342 THE LURE OF THE LAND 



to discuss very briefly some of the relations of the new 

 agriculture to the sustenance and welfare of man. 



THE NATION'S NOT TO STARVE. 



In a short space I shall try to show how the scien- 

 tific agriculture of the future will easily provide for all 

 the demands which a rapidly increasing population 

 will make upon it. In the illustration of this statement 

 I shall refer only to a few of our staple products, and 

 first of all, wheat. The adage " Bread is the staff of 

 life " should not be taken too literally, but in a more 

 diffused sense, bread represents especially the cereal 

 crops. Among these wheat is second in quantity, and 

 first in its importance as a direct human food. Our 

 average product of wheat for a period of ten years is 

 12.7 bushels per acre. This rate of production is prac- 

 tically a minimum. It is what the patient soil will 

 produce under a regime of chronic robbery. The aver- 

 age production of wheat for a period of 50 years in a 

 soil at Eothamsted which has never received a particle 

 of manure during the time specified, is 13/4 bushels 

 per acre. A part of the same field, properly manured 

 with barnyard manure, has given an average yield of 

 33% bushels per acre. 



INCREASED YIELD OF WHEAT. 



I have before me a bulletin of the Maryland Agri- 

 cultural Station which gives a yield of wheat obtained 

 on plots under proper culture in Prince George's 

 County, Maryland. I find that this soil, which a few 

 years ago was regarded as worthless for agricultural 

 purposes, has yielded, under scientific management, 40 

 bushels of wheat per acre. This is not a chance harvest, 



