FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VIII. 661 



position of the deposit. If we could have been at the starting point of 

 the glacier, and seen with what the great ice ship was being loaded be- 

 fore it began its voyage, we would know what would be the product of 

 that cargo when ground to impalpable powder and deposited to form our 

 soil. That not being possible, we try to follow its trail from here to its 

 start, it seems to have come from the narthwest, or from the Klondike 

 region, but probably not so far. We can find some of what seems to be 

 fragments and remnants of unmanufactured parts of the cargo that have 

 been dropped along the way, and they seem to be mostly granite, some 

 quartzite or similar material. The quartzite would yield sand and possibly 

 some potash in combination with silex, but no other element of fertility. 

 As the soil of this part of Iowa is all the product of this drift, it seems 

 probable that potash would be an abundant element in the soil and that 

 the other mineral element, phosphorous, is in very scant supply, and, if 

 the hypothesis of formation is correct, it is difficult to account for the 

 presence of any phosphorous. It is possible that some of the synthetic 

 methods in Nature's laboratory may be such as to produce it by some 

 process of combination or interchange, but in the present state of human 

 knowledge it seems to be impossible. The conclusion seems to be forced 

 upon us that our soil in its virgin condition was very deficient in the 

 phosphoric element. The course of husbandry in the past has been such 

 as to rapidly diminish the already small supply and exhaust the avail- 

 able portions of it. The countless trains of cars on every railroad were 

 loaded down with the products of our farms, sold at such prices as to 

 give away their fertility for the opportunity to get partly paid for the 

 labor of taking it out of the soil and putting it aboard. The old story 

 of the woman who killed her goose that laid the golden eggs has been 

 considered an extreme exemplification of improvident greed, but it 

 has remained for the western farmer on this fair prairie land to equal 

 if not outdo her. Repeated cropping with no return of any of the ele- 

 ments of fertility is rapidly reducing our yield per acre. What shall be 

 done? Growing clover seems to act as a stimulant, but it seems to me 

 a fatal mistake to use stimulus unless it is accompanied by an addition 

 of such other elements as are in scant supply. A whip maj' stimulate a 

 strong but lazy horse, but it will not strengthen a weak beast or restore 

 an exhausted one. The stimulating effect of clover will probably enable 

 us to more rapidly and completely exhaust the store of fertility than we 

 can without it, but is it desirable to do so? If the mineral elements are 

 in sufficient supply, clover will probably give great help in making a 

 large crop, but only in this case. Observation by others may disprove 

 the fact of diminished yield, but I think it will confirm instead of disprov- 

 ing it. If it be true, the course of husbandry ought to be modified to 

 suit the conditions, or means taken to modify the conditions. Some 

 farmers may find the first the better course, for others the second may 

 be best; it depends both upon the farm and the farmer. If you ask how 

 this is to be done I can at present only reply, I do not know. Some of 

 the most difficult questions start off with a how. 



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