of almond, olive, apricot, oak, mesquite, honey locust, walnut, or other fruiting trees which could be planted out in the arroyos of the arid Southwest so that the sheep ranches of our own country might be dotted with productive trees in a manner identical to that of the Berbers who have dotted their sheep and goat ranches with olive trees and date palms. Enough of this has been done in Kansas to merit much more attention than it has received.[1]
Examination of the map will show (Fig. 136) that every continent has large areas of grass land or scrub land on which this is about the only possible form of agriculture.
The world needs immediately eighteen or more experiment stations whose staffs are experts in the breeding of desert trees.[2]</ref> Each of these stations would have on the average a million square miles of land to serve. Each station would possibly increase the productivity of at least fifty thousand square miles or thirty-two million acres. Suppose five dollars[3] per
- ↑ "Taking advantage of run-off water in order to give trees an increase in moisture over the natural fall is, as you doubtless conjecture, an old and common method. The Experiment Stations at Colby and Tribune have taken advantage of this, and it is quite the common thing in the parks. The park at Colby was planted for this purpose, and the trees have made very satisfactory growth. . . .
"The past twenty years I have visited every county in the state, and the forty western counties would have from five to twenty units and the average perhaps fifteen. The area would be harder to estimate. Probably a couple of acres for each location.
"The value of trees has been more from ornamental and esthetic points of view than from production of food. The mulberry and apricot are quite generally grown in the dry territory and produce some food. The black walnut is generally planted more for the production of nuts than for timber. Mulberry of course is not a high-class food, but it attracts the birds and is quite commonly planted." (Letter, Professor Albert Dickens, Horticulturist, Kansas State Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kansas, March 24, 1927.)
- ↑ In Alberta, Texas, Arizona, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Russia, Turkestan, northwest China, India, eastern Palestine, Turkey, Sudan, Rhodesia, Cape Colony, North Australia, and South Australia. See map. (Fig. 136.)
- ↑ These trees would have to be scattered over wide areas. This would enhance their value exactly as the value of the irrigated land of western North America is enhanced by the fact that it is scattered. As the irrigated land is chiefly in alfalfa, the haystacks scattered over a million square
