No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 17S 



not such as to contribute to the upbuilding of the soil, but rather 

 to its depletion. This has been the history of all countries, and is 

 the history of our country as well. Until within quite recent times, 

 our knowledge of the soil did not permit us to give advice to farmers 

 that would enable them to conserve or build up their fertility, be- 

 cause we did not know surely what was involved, and even now 

 we are but on the threshold of the knowledge that lies before. 



As an introduction to my subject, I desire first to present some 

 general considerations concerning what may be termed constructive 

 and destructive natural forces. The natural forces of sun, air, water 

 and temperature, and the principles upon which the science of 

 geology, of chemistry, of botany, of biology, and of physics are 

 based, are all concerned in the proper development of the farm, and 

 the true progress of the farmer, and have existed since the begin- 

 ning of time. Because these are facts, the methods of farming in 

 vogue from the earliest times to the present, and the methods 

 of today, have exerted, and still exert, an influence upon the devel- 

 opment, progress and happiness of all the people upon all the earth. 



Since the solid portion of the earth first appeared these forces 

 and others, seen and unseen, known and unknown, have been con- 

 stantly at work changing the character of its surface. These forces 

 have wrought by day and by night, in summer and in winter, in 

 sunshine and storm, but always and incessantly, and, as a result 

 of their action, there appeared upon the hard and rocky surface, 

 first, the humble lichen, then the more haughty gorse or furze, which, 

 in their way, became forces, too, and assisted these mighty unseen 

 w^orkers, until, in their task of world-building, the former rocky 

 surface of the earth, whether the mountain or valley, whether the 

 prairie or desert of today, became covered with the various forms 

 of vegetable life, each drawing its sustenance from the mineral and 

 organic matters, more or less broken down or decomposed, that 

 we call soil. This soil, which we now work, and which, if left to 

 nature again, would not produce crops that the farmer regards as 

 largely useful, with the possible exception of timber, yet a more 

 detailed study of the action of the.se natural forces when not directed 

 will, I think, give us some clue as to their value when controlled 

 and directed by human intelligence, wherever there is the purpose 

 to derive from such soil sustenance for man and beast. 



The tendency of our cultivated fields, if left to nature's way, 

 would be to cover them with growths of various sorts, and gradually 

 there would be accumulated substances that would provide more 

 favorable conditions for the growth and development of cultivated 

 plants. That is, the continuous occupation of the soil by growing 

 plants would, in the first place, hold the particles of soil together 

 and prevent their movement by mechanical means, and in the sec- 

 ond place, the growth of the plants themselves would cause a break- 

 ing up of hard and insoluble substances of that soil, making them 

 available to plants, and the organic matter accumulated and mixed 

 with the mineral substance would make the soils more absorptive, 

 and would prevent the rapid washing away of the soluble constit- 

 uents. Besides, because of its greater alDSorptive power, floods, 

 drouths and consequent barrenness and sterility would be largely 

 prevented. 



