360 



MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



native county of Ayr dairying has been carried on for two and a half 

 centuries, yet I have never heard of any impoverishment, but the 

 contrary, and I affirm that if any alleged case of impoverishment 

 is inquired into it will be found to be either mythical or due to 

 exceptionally bad management. In my own case, where twenty 

 years ago it took 2% acres to graze a cow during the summer, those 

 same fields now require 1^ acres to do the same, and on one occa- 

 sion 1 acre per head was sufficient their droppings have so en- 

 riched the land. 



It has long been a mystery how soils have continued to sup- 

 port crops for a thousand years and more, and the mystery becomes 

 deeper when we realize that in the oldest cultivated countries there 

 is no sensible diminution of plant food. We have the general his- 

 tory of China that goes back probably for four thousand years. 

 There are many sections of that country that have undoubtedly sup- 

 ported a population for at least as long a time as that. It is said 

 that they are very careful to return the excrement both from man 

 and animals to the soil, but there must be some loss, some waste, 

 and in four thousand years this would amount to considerable. But 

 there are no signs of deterioration of these soils. There is no evi- 

 dence that these soils are going back, and the fact that they have 

 been careful in their cultivation only goes to show what we can do 

 with our soils if we exercise reasonable care. 



Coming down to more recent times, of which we have actual 

 statistical records, it can be shown that so far as statistics can be 

 relied on, without going back of the returns, without finding out 

 how these statistics were taken, and just what value they have, the 

 soils of the world, or at least of the European countries, are not wear- 

 ing out, but that they are actually improving. 



Statistics for the whole of Europe from 1876 to 1904 show a 

 gradual increase in yield per acre of all cereal crops. Wheat has 

 increased from 12.90 to 15 bushels; rye from 11.84 to 14.08 bushels; 

 barley from 17.86 to 18.62 bushels; oats from 24.08 to 27.16 bushels. 

 The details are given in the accompanying table. 



Yield of Cereals in Europe. 



The records of Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Norway, Austria, 

 and other European countries for which data are available show 

 continued increase in the yield per acre of cereal crops, as in the 

 cases cited above. 



From this historical evidence it appears that on these old soils 

 of the old countries, which have been under cultivation for a thous- 

 and years, the yields within the last century have actually in- 

 creased, as shown not only by general statistics gathered by the 



