146 THE FARMER OF TO-MORROW 



the peasant of Russia still plows with a 

 crooked stick. We have more schools; the 

 percentage of illiteracy among us is not higher 

 than that of any enlightened European na- 

 tion. Yet our farmers, drawn from the ef- 

 ficient acres of Europe they and their de- 

 scendants are still producing food at one- 

 third the rate of the European farmer. 



What is the answer? 



Not in the fertility of the soil itself, surely. 

 The soils of Europe are a thousand years 

 older in point of use than our soils, and ac- 

 cording to the bookkeeping theory of soil fer- 

 tility should be near exhaustion. Yet (as we 

 shall see later) a recent comparison (by thou- 

 sands) of samples of European and American 

 soils failed to reveal any essential difference 

 in physical condition or mineral content. 



There is one explanation, that is simple. 

 Look about and find an immigrant recently 

 arrived from western Europe, a farmer by 

 blood and training. Ask him why his father 

 at home is growing 40 or 50 bushels of wheat 

 when he himself is growing 12 or 15 bushels. 

 Is the land any better? No. Has the father 

 better machinery ? No ; the chances are he has 

 not as good. Is the old-world farmer more 



