2io Miracles Ahead! 



portant in the present emergency but which may play an im- 

 portant role in the post-war economy of the South." 



Experts on wood chemistry emphasize that other natural 

 resources, like coal, oil, and minerals, are exhaustible. But 

 scientific reforestation and conservation measures can con- 

 stantly replenish our supply of wood, and further research 

 will open new markets to this valuable raw material. 



We now look at research in other fields. Here, too, we find 

 new products and processes that will help the farmer grow 

 better crops on the farm of tomorrow, and also enjoy life 

 more while he is doing it. 



Soil Building 



The synthesis of ammonia to supply nitrogen for explosives 

 will result in abundant supplies of low-cost fertilizer being 

 available in postwar years to increase crops and enrich worn- 

 out lands. When plants grow they remove nitrogen and other 

 materials from the soil. If the plants die where they grow, 

 most of these materials are returned to the soil. But when 

 plants are removed from the soil these materials are lost, and 

 they must be returned by the use of certain soil-building crops 

 or by the application of fertilizer. 



In recent years the TVA has developed an excellent pro- 

 gram of experiments with phosphate fertilizers and in the 

 education of farmers for better agriculture. In two hundred 

 years erosion by wind and water has ruined or impoverished 

 about 282,000,000 acres in the United States. Water erosion 

 takes more than 3,000,000,000 tons of soil from farmlands 

 each year. Experts in the TVA and the Department of Agri- 

 culture have shown farmers how to protect their land by ter- 

 racing, strip cropping, contour plowing, check dams, and 

 crop rotation. These methods make "running water walk off 

 the land," thus keeping it from carrying away valuable top- 



