Intensive Cultivation. 67 



only this but all after expenses will be fully returned, with a handsome sum 

 for me for the use of the land and my care in superintending its cultivation; 

 and it is rare, indeed, that I am mistaken. But suppose I wish to sow the 

 same land with wheat, and incur the same expense in its preparation and 

 after cultivation— what then ? Well, if I persisted in repeating the opera- 

 tion, my friends, if I had any, would doubtless consider me a fit candidate 

 for the nearest lunatic asylum, and act accordingly. Still, the same prin- 

 ciple applies in both cases, although the practice must be very different. 



Hence, we see the necessity of a wide and extensive knowledge of soils, 

 climates, seasons, variety of crops, and their adaptation to and wants in dif- 

 ferent localities and circumstances. In fact, it seems tome that no other 

 profession in life needs so varied and extensive an education, or such an 

 almost endless amount of good judgment and every-day common sense, as 

 does the cultivation of the soil, provided you expect to be truly successful in 

 your business. 



It will hardly be expected, in the short time allowed me upon this oc- 

 casion, that I should do more than to briefly hint at a very few of the lead- 

 ing principles to be observed by those of us who intend to follow this system 

 of cultivation. 



A question of first importance is the soil. It must be good. We have 

 all heard a great deal of talk about the inexhaustible fertility of the soil of 

 the great west and northwest. It is a glorious and magnificent country. I 

 yield to none in my admiration of its soil, climate and general advantages ; 

 yet I say to you in sober earnestness that, after seeing millions of acres of, 

 I believe, as good land as the sun shines upon, I never yet saw a forty-acre 

 tract that I considered good enough for me to cultivate for any length of 

 time without artificial fertilization. It is true that these millions of acres 

 will yield fair crops of various kinds for many years ; but I am not satisfied 

 with fair crops, and you ought not to be. 



Artificial fertilization is by no means all that is needed. There are 

 many millions of acres of first class lands in our country that are utterly 

 useless for cultivation unless thoroughly drained. There are many millions 

 more, now under cultivation, that can not, by any amount of manure, be 

 made to do one-half of what they are capable of doing until thoroughly un- 

 derdrained. 



One thing more is needed ; that is, a most thorough and complete system 

 of cultivation. These are some of the necessities, if any system of " intensive 

 cultivation ' is to be followed. 



It has been more than hinted to me that, in regard to artificial fertiliza- 

 tion, California will prove to be an exception; that her system of irrigation 

 wherever a full supply of water can be had will, with cultivation, prove all 

 that is necessary to enable her cultivators to grow verj'- large crops for an 

 indefinite length of time. I am not quite willing to let this statement go 

 unchallenged. 



That wonderful valley of the Nile, called Egypt, is the only spot upon 



