John Andreas Widtsoe demonstrates an immense knowledge of soil and farming conditions; much of the advice in this classic manual remains useful and relevant to this day. An excellent collection of knowledge is united in this guidebook, which commences by setting out the concept and core principles of dry farming. Much of the Earth is covered by land which receives only modest rainfall each year; coupled with a lack of an underground water source and/or water rights, many landowners found themselves having to grow crops with dry farming methods. Widtsoe was one such farmer, and his knowledge of the land's properties would prove decisive in his success. The properties and composition of the soil are crucial in deciding what crops to grow, making maximum use of limited water resources in an unirrigated plot by encouraging the soil's water retention, and sowing seeds with methods to maximize germination are all important aspects of running a dry farm.

Written by John Andreas Widtsoe, noted author, scientist, and an academic, this work is the first attempt to gather and arrange the known facts of science in their link to the production of plants, without irrigation, in areas with very little rainfall. The needs of genuine farmers have been kept in mind, those farmers who must first understand all the regulations, before their procedures can be completely satisfactory. It is hoped that the enlarging group of dry-farm investigators will also be helped by this representation of the principles of dry-farming. Widtsoe states in the preface. "The subject is now growing so rapidly that there will soon be room for two classes of treatment: one for the farmer, and one for the technical student." This book was written with help from large libraries, and the material was drawn from the available sources of that time. Widtsoe became the director of the Agricultural Experiment Station at Utah State Agricultural College in 1900.

As the world population grows, so does the demand for food, putting unprecedented pressure on agricultural lands. In many desert dryland regions, however, intensive cultivation is causing their productivity to decline precipitously. "Rewilding" the least productive of these landscapes offers a sensible way to reverse the damage, recover natural diversity, and ensure long-term sustainability of remaining farms and the communities they support. This accessibly written, groundbreaking contributed volume is the first to examine in detail what it would take to retire eligible farmland and restore functioning natural ecosystems. The lessons in Rewilding Agricultural Landscapes will be useful to conservation leaders, policymakers, groundwater agencies, and water managers looking for inspiration and practical advice for solving the complicated issues of agricultural sustainability and water management.

The mid-third millennium is marked by unprecedented urban growth from Egypt and the Levantine coast to the Iranian plateau and the Indus valley. Although urbanization in the southern Mesopotamian alluvium is reasonably well understood, details of the emergence of cities in other regions remain sketchy. When did cities first appear on the dry-farming plains of Syria and Mesopotamia and what accounts for their development? How might northern urbanization be a response to or in what ways might urbanization in the two regions reflect independent social and economic processes? Recent excavations provide new data that force reconsideration of ancient urbanization within the dry-farming zone along the interior of the Zagros-Taurus arc in Syria and Iraq. The essays in this volume, which grew out of a symposium hosted by the American Schools of Oriental Research in Chicago in December 1984, specifically treat third-millennium urbanization in the dry-farming zones of Syria and Iraq. The contrast of north and south informs each essay, and this focus points to additional issues and problems likely to dominate future archaeological research agendas.