In the notes Baduchi had lent Joseph, it was written: Agriculture was an alchemy.
This was completely different from what Joseph knew—that alchemy was the precursor to chemistry.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the movement to restore Israel began to rise, but it was almost impossible to achieve, because most of Israel's territory lay in arid desert. Without water, it could not support a large population.
By the 1920s, British economists predicted that Jewish immigration to the Middle East to establish a state was unsustainable. The rapidly growing population would soon exhaust the water needed for agriculture and other purposes.
Limited water resources and a fragile ecosystem meant that the dream of restoring Israel would remain only a dream. At the same time, because the Jews' nation-building would encroach upon their land, the Arabs were deeply hostile toward them. The British also wanted to occupy the region, and because British police and soldiers protected the Jews during attacks, they suffered along with them. Thus, the Prime Minister at the time, Chamberlain, issued a white paper restricting the number of European immigrants to Pakistan to no more than 75,000 over five years.
At the time, the Nazis were sweeping across Europe. Many persecuted Jews were desperate to flee Europe and seek refuge in Israel. Moreover, British economists predicted that Israel could accommodate only two million people. Places were limited; if they missed their chance, there would be no more.
From the issuance of the white paper until the end of the war, the restorationists had devoted themselves to solving one problem—unlocking the potential of water resources. To do that, they needed new ways of thinking to change existing patterns of water use. Thus, drip irrigation emerged.
Since the beginning of civilization, humanity had irrigated crops through flood irrigation, which