annually; 61 per cent, or a little more than three fifths, is
semiarid and receives between 10 and 20 inches, annually, and about
17 per cent, or a little less than one fifth, is arid and receives
less than 10 inches of rainfall, annually.

These calculations are based upon the published average rainfall
maps of the United States Weather Bureau. In the far West, and
especially over the so-called "desert" regions, with their sparse
population, meteorological stations are not numerous, nor is it easy
to secure accurate data from them. It is strongly probable that as
more stations are established, it will be found that the area
receiving less than 10 inches of rainfall annually is considerably
smaller than above estimated. In fact, the United States Reclamation
Service states that there are only 70,000,000 acres of desert-like
land; that is, land which does not naturally support plants suitable
for forage. This area is about one third of the lands which, so far
as known, at present receive less than 10 inches of rainfall, or
only about 6 per cent of the total dry-farming territory.

In any case, the semiarid area is at present most vitally interested
in dry-farming. The sub-humid area need seldom suffer from drouth,
if ordinary well-known methods are employed; the arid area,
receiving less than 10 inches of rainfall, in all probability, can
be reclaimed without irrigation only by the development of more
suitable. methods than are known to-day. The semiarid area, which is
the special consideration of present-day dry-farming represents an
area of over 725,000,000 acres of land. Moreover, it must be
remarked that the full certainty of crops in the sub-humid regions
will come only with the adoption of dry-farming methods; and that
results already obtained on the edge of the "deserts" lead to the