FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 703 



grown on the range. Alfalfa requires baling. It is bulky, and it costs 

 about as much to ship it from the west to central Iowa as the grower re- 

 ceives for growing it. Hence we have an increasing number of alfalfa 

 fed cattle, which still further decreases the supply of feeders for the 

 eastern market. In other words, an increasing number of the cattle 

 grown on the range will be fed in the irrigated sections, and what corn is 

 needed shipped out to them, rather than ship the alfalfa hay farther east. 

 The great reason why farmers will be obliged to grow more cattle, 

 however, is the necessity of maintaining soil fertility. We may talk 

 as' we like about good farming, about intensive farming, about com- 

 mercial fertilizers, and all that; but it is not possible to maintain soil 

 fertility without maintaining a supply of vegetable matter in the soil. 

 This can be done only by giving back to it, in the form of grass roots, 

 grass and manure, what passes away in the process of cultivation. For 

 the more we cultivate the land, the quicker we destroy the humus ma- 

 terial in it, and hence render it impossible for the plant to utilize the 

 fertility that remains. For vegetable matter is required in order to en- 

 able the land to hold moisture, to withstand drouth, and to keep it in 

 such physical condition that the plant roots can use the plant food in the 

 soil. 



It is possible, we know, to grow green crops and turn them under, and 

 still maintain soil fertility, provided the manurial supply is maintained; 

 but, practically, where this is done it must be by growing grass, grazing 

 cattle, feeding them on the farm, and hauling out the manure. This in 

 itself will not maintain soil fertility forever. This old planet of ours is 

 wearing out, and nations like England, that have maintained soil fer- 

 tility, have been buying plant food from other nations and conserving 

 them as well as conserving their own. England buys guano from Chile, 

 buys our grains and cottonseed meal, grinds up the bones of mummied 

 cats in the tombs of ancient Egypt, brings grain from all parts of the 

 world, and thus maintains her fertility. 



Theoretically, the fertility of every nation in the world is bound to 

 wear out sooner or later, where they have sewage systems such as we 

 have in civilized countries. Therefore, it is all the more important that 

 we maintain the vegetable matter in our soils, quit soil robbing, and 

 get down to real farming. We know of no way that this can be done 

 practically and effectively without growing more cattle. 



If Iowa were to ship her entire corn crop onto the market, it would 

 demoralize that market. We must feed the great bulk of our corn on the 

 farm. We have in the past, so the government tells us, been feeding 

 80 per cent of it. We should feed 90 per cent. But how are we to 

 get the cattle to feed without growing them? 



This may seem to our readers like mere speculation, theory, anticipa- 

 tion of dangers that do not seem to them imminent or likely to come 

 soon. But if they will simply revert to their own experience; if they 

 will notice a soil destitute of vegetable matter, that puddles in a wet 

 time and bakes in a dry time, and is regarded as worn out; if they will 

 notice how bad weeds grow on these partially worn-out lands; if they 

 will keep their eyes open as to what is going on around them; if they 



