On the whole, it may be most wise to hold the question an open one whether the water supply of the lake has been increased by a climatic change or by human agency. So far as we now know, neither theory is inconsistent with the facts, and it is possible that the truth includes both. The former appeals to a cause that may perhaps be adequate, but is not independently known to exist. The latter appeals to causes known to exist but quantitatively undetermined. It is gratifying to turn to the economic bearings of the question, for the theories best sustained by facts are those most flattering to the agricultural future of the Arid Region. If the filling of the streams and the rise of the lake were due to a transient extreme of climate, that extreme would be followed by a return to a mean condition, or perhaps by an oscillation in the opposite direction, and a large share of the fields now productive would be stricken by drought and returned to the desert. If the increase of water supply is due to a progressive change of climate forming part of a long cycle, it is practically permanent, and future changes are more likely to be in the same advantageous direction than in the opposite. The lands now reclaimed are assured for years to come, and there is every encouragement for the work of utilizing the existing streams to the utmost. And finally, if the increase of water supply is due to the changes wrought by the industries of the white man, the prospect is even better. Not only is every gain of the present assured for the future, but future gain may be predicted. Not alone are the agricultural facilities of this district improving, but the facilities in the whole Rocky Mountain Region are improving and will improve. Not only does the settler incidentally and unconsciously enhance his natural privilege, but it is possible, by the aid of a careful study of the subject, to devise such systematic methods as shall render his work still more effectual. FARMING WITHOUT IRRIGATION. The general rule that agriculture in Utah is dependent on artificial irrigation finds exception in two ways. First, there are some localities naturally irrigated; and, second, there is at least one locality of which the local climate permits dry farming. Along the low banks of many streams there are fertile strips of land. The soil is in every such case of a porous nature, and water from the stream percolates laterally and rises to the roots of the plants. Nearly all such lands are flooded in spring time, and they are usually devoted to hay as an exclusive crop; but some of them are above ordinary floods and are suited for other uses. It rarely happens, however, that they are farmed without some irrigation, for the reason that the use of the convenient water render the harvest more secure and abundant.