6 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ' Off. Doc. 



few years ago tine crops ol' corn, wheat and otliei- cereal.s were 

 j^iown, tannin}^ is being wolnlly ncf^lected. Tlie former owners of 

 (lie land liave sold their farms to niinin<>; comi)anies who are takin«; 

 out the coal with which it is underlaid, and but little attention is 

 bt'inj;' gi\en to the surface, which, iu many instances, is falliu<;' in, 

 Icavinj.;- the soil so broken up and uiieven as to render it impossible 

 of cultivation. Where the surface remains unbroken on account of 

 llie greater depth and more secuie covering of the coal, a want of 

 jiroper attention to the soil has resulted in the loss of vegetable 

 liuMius to such an extent that it is being rapidly washed away by 

 lieavy rai:;s and carried into running streams, from which it even 

 tually finds its way into the sea. Even where lands are kept under 

 i-i,.:-;ai;t ciiilivation aijd rcivSouabie care is taken to have grass 

 growing when the soil is not growing some other crop, there is 

 danger of great loss in this way, especially in the more hilly and 

 broken sections of the State. The soil upon steep hillsides cais, in 

 a ver^' few years, be entirely destroyed by careless cultivation. Iu 

 some countries of the old world, steep lands are terraced to prevent 

 waste by washing, and in our own country many of our most careful 

 farmers leave, at certain intervals, strips of land unplowed, run- 

 ning horizontally along the hillsides to break the current of water 

 resulting from heavy rains. 



But great as is the danger of soil destruction by the process 

 already referred to, it does not equal the depletion resulting from 

 unskillful and careless culti\ation. The lack of proper crop rota- 

 tion so arranged to preserve, as far as possible, a proper balance 

 of the food plant, as well as the vegetable humus of the soil, is 

 i« sponsible for a much more rapid exhaustion of its fertility than 

 cai! be attributed to the waste resulting from heavy rains. 

 A f( w years ago it was not an uncommon thing for farmers in the 

 \\ ( ^ Mu and Northwestern states to burn their stacks of straw 

 ins(<:id of returning the same to the land. They were accustomed 

 to say ''We need no manure and the easiest method for getting the 

 straw out of our way is to burn it." Nothing of this kind is heard 

 now; but on the contrary every prudent farmer is careful to get back 

 to the lanrl all vegetable matter that cannot be sold with profit. A 

 falling off from twenty to fifty per cent, in their crops in a period 

 of a few years was suflHcient warning that a change of method was 

 lU'cessary, and happily in most instances the warning was headed. 



The result of }>roper care, growing out of a sense of need, as seen 

 in some of the eastern counties of our own State, preseiit a very 

 great contrast with what has been referred to as existing but a few 

 years since in the West. - Many farms that have been under constant 

 cultivation for more than two centuries are to-day producing better 

 yields than ever before. 



I have directed attention to the great need of taking care of the 

 soil for the reason that T consitler it the most important question of 

 the f1av in which we live. The farmers of this country may be Justly 

 ]>roud of what they are doing for humanity. The reports of the 

 total farm products of the country for the last few years are large 

 enough to be almost bcAvildering. but the necessity to increase these 

 ]M-o(lucts is upon us. I?aj>id as is fhe increase of our farm produc- 

 lions. our i)0]iu]ation is gro\\ing more rajtidly si ill. We must not 

 only jnovide for our own people, but we must continue to help to 



