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In the lower Valley and in the densely wooded regions the rainfall is large for all the seasons, and the difference for the seasons not very great; but when the point is reached where the average fall of the year begins to decrease, in about the same degree does the amount of precipitation for the fall and winter diminish, leaving the spring and summer rainfall tolerably near a constant quantity. This law applies particularly to the region between western Indiana and the mountains. It, however, requires a broad average both of surface and of years, there being important variations for special localities and years. But for this law of rains the vast plains of the upper western Valley would be a real desert. Were the rains there equally distributed through all the seasons the amount falling in the productive seasons would not be sufficient for the grasses and grains.

Precipitation of rain may be materially increased by planting trees. They do not refuse to grow when introduced and cared for by man, and a considerable modification in the dryness of the western regions is possible. The long rivers that flow from the mountains across these dry plains to the central Valley furnish the means of irrigating over a large portion of the best lands, which, with attention to forest growth, will ultimately introduce very great and favorable changes in the extreme west and northwest of the Valley.

Russia, in Europe, and the Valley of the Amazon, in South America, have points in common with the Mississippi Valley, and are destined to exert a great influence on the future of mankind. It will be interesting to compare them and see in what points our Valley excels.

Russia is a vast plain, stretching from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea. It has, to some extent, the character of a shallow trough, there being mountains on the east and higher regions at the north and south of its western boundary, with an opening between, which includes the Baltic Sea and the Northern Plains of Germany. On the southeast the Ural

Mountains melt into a plain that extends across Siberia. From north to south, through 2,000 miles, there is a gradual descent to the Black Sea. The extreme north has an arctic climate and vegetation; below that is a vast forest, more or less marshy. A cold and rigorous climate extends far down the slope. The lower half is largely occupied by treeless plains called steppes-closely resembling the prairies of the Mississippi Valley.

Instead of being a grand unity in diversity, in which the north and south temper each other, it is rather an assemblage of contrasts. Dry and warm in the south, it is wet and cold in the north. The geological formations have as little unity. The best soil is in the lower interior, and not in the best region to secure the largest results. There are many long streams flowing southward, but not in a single system, with a great central trunk, like the Mississippi. It has very great resources, part of the soil being extremely fruitful and very little of it absolutely barren, but it fails to be well distributed. It has great mineral resources in the Urals and large quantities of coal, but far away from the most populous regions and commercial centers. Thus with great advantages are coupled embarrassing extremes and difficulties of position and relations not known in the Great Valley.

The Valley of the Amazon is more than a third larger than that of the Mississippi proper, and excels it in the unity and extent of its river system. It descends gently 3,000 miles from the watershed of the Andes to the Atlantic. Some of the head waters of the Amazon are said to be within 60 miles of the Pacific shore. It has a fertile soil and is provided with a deep and soft layer of fine earth over its upper rocks, believed by Agassiz the product of a vast glacier, like that which furnished the drift of our upper Valley. This is doubted by other geologists, but it is remarkably useful however produced. This great Valley is extremely well watered; the cloud-bearing winds from the Atlantic, entering its eastern opening, de

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posit their precious burden over its whole extent,and yield their last reserve to the chill air of the Andes, whence it flows in innumerable streams down the fertile slope to swell the Amazon. The relations of this Valley with the Basin of the Orinoco, on the north, are such as almost to unite the two, and the pampas and llanos of the northern and southern interior find a natural outlet by the Amazon.

It is extremely fruitful, the soil being abundantly good. But with all these extreme advantages, and others that might be mentioned, it must be ranked below the Valley of the Mississippi by its very exaggerations. It lies under the equator through its greatest length, and though described as more moderate in temperature and healthfulness than night be expected, it has an eternal summer, and the vegetable kingdom displays a power and luxuriance that will long remain uncontrolled by man. Abundant moisture, abundant heat, and a consequent extremely rich and stimulating vegetable mold unfit it, for the most part, for the production of concentrated fruits and grains. Tropical fruits, valuable woods, and many extraordinary medicinal and economical products abound. It furnishes much that is of value to general commerce, but nature is not controllable. She has, as it were, taken the bits between her teeth. She is here wild and untamable, to a large extent, and declines the faithful service to man that is so eminent a feature of the sister Valley of North America. She furnishes remarkable sources of wealth to a civilization firmly established and harmoniously developed by the help of a wide range of the most useful resources and under the invigorating climate of the temperate zone. The enervating heat, the spontaneous fruits which supply nearly all the immediate necessities of man with little labor, and the difficulty of acquiring any measure of control over the energies of nature render this extraordinary Valley unfavorable to the development of the elements of civilization. It depresses instead of stimulating the mental and moral energies lodged in

humanity. It was a magnificent inheritance for the Portuguese, but has embarrassed rather than aided their progress during the three hundred years and more that it has been in their possession.

All things considered, the Valley of the Mississippi has many points of great superiority to any other region in the world. In particular things some regions are more highly favored; but for the avoidance of extremes in every point of view, united with the most solid and comprehensive resources, it is unrivalled. The value of these is enhanced by such a location as to greatly assist the progressive development of the highest form of civilization known to man. The climate, the Lake and River systems and the Gulf unite with the form. of the Valley, the structure of the mountains, the general relations to other parts of the continent and the world, to give the greatest possible value to the products of its soils and

mines.

All these circumstances combined with the social and political condition of Europe to select for it, at the right time, the most desirable population that could have been found. Industrious, intelligent and enterprising, they brought the mature results of European civilization and thought to the development of the institutions and industries of this broad and rich alluvial plain. These fortunate coincidences tend to make the most of all the resources of the Valley, but especially of its agricultural capacities. They are seen to offer a solid foundation for national development. Every other form of industry is more or less fluctuating; this is steady and sure. Its slow and laboriously earned gains exert a more healthy influence on character than the alternate profusion and painful straits-the ebb and flow of success-in commerce, manufactures, and trade.

Abundance is easily secured without excessive, slavish toil, yet requires steady physical application, under the direction of intelligence, in a healthy and inspiring climate. A mine

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of the precious metals, a branch of manufacture, a line of commerce may, by intelligent energy and skill, soon be exhausted with great temporary results; but a painful, disorganizing reaction follows. The agricultural resources of the Valley are for all time, and useless beyond the immediate supply of human wants-a steady perennial spring, to become, in time, a powerful stream for the comfort of mankind.