THE FOOD CRISIS AND AMERICANISM 121 



or bone contains a portion of these precious soil ele- 

 ments called precious, simply because they are in- 

 dispensable elements in blood, bone and tissue building. 

 Nearly, if not all, plants that have the ability to draw 

 nitrogen from the air are unsuited and dangerous as 

 grazing for all meat animals except the hog, as they 

 cause bloat. The other animals, while they may graze 

 on clover, alfalfa, etc., for a time, under certain con- 

 ditions of moisture and temperature, a single day, or 

 even a few hours, are sufficient to exterminate a 

 healthy, vigorous herd. 



Experience in this country has been that after thirty- 

 five to forty years' use, crop rotation and stock feed- 

 ing, it has not been possible to keep land up to more 

 than 50 per cent, of its virgin fertility ; and to do that, 

 it is necessary to use vastly more manure than is made 

 upon the farm itself. The use of other fertilizers on 

 market is an expensive proposition, and is discussed 

 elsewhere. The most successful farmers in the Corn 

 Belt, during the last thirty years, have been those who 

 fed no meat animals, but instead sold their grain on 

 the market. 



One of the most groundless, widespread and hurtful 

 misapprehensions is in regard to the prosperity of the 

 American farmer. The public in general has been led 

 to believe that since 1896 the farmers' prosperity has 

 been unusually great and uninterrupted; that farm 

 mortgage indebtedness has been so rapidly decreased, 

 that it has almost reached the vanishing point; that 

 scientific principles and practices have been applied to 

 agriculture as never before in the history of this, or 

 any other, country. Were these things true, many of 



