CHAPTER VI 



WEAKING OUT THE SOIL 



Soil Exhaustion. From what we learned in the last 

 chapter, it is easily seen that the farmer who raises 

 grain and tobacco to sell, and who returns nothing to 

 the land in the form of fertilizers, is literally "selling 

 his farm." He sells soil in small quantities, it is true, 

 but he sells it nevertheless. There can be but one re- 

 sult from this kind of farming. No matter how rich 

 the soil, sooner or later it will wear out. The poorer 

 the land the sooner will its fertility become exhausted. 



Over-Cropping Land. In the early history of Wis- 

 consin much wheat was grown, the land in many cases 

 yielding as high as forty bushels per acre. But the 

 yield rapidly decreased until no more than ten or fif- 

 teen bushels could be grown. The farmers gave up 

 selling wheat, and the wheat belt moved on to the 

 west. Why was this ? Simply because wheat, a heavy 

 feeder as shown by the tables, wore out the soil. No 

 fertilizers were returned to take the place of the soil 

 matter taken off with the wheat, and in a few years the 

 wheat crop starved out. What is true of wheat is 

 equally true of every other crop, in the proportion in 



