36 THE BUSINESS OF FARMING 



condition of false security the pioneer farmer did 

 not teach his children the principles of soil con- 

 servation, and these children grew up impreg- 

 nated with the same false notions, transmitted 

 them to their children, and thus an environment 

 has been thrown around the pioneer farmer, his 

 children and children's children, an environment 

 that has held scientific agriculture and book farm- 

 ing in contempt, and which has led to methods that 

 have mined our soil wealth and which is responsi- 

 ble for much of our worn soil. 



Again the voice of the False Teacher has been 

 heard upon our farms, and we have listened to 

 the promulgation of the false doctrine that crop 

 rotation alone, and like doctrines, would maintain 

 the fertility of our soils. 



Even our Government through its great agri- 

 cultural department that has done so much to 

 make the business of farming flourish, has pro- 

 mulgated the infamous doctrine that our soil is 

 in no real danger of exhaustion and that soil will 

 not wear out, and yet almost within a bird's eye 

 view from the dome of our splendid capitol at 

 Washington, thousands of acres of agricultural 

 lands lie abandoned, which less than one hundred 

 years ago were occupied by a hospitable, chivalric 

 people living in the stately southern homes and 

 mansions surrounded by fertile fields abounding 

 with a plethora of farm produce. Why have 

 these once splendid fields become a desolation, a 

 dreary waste? Because their soils lost their 

 power to produce paying crops, and so became 

 worn out. Scientifically speaking, these soils 

 were not destroyed, they still contain plant food 



