CAMPBELL'S SOIL CULTURE MANUAL 27 



western states; much less do they realize what an import- 

 ant factor this has been in furthering the immense ex- 

 pansion of business in our history. 



It is no small matter to effect a change so that on a 

 million acres of farm land the yield of grain is doubled 

 in quantity. The farmer who is contented with 15 bushels 

 of wheat per acre when he gets a crop, and counts on 

 missing a few seasons because, as he thinks, the "luck 

 of the weather" was against him, immediately becomes a 

 man of much more importance to himself and the com- 

 munity when he discovers that he can get 30 to 40 bushels 

 of wheat every year on the same land by application of 

 a little science under modern methods. This is just what 

 has been taking place in recent years, especially in that 

 section of our country once set down as of little value 

 for farming, but now recognized as our choicest region. 



Because of this development upon these western farms, 

 because of the application of scientific farming, because 

 of the steady increase in the output of the farms, there 

 has come to our country unexampled prosperity in every 

 line. The towns are growing, the cities are expanding, 

 railroad lines are being built, the banks are busy, the mer- 

 chants are doing well, the factories are running over-time, 

 the workingmen are getting better wages, everybody is 

 better and happier. The problem of maintaining this 

 prosperity which so much delights us all is, therefore, 

 not one related to the kind of currency we have, the pay- 

 ing of bounties to ship owners, or to the treatment of the 

 tariff; but that of maintaining a steady average of prof- 

 itable crop production. 



The student of social economics must fail entirely who 

 underestimates the importance of scientific soil culture in 

 the creation and maintenance of our prosperity. 



