135 



Are those wonderful wheat hinds of .Minnesota and the Dakotas, where I 

 gathered the buffalo bones from before the plow that turned the virgin sod- 

 are thev producint; smaller erops of wheat than twenty years ago? 



To all of these (luestions men who know the facts and conditions have 

 answered yes. , 



In this convention of representatives from American agricultural colleges 

 and e.xiK'riment stations, it seems not inappropriate even to remind ours(>lves 

 that, without agriculture, America is nothing. 



The fori'st and the earth supply the timber, the stone, and the metal to l)Uild 

 and equip railroad and factory and the fuel tt) operate mill and locomotive, but 

 directly or indirectly these great industries are absolutely dependent upon 

 agriculture for their "continued existence. Without agriculture the fon'st trees 

 would be left to grow. th(> coal and iron would remain in the earth, the cities 

 and the railroads would i>e abandoned, and the people must return to hunting 

 and fishini.'. tlii' industries which preceded agriculture. 



It is true that an intensive agriculture ctmsisting of dairying, fruit growing, 

 and truck farming may be supiiorted by large cities, which, however, derive their 

 support largely from" the trade and connnerce related to the more extensive 

 agriculture of newer regions. 



It is also true that the farm manure produced in Europe from the shiploads 

 of corn and other products from American farms, suiiplcmented by commercial 

 fertilizers, made in large part from American pliosi)liate rock, will materially 

 assist in maintaining the agriculture of snnie i:nroi)ean countries. 



We must bear in mind, however, that the United States can never hope to 

 draw n|>nn her colonies nor upon foreign countries for unlimited quantities of 

 food and fertilizer; and even now we must recognize the fact of a decreasing 

 productive capacity of large areas of the best lands in our richest agricultural 



States. " ,.,.... 



Are there possible systems of profitable permanent agriculture of unlimitea 



application? 



The dairy system of farming, in which only butter is sold from the farm, 

 maintains the "fertility of the soil if all nther products or residues are properly 

 returned to the land:" but the application of this system is exceedingly limited, 

 because the world can not live on butter alone. 



If milk or meat is sold and concentrated feeds are purchased, we can not 

 onlv maintain, but increase, the fertility of the soil; but all farmers can not 

 purchase unlimited (inantities of concentrated feeds from their neighbors and 

 make use of the manures thus afforded upon their own farms, nor will the world 

 live upon meat and dairy products only. 



Probablv 80 per cent of the farmers of the I'nited States sell wheat or corn 

 or cotton, "and probably they always will; and let no man presume that he has 

 found permanent salvation "for American agriculture until he has provided some 

 ade(iuate means for the profitable maintenance of the ])roductive capacity of 

 those farms which are to snpi)ly the world with l)read and clothing. 



There is a system by which we can keep what we have, a system which may 

 sometime be forced vipon America as it has already forced itself upon such 

 countries as China, a system which requires that every farm product be 

 followed to its nltimate consumption and every residue brought back, a system 

 which reciuires the country women of China to carry their produce to market 

 and exchange it in part for the night soil of the village, which has been care- 

 fully saved for its fertility value and which must be carried back to the farm. 



May this necessity be far removed from the country of whose fertility we 

 are the guardians ! • ,^ . 



In considering the question of permanent agriculture, I am not uumindtul 

 of the fundamental principle announced by tlie Bureau of Soils, namely, that 

 "practically all soils contain sufficient plant food for good crop yields," and that 

 "this supply will be indetinitely maintained," toward the demonstration of 

 which somecontributions are being made l)y means of carbon black and other 

 nonnutrient materials in twenty-day pot culture experiments; but this asser- 

 tion has not vet been proved, and we still feel obliged to accept the more con- 

 clusive evidence of such exact sciences as chemistry and mathematics and the 

 scientific experiments of half a century and the practical experience of ages, 

 regarding the possible depletion of tlie fertility of soils. 



It is of course true, in theory, that while the length of a quarter section of 

 land is one-half mile and its width is one-half mile, its depth is 4.000 miles. In 

 practice however, we are limited to a few feet in depth. There is a depth 

 varying with different conditions, from below which crops draw less plant food 



