68 Technology on the Land 



changes in land use that should have raised yields. Vast areas of highly 

 fertile virgin land had been plowed up and worn-out areas had been 

 discarded. Millions of acres of potentially productive wet land had 

 been drained. Fertilizer and lime use had increased to substantial 

 quantities. New higher yielding crop varieties had been introduced. 

 Controls had been developed for a number of insect pests and crop 

 diseases. Yet with all these improvements yield levels had stayed the 

 same. There was only one possible conclusion. All the improvements 

 that had been made had barely succeeded in offsetting the decline in 

 soil productivity that was taking place. 



In 1908 it was necessary to look only as far as 1920 to see that 

 most of our good cropland would be in crop. 



My colleagues in the Forest Service, V. L. Harper and James Rettie, 

 have reminded me that at the time of the Governors' Conference in 

 1908, millions of acres of forest were being burned by fires every year 

 and no effective control was in sight. The Washington-Oregon fires of 

 1902, the Adirondack fire of 1903, the Chisholm fire of 1908, and the 

 Idaho-Montana fires of 1910 wiped out more than 3 million acres of 

 timber within a period of eight years. Other losses to less spectacular 

 fires added up to a much larger acreage. Forest protection and forest 

 management as we now think of them were practically unknown. 

 Timber harvesting was a mining operation, pure and simple. 



In 1908 there was cause for concern about our soils and our for- 

 ests. And it was well-founded concern that prompted timely effort. 

 Action was taken on a broad front by the federal government, by the 

 states, by farmers, and by forest land owners. Research was given 

 due recognition. 



Today, after fifty years, we see the fruits of the effort started in 

 1908. It took nearly thirty years to get into operation, but then the 

 payoff came. 



In 1939, when World War II broke out in Europe, American farm- 

 ers produced a 2 Vi -billion-bushel crop of corn on 88 million acres. 

 Last year, they produced 32 per cent more on 15 million less acres. 

 The story repeats itself with virtually all major crops. The 740 million 

 bushels of wheat produced in 1939 took 52 Vi million acres. Last 

 year, on only 43 Vi million harvested acres, the crop was 200 million 

 bushels greater. When we consider the fact that, compared with 1939, 



