22 THE FARMER OF TO-MORROW 



has found that sunshine and rain vary not only 

 from year to year, but from decade to decade ; 

 that weather travels in great cycles. Appar- 

 ently we have passed through one complete 

 cycle. 



A few years after Civil War, the yield of 

 our acres began to decline. The land wasn't 

 "exhausted." Most of it was new land that 

 had never known the plow. And the slump 

 was characteristic of all sections, from sea- 

 board to seaboard. Then, in the middle 

 'eighties, the line began to recover itself. (It 

 is worth while noting in passing that it was 

 during the decade of lowest yields that the 

 country passed through its most critical 

 economic period, a period of vast overproduc- 

 tion of foodstuffs. That was the period of 

 too much land for the given rate of speed, the 

 sunshine-and-rain rate of speed.) The line 

 ascends slowly for another ten years. In an- 

 other twenty it has recovered itself, and Jere- 

 miah is getting as much out of an acre in 

 bushels as his Civil War competitor did. It 

 is still on the upward wave. 



And so Jeremiah plants his corn and prays 

 for rain. If he follows the methods of his 

 neighbors, he will plant five acres out of every 



