260 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



top soil all the soluble elements which it contained; not only are 

 they inaccessible to the myriads of rootlets which are many inches 

 below^ seeking this available food, but they are exposed to 'the tor- 

 rents and floods of the first rain which carry them off to some lower 

 level. This soil ought to be caught in its descent to the sea. This 

 product is nature's richest gift to her sons of the soil. Ignored or 

 neglected, she returns it again to her vast treasury, the sea, there to 

 remain until she bestows it again upon a more provident race. This 

 rich soil covering has been mellowed by all the agencies that con- 

 tribute to a proper mechanical condition, and is saturated with the 

 soluble elements leeched out of the soil below and can be observed 

 on the side of any slope nearby the farm. This is a rich and cheap 

 fertilizer, than w'hich nothing is better, and it is the material to 

 which the late Col. James Young referred at one of your meetings, 

 when he declared that this was the fertilizer from w'hich he had the 

 best returns. He recovered in the winter time what the previous 

 year's rains had removed from his land. 



Of this slow, unnoticed removal of our soil covering all are vic- 

 tims. From all lands, from every tract, washes away immense possi- 

 bilities which must be arrested if w^e would prevent the ultimate ex- 

 haustion of our soil. For just as long as the natural processes con- 

 tinue, so long will this covering form and as promptly will it be re- 

 moved. If all our agriculturists would adopt Col. Young's method 

 they w^ould retain -the productiveness of their fields and prevent a 

 diminution in the agricultural value of the farms. The process of 

 cultivation, which we have already seen decreases evaporation of 

 the surface waters, contributes to prevent surface wash, for it ren- 

 ders a surface, which would otherwise be smooth, so rough that 

 the rains will penetrate the top mulch and enter into the interior. 



I believe that the present German system of assessment of agri- 

 cultural lands is based upon this principle, that certain rock forma- 

 tions produce soils of known fertility and porosity. A reasonable 

 amount of cultivation, but without the use of artificial fertilizers, 

 produces a given value of crop, and this represents the interest of 

 the capital which nature has supplied the farmer. The capital is 

 assessed. If the harvest does not reach the expected returns the 

 fault js with the farmer, not with nature. 



The amount of this wash is greater from an uncultivated soil than 

 from a thoroughly porous soil. It is greater from the rich limy 

 soils than from the porous, open, sandy soil. It is greater from 

 plowed than from spaded lands. (A mechanical subsoil spade, by 

 the way, W'ould be a desirable farm implement). It is greater on a 

 hillside than in the bottoms. Hence, in the west and northwest 

 portions of our State, where the lands are generally high, with the 

 rocks horizontal, the soil is subjected to but little wash, particularly 



