APPENDIX 537 



withal shall we be clothed?' and upon the wisdom with 

 which the question has been solved has hung the fate of 

 those nations. 



"More than a century ago the production of wheat in 

 Great Britain had gone down to about the average of this 

 country to-day — viz., a fraction less than fourteen bushels 

 per acre. 



*'A royal commission was appointed, which has been in 

 continual active existence ever since. The yield of wheat 

 was gradually brought up to thirty-two bushels per acre, 

 and at that figure it is maintained year after year. 



"The story of this campaign for improved agriculture in 

 England is exceedingly interesting, and, in the present 

 juncture, of profound importance to this country. 



" The islands of the sea have been swept clean of their rich 

 stores of guano, the accumulation of ages. Phosphates 

 have been imported by the millions of dollars' worth from 

 the United States. The battlefields of Europe were combed, 

 the catacombs of Egypt rifled, and for years the bones of 

 three million men were ground up annually and used to 

 bring the soil of England back to its present fertility. 



"Approximately five million dollars' worth of our phos- 

 phates are being exported each year. In some way this 

 should be stopped. In the years to come this master fer- 

 tilizer will be worth more than gold. 



"I believe it is well within the bounds of conservatism to 

 say that long before the middle of the present century the 

 phosphates which we export annually, and for which we 

 receive five million dollars, will be worth five hundred million 

 dollars for fertilizing our own land. 



"It is safe to say that no country in the world excels the 

 United States in natural fertility of soil, or has a more favor- 

 able general climate. 



"Notwithstanding these natural advantages, with our 

 careless, uninformed methods — our utter want of method — 

 our farms produce an annual yield of less than fourteen 

 bushels of wheat per acre, as compared with thirty-two in 

 England, twenty-eight in Germany, thirty-four in the Nether- 

 lands, and twenty in France. 



" We produce an average of less than twenty-three bushels 

 of oats per acre, while England produces forty-two, Germany 

 forty-six, and the Netherlands fifty-three. 



"Germany, with an arable area of less than some of our 



