304 THE FARMER OF TO-MORROW 



In tabulating the results of thousands of ex- 

 periments with mineral fertilizing, conducted 

 by official experiment stations, the experts of 

 the Bureau of Soils made the interesting dis- 

 covery that, in the majority of instances where 

 increased yields of different crops were at- 

 tained, the cost of the commercial fertilizers 

 was more than the value of the increase in 

 yield. The same set of experiments, however, 

 showed that smaller amount of fertilizers, ap- 

 plied in combinations of three, two, or one 

 ingredient for different conditions, would have 

 brought about the same increase. If it costs 

 more to carry coal to Newcastle than the car- 

 rier can get for the coal, the practice is futile, 

 no matter on what theory it may be urged. 



The question the farmer asks himself is, does 

 it pay? Does it pay to-day and will it pay 

 to-morrow? He is not an idealist. He is in 

 the highest sense a business man engaged in 

 manufacturing a commodity, food, for which 

 there is a definite demand. If it costs him 

 more to feed his soil than he can recover in 

 dollars and cents he will go out of business. 

 He will not wait for the soil to quit. He is 

 subsidized, but not to that extent. 



The American farmer possesses to-day a 



