628 



CONSERVATION 



tise of raping the earth of its timber has 

 no defense, not only in economics, but 

 also none in moral obligation. In mak- 

 ing this statement, I make no imputa- 

 tion as to whether the fault lies with 

 the timberman or with society in gen- 

 eral. 



I hope that the irrigation people 

 realize their obligation to the society 

 that makes it possible for them to de- 

 velop their irrigation systems. Not 

 every person in the Nation agrees to 

 the wisdom of national reclamation, but 

 society has given it the trial. The peo- 

 ple in the West are interested in devel- 

 oping their localities and their common- 

 wealths, and in securing settlers to 

 them ; and with this feeling we all must 

 sympathize. I have no fear that the 

 irrigation settlement of the West will 

 set up disastrous competition in prod- 

 ucts with the East ; the areas involved 

 in the new irrigation projects are too 

 small and the development too slow for 

 that. But there is danger that the pro- 

 ducing power of the land may not be 

 safeguarded. The very fact that irriga- 

 tion farming is intensive increases the 

 danger. From an agricultural point of 

 view, the greatest weakness in this 

 farming is the fact that the animal, or 

 live stock, does not occupy a large place 

 in the system. Other systems of main- 

 taining fertility must be developed. 



Society has a right to ask that you 

 be careful of your irrigated valleys. 

 They are abounding in riches. It is 

 easy to harvest these riches by the 

 simple magic of water. You will be 

 tempted to waste these riches and the 

 time will come quickly when you will 

 be conscious of their decline. This 

 seems remote to you now, but the dan- 

 ger is real. Not even the fertility of 

 the irrigation waters will maintain the 

 land in the face of poor agricultural 

 practise. 



It is the flat valleys of the great arid 

 West that will be opened by irrigation. 

 These valleys are small areas compared 

 with the uplands, the hills, and the un- 

 irrigable regions. Society is interested, 

 also, that you be careful of your up- 

 lands and hills, for in the arid regions 

 they give small yield in forage and in 



timber ; this forage and timber must be 

 most thoughtfully protected. When the 

 irrigated lands begin to decline you can- 

 not fall back on your hills. 



I am not saying that irrigation- 

 farming is proceeding in a wasteful 

 way, or that systems are not developing 

 that will protect society ; I am calling 

 your attention to the danger and to the 

 interest of all the people in this danger ; 

 and I hope that you may profit by the 

 errors of all new settlements thus far 

 made in the history of the world. 



We are everywhere in need of better 

 agriculture, not only that every agricul- 

 turist may do a better business, but 

 also that agriculture may contribute its 

 full share to the making of a better civ- 

 ilization. Here and there, as we learn 

 how to adapt ourselves to the order of 

 nature, we begin to see a really good 

 agriculture in the process of making. 

 A good agriculture is one that is self- 

 sustaining and self-perpetuating, not 

 only increasing its yields year after year 

 from the same land, but leaving the 

 land better and richer at each genera- 

 tion. This must come to pass from the 

 land itself and from the animals and 

 crops that one naturally brings to the 

 land, and not by the addition of mined 

 fertilizing materials brought from the 

 ends of the earth. Thus far in history, 

 it is only when the virgin fatness is 

 coming to be used up, speaking broadly, 

 that we put our wits to work. Then 

 the rebound comes. The best agricul- 

 ture thus far has developed only after 

 we have struck bottom, and we begin a 

 constructive efifort rather than an ex- 

 ploitive efifort ; and this comes in a 

 mature country. 



This is why so great a part of the 

 European agriculture is so much better 

 than our own, and why, in old New 

 England, such expert and hopeful farm- 

 ing is now beginning to appear. The 

 East is in an epoch of rebound. The 

 East is in the process of becoming more 

 fertile ; the West is in the process of 

 becoming less fertile. In western North 

 America the business systems have been 

 developed to great perfection, and the 

 people are possessed of much activity 

 and are so far escaped from tradition 



