Even as it is, I expect a great deal of it will be redeemed by scientific irrigation.

The soil only needs water to become inexhaustibly productive.

Our desert, as you know, is not sand, like parts of the Sahara; it has all the ingredients that go to nourish plants, only their present powdery condition makes them unavailable.

Now, I can, to-day, buy a hundred square miles of desert for a few dollars.

You see the point, don't you ?" "And all you want is expert opinion as to the likelihood of finding water ?" "The man who solves that question for me in the affirmative is welcome to half my share of the results that would ensue from it." "Why don't you engage some expert to investigate ?" "One can't always trust an expert.