102 CAMl'HKLL's SOIL CULTURE MANUAL 



differences of opinion are so marked and frequent that I 

 feel compelled to ask, in language which has recently been 

 declared grammatical, 'Where are we at?' ' 



Prof. Hopkins evidently sees what is ahead, for he 

 declares that "the agricultural experimental stations are 

 becoming more and more responsible for the methods of 

 soil management which are being practiced in this coun- 

 try," and he suggests that if leguminous crops, for instance, 

 do not obtain sufficient atmospheric nitrogen, "is it not 

 our business to discover why they do not, and then ad- 

 vocate a system of soil treatment or soil management 

 which shall enable legumes to obtain from the free and 

 absolutely inexhaustible supply of the atmosphere all 

 of the nitrogen which they need for maximum yields?" 



We make these quotations here, in, connection with 

 this subject, largely to make it clear to the average farmer 

 that he need not feel at all discouraged if he realizes how 

 little he knows about the mystery of the soil in its rela- 

 tion to plant growth. There are others in the haze. 



CHANGING THEIR VIEWS. 



Turning to Farmer's Bulletin 257, by the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, containing an address on "Soil Fer- 

 tility," by Prof. Milton Whitney, the eminent chief of the 

 Bureau of Soils for the Department, we find him declar- 

 ing that "fertility and crop production are different terms," 

 and that "fertility is a property inherent in the soil; it 

 is what the soil is capable of doing if it is under the best 

 possible conditions." Of course Prof. Whitney presented 

 the matter from a purely scientific standpoint, and his 

 discussion of the soil and its purposes and of the feeding 

 1* pfants by the soil was backed by years of investigation; 

 yet we find him confessing with a frankness that is decid- 

 edly encouraging. He says: 



