Few people have any good idea of the enormous productiveness of desert soil when a little water starts it into life. Dry soil, as is well known to those who have had experience with earth-closets, is a wonderful absorbent of nitrogen. The dry earth on the deserts absorbs nitrogen from the atmosphere till the ground is one grand hot-bed of manure. When by irrigation, or light rains, vegetation can get a start, the crops surpass belief. In Utah 600 bushels of onions, 900 bushels of potatoes and 1200 bushels of carrots have been obtained from an acre of ground for each. Twenty-four millions pounds of potatoes have already been shipped from Salt Lake City this season.