THE SOIL AS AN ASSET 213 



soils do wear out. The counsels of the agri- 

 cultural press, which is an influence that gets 

 closer to the farmer than any other, official 

 or otherwise, likewise teaches that the farmer 

 must feed the soil in proportion as his soil 

 feeds his crops. 



It is not surprising, in view of the weight of 

 authority against the new hypothesis, which 

 would rob the old system of the very keystone 

 of its arch, that this new theory should be met 

 with the most violent opposition. Jeremiah, 

 the farmer in the field, has not yet heard of 

 this cheerful theory which takes the burden of 

 unproductive soils from the shoulders of 

 Providence and shifts it to the shoulders of the 

 farmer himself. He has not heard of it for 

 several reasons. In the first place his neigh- 

 bor's son who returns from college equipped 

 to enter the profession of teaching the science 

 of agriculture is a product of the prevailing 

 school. 



In the second place the scientists of the fed- 

 eral Bureau of Soils have as yet made no ef- 

 fort to prepare the hypothesis in popular form. 

 They have published many scientific treatises, 

 giving the data of their experiments and re- 

 searches in technical form. These publications 



