EXTENSIVE & INTENSIVE FARMING 123 



EXTENSIVE & INTENSIVE FARMING 



It may be objected that in forecasting the future 

 of Overseas' supplies no consideration has been 

 given to increased production likely to result 

 from extensive cultivation giving place to inten- 

 sive methods, nor to the effects of irrigation, 

 drainage, and reclamation. The factors making 

 for extensive cultivation abroad as well as the 

 results of farming under such conditions are 

 not generally understood. We often read that 

 " the exhaustion of virgin soils " is the 

 primary cause of the increase in the price of 

 wheat. This explanation contains an element 

 of truth, but one which has been much exag- 

 gerated. The poor crops grown on land which 

 has been continuously emploj'ed for wheat are 

 due more to insufficient cultivation than to soil 

 exhaustion. The results obtained at Rotham- 

 stead, where wheat has been grown on one plot 

 continuously for nearly fifty years without man- 

 ure, and the annual results carefully tabulated 

 show an average yield almost equal to that 

 obtained in the United States. So far from 

 virgin soil being of advantage, the difficulty 

 of getting a good tilth, an even seed dis- 

 tribution and a firm seed bed in the freshly 

 broken prairie is a distinct handicap, and not 

 till land has been under the plough for two 



