302 THE FARMER OF TO-MORROW 



we find already in practice among these won- 

 derful people not as science, but as art. 



The rotation of crops is indicated as neces- 

 sary to successful farming for the purpose of 

 keeping the fields clean and free from noxious 

 weeds, even aside from any scientific theory 

 regarding the balance of available mineral 

 nutrients or the eradication of soil toxins. 



Tillage conserves moisture, and the farmer 

 will continue to cultivate his land, satisfied 

 with the good effects to be derived therefrom, 

 and meantime the different schools may fight 

 out the problem of whether tillage has the 

 additional function of liberating "plant-food" 

 or acts as a sterilizing agent to rid a soil of 

 noxious compounds. 



Live-stock farming will always represent the 

 highest efficiency in agriculture, no matter 

 what the cause may be determined to be by 

 science in the end. If the application of or- 

 ganic manures, including green crops plowed 

 under, owes its good effects to the "plant 

 food" as such, or to its power of oxidation 

 (sterilizing) and nitrifying, or to a middle 

 ground embracing the two, the practice still 

 remains established. So with the use of lime 

 and the mineral fertilizers, including phos- 



