INFLUENCE OF CHIPPEWA FOREST RESERVE ON THE LOCALITY, llj 



tackle, because of their lower standard of wants and greater 

 economy of labor, the whole family contributing- their efforts to 

 the farm work. But granted that the farmer in question is of a 

 type calculated to make the best use of the conditions which 

 confront him, what kind of soil must he have in order that his 

 presence and activity may be a benefit and not a detriment to the 

 community? 



This cannot be decided ofif hand. The main source of error 

 comes from considering transient conditions as permanent cofidi- 

 tions. A sandy soil, newly cleared and given plenty of moisture 

 will produce the most astonishing crops of grain, grass and espe- 

 cially of garden vegetables. This same soil cropped for a few 

 years may soon fall below the point of profitable production 

 of field crop, even in a rainy season, while in a dry season it 

 might give a complete failure. Sand if it receives abundant sup- 

 plies of manure and water produces abundantly, for the processes 

 of soil disintegration and the circulation 'of air and water in the 

 soil are rapid on account of its loose texture, and if the source of 

 fertility is supplied artificially it is rapidly made available for 

 the plant. These conditions apply to a vegetable garden near 

 town, which usually receives fertilizers, and it is a great error to 

 judge the productiveness of a region by the size and quality of 

 the vegetables grown on these sandy gardens. They are indis- 

 putably fine, but are not a safe index. This very capacity for 

 rapid elaboration of soil fertility is the cause of the exhaustion 

 of sandy soils under any system of cropping which does not 

 constantly supply these elements artificially. Newly cleared 

 sandy land is extremely fertile, for the timber and brush do not 

 exhaust it and a certain amount of accumulated fertility exists 

 which on the exposure of the soil by clearing and breaking is 

 made available and used up rapidly. If then the system of farm- 

 ing is such that artificial fertilizers may be had in abundance, 

 the lands may be kept in productive condition. The practice of 

 such a system is possible only near markets where truck farm- 

 ing pays and manure can be hauled. Thus, then, land close to a 

 town may by its locality be considered agricultural, even if it is 

 sandy. 



Again, all sandy land is not poor land. Sand underlaid by a 

 heavier soil,* or a sandy soil mixed with a fair proportion of 

 clay, may be farmed with profit in certain localities by raising 

 potatoes and clover hay. The clover, by the addition of the at- 

 mospheric nitrogen to the soil, and especially by plowing the 

 clover under, thus increasing the humus content, is a powerful 



