184 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Stockman and Farmer," but I fought it out, and I want to tell you 

 that the way to put productivity back on that farm is to put humus 

 there. You may talk all you want about the air being four-fifths 

 nitrogen, and your potash and your phos]»horus; I know that when 

 I have the humus in the soil I can hold tlie moisture when Brother 

 Bond has the heat; and I know that when I have these I can raise 

 clover and get a better nitrogen tlian you can buy, and something 

 that will produce a better humus, and retain the moisture. I found 

 the other day, on the front page of the Presbyterian Banner, a pic- 

 ture of an ancient dam; through the archway you can see the ruins 

 of an ancient city. I started to tear it up, when my attention was 

 attracted by the picture; over the top of the arcliway the stones had 

 crumbled, and vegetation had begun to grow. That soil that had been 

 blown there had humus in it, and vegetation began to sprout. Tlie 

 best way is to go back and let Nature help you. My boy has put 

 down a field in corn this spring that had been in alfalfa for fifteen 

 years; we had cut alfalfa from it three times every summer; that 

 field has never been manured ; it has never had any commercial fer- 

 tilizer, and yet it is a better field for corn today tlian it was fifteen 

 years ago. Why? Because that soil has humus in it. 



Prof. Hopkins and some of those Illinois people have been telling 

 folks that land in Illinois is worth .f400 an acre. That may be, but 

 I would rather have a four huiidied dollar man on twenty dollar 

 land, than a twenty dollar man on four hundred dollar land. Given 

 the man, he will make the land — or he will ruin it by taking oflf of it 

 more than he puts back. 



T want this plant food because I want to make that home better 

 and better, so that we may keep our boys and girls on the farm. We 

 heard about it yesterday. Tliere is no use in going over it again. 

 But I want to tell you, my dear hearers, that boys and girls have 

 poodle dogs beaten a mile, so far as I am concerned. That is why I 

 want an acre to produce more, and I can do more than I could a j^ear 

 ago, because I have Nature on my side. 



HOW NATUEE MAKES SOIL 



By J. T. CAMPBELL, Hartstown, Pa. 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:! think most of you will re- 

 joice that I am not going to make my speech at this time. It was 

 not prepared for this Institute, and it consists chiefly of lantern 

 slides. Since it is so close and warm, and it will be necessary to 

 close up the room and darken it to deliver this talk, I will not in- 

 flict it upon you at this time. I will simply talk to you for a few 

 minutes on some experimental impressions that have come to me 

 in my work. 



