more than double the annual productiveness, and the estimated average value of $83 per acre. acre. Riverside, Cal., may be taken as an example of what irrigation will accomplish. The land, in 1870, was rated at $1 per acre. About $100 per acre was expended in bringing water to the lands. It is estimated that the annual return from the citrus orchards is from $200 to $300 per acre, and they have frequently sold as high as $1,000 per acre. Near Fresno, Cal., unimproved sage brush land, under ditch with |