I2O THE FOOD CRISIS AND AMERICANISM 



with agriculture is another misapprehension. In one 

 thing, and that is credit, the farmer has for forty 

 years been on a parity with those engaged in other 

 industries. There is no section, in the Corn Belt, at 

 least, where the farmer has not during those years 

 been able to borrow money at lower rates of interest 

 and on better terms and conditions than the country 

 merchant, small manufacturer, the professional man 

 in his locality, or the city man borrowing a similar 

 amount. One owning a first class or average home in 

 Chicago or Omaha, and also owning a first-class or 

 average farm in Illinois or Nebraska, could borrow 

 money at lower rates of interest on his farm than on 

 his home, and will find that lenders much prefer to 

 loan to the owner and occupant of the farm adjoining 

 his, than to him. 



Another erroneous belief is that by crop rotation 

 and live stock raising, the soil may be kept up to its 

 virgin fertility. That is utterly impossible, and is 

 contradicted by every scientific experiment made in 

 ninety years. Even to the novice in chemistry, that 

 is obvious, as potash, phosphorus and nitrogen, the 

 chief soil elements, are the essential, invaluable ele- 

 ments in all food stuffs, and they are taken from the 

 soil with every pound of meat or grain sold. By what 

 alchemy shall we recover these, and by what legerde- 

 main put them back into the fields ? Many believe that 

 by pasturing alone, the soil is rejuvenated and brought 

 back to its pristine fertility. They fail to realize that 

 the animal returns nothing to the soil except that 

 which he has first taken from the soil, and only a part 

 of that, as every drop of blood, every ounce of flesh 



