92 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



NovemV^er, 1921 



the industry is to be improved from its 

 foundation. 



We would not wish to be understood as 

 advocating a general and precipitous rush 

 towards the use of fertilizers, but the tre- 

 mendous service rendered by the intelli- 

 gent use of fertilizers in France, England, 

 the Netherlands, Eastern and Southern 

 Ignited States, and in many of the older 

 parts of Canada should abundantly just- 

 ify a much wider use of this great factor 

 in soil feitility than is as yet evident. 



6. The cheapness and ultimate dearness 

 of low grade materials is in need of in- 

 creased attention. It is perfectly natural 

 and right that Canadian farmers should 

 endeavour to obtain fertilizers at as low 

 a cost as possible. Such action is simply 

 putting in practice principles which un- 

 derlie every other phase of their work. In 

 buying high-grade livestock they do not 

 hesitate to trade for lowest prices, yet they 

 know that if quality is to be obtained, a 

 price commensurate with quality must be 

 paid. Many a farmer who will not he- 

 sitate for a moment to buy the best tractor, 

 binder or other farm implement in pre- 

 ference to cheaper material, will go into 

 the market and buy low-priced, low-grade 

 fertilizer. 



Farmers beginning the use of fertili- 

 zers frequently and unwittingly make this 

 misstep, on the theory that by ventuiing 

 a little they can prove the merits or de- 

 merits of fertilizers. This is not giving 

 fertilizers a fair test. It is just as though 

 the farmer not knowing much about dairy 

 breeds were to go into the open market 

 and pick out average poor coavs with a 

 strain of good blood in them, and expect 

 to prove from handling them the merits 

 or demerits of the high-grade purebred 

 stock of the type toward which they tend. 

 Low-grade material in fertilizers is dear at 

 any price, just as it is in everything else. 



7. Not a few farmers — frequently of the 

 more monied type are being mystified by 

 claims of what additional bacterial growth 

 can do to their soils. Undoubtedly the 

 bacteria of the soil have a tremendous 

 amount to do with the productivity of it. 

 In fact they are the agents of plantfood 

 preparation in the soil. Their activity 

 seems to depend upon sufficient drainage 

 of the soil, the upkeep of humus, correct 

 chemical reaction, the supply of lime in tlu* 



soil, and the supply of the essential plant- 

 food constituents on which they work. 

 Certainly, material benefit can come from 

 improving all these conditions for bacterial 

 growth, but to attempt to ultimately im- 

 prove the soil by bacterial addition alone, 

 is like trying to lift yourself by your shoe- 

 strings. Bacteria simply let loose the 

 plantfood of the soil. Again the fallacy 

 of detracting from the soil supply of es- 

 sential plantfood without putting any- 

 thing back is illustrated. 



The fertility problem of Canada is 

 fundamental. Fertilizers have an essen- 

 tial place in the maintenance of our soil 

 fertility. We have already dealt with the 

 necessity of greater educational activity. 

 This should be supplemented with intel- 

 ligent and effective control. Not only 

 should fraudulent material be kept off the 

 market, but the inferiority of low-grade 

 material should be shown up by intelligent 

 governmental control, published in terms 

 which are clear and understandable to the 

 average farmers. 



Our .great opportunity as a nation of 

 farmers is apparent. Whether we sihall 

 grasp the opportunity in its entirety will 

 depend not so much upon th^' the effer- 

 vescent enthusiasm of the moment, as upon 

 the soundness of the foundations whicli are 

 laid. With elementary preparation such 

 as we have outlined, suppoi ted by demons- 

 tration and experimentation making use of 

 already established facts and reaching out 

 to comprehend our local problems, there 

 is no question but that the Canadian farm- 

 er, with his great fund of energy and 

 mental capacity, is capable of tackling the 

 problem with an intelligence that will 

 force successful solution. 



STUPIDITY STREET. 



1 saw with open eyes 

 Singing birds sweet 

 Sold in the shops 

 For the people to eat. 

 Sold in the shops of 

 Stupidity Street. 

 I saw in a vision 

 The worm in the wheat. 

 And in the shop nothing 

 For people to eat, 

 Nothing for sale in 

 Stupidity Street. 



— Ralp^ Hodgson. 



