THE FOOD CRISIS AND AMERICANISM 99 



up to virgin fertility. On soils where potash is also 

 needed, a liberal addition to cost of this must be added. 

 To all these must be added barn-yard manure and 

 frequent clover crops. As the clover adds little, or 

 nothing, to the soil, unless plowed under, and as the 

 clover is a biennial crop and must be sown every two 

 years; as good clean seed costs from $9 to $12 per 

 bushel ; the young plants frequently Winter kill before 

 making any return ; and the hay plowed under is worth 

 from $8 to $12 per ton; this additional fertilizing is 

 expensive. 



The above shows what the lost soil elements were 

 worth what soil depreciation really means to the 

 farmer. These things also, incidentally, show that 

 an abundance of intelligently directed labor is indis- 

 pensable to successful farming. 



I believe in conservation and approve every rational 

 step taken in that direction, but in food stuffs, it is, 

 at the utmost, measured by what the American people 

 will deny themselves. On the other hand, a properly 

 stimulated increased production has practically no 

 limit, certainly it would go far beyond the possible 

 needs of our armies, our Allies and our own people. 



Had German agriculture acreage yield been 

 no better than American agriculture, the British and 

 French armies would have long since marched on to 

 Berlin, needing no other allies than hunger and want 

 among the German people. Had French agriculture 

 been no better than our own, she could not have con- 

 tinued the war for a single year after the submarine 

 campaign was inaugurated. So that the present war 

 necessities and future preparedness both demand a 



