THEORIES CONCERNING SOIL FERTILITY 341 



gladly accepted by land agents and by landowners inexperienced 

 in the management of truly depleted soils. 



And why not ? No doctrine could be more pleasing, an in- 

 exhaustible national asset ! a self-maintaining food supply ! a 

 dish from which we can eat and eat, to-day, to-morrow, and for- 

 ever ! a bank account which requires for its maintenance only 

 the rotation of the check book among the members of the family ! 

 a " philosopher's stone " that creates an infinite supply of golden 

 grain from finite quantities of baser materials ! 



The possible enormous and irreparable damage of such teach- 

 ing lies in the fact that even our remaining supply of good land 

 will ultimately be depleted by the present practices beyond the 

 point of self-redemption, thus repeating the history of our aban- 

 doned Eastern lands, where the rotation of crops was the com- 

 mon rule of practice for more than a hundred years. 



The following extracts are typical : 



"SOILS NOT WEARING OUT 



"A most comprehensive bulletin has recently been published by the Na- 

 tional Department of Agriculture dealing with the question of soil composition." 



" The facts and figures presented in this bulletin tend to show that there 

 is not any immediate danger of the soils of the United States wearing out. " 



" Considering the fact that the farms of the United Kingdom have been 

 under cultivation for a thousand years or more, it is held by Professor Whitney 

 that continuous cropping does not necessarily tend to decrease production." 



" We believe that Professor Whitney's statements will come as a surprise 

 to a great majority of our readers, because the average man labors under the 

 belief that soils are gradually wearing out; on the other hand, it is a fact that 

 our leading farmers, in every state in the Union, are not only able to main- 

 tain their crop yield, but they are increasing it from year to year." 



" It is true that there may be annually some loss of mineral elements, but in 

 ordinary good soils, such as our clays and loams, the supply of these minerals 

 is so great that a five-hundred or even a thousand-year period will not reduce 

 the supply to a point where production is materially affected." The Home- 

 stead, October 28, 1909. 



"FERTILITY or SOIL 



" Artificial Fertilizers Said to be all Wrong 

 " Special Correspondence. 



"WASHINGTON, Nov. 17. Artificial fertilizers phosphates and nitrates, 

 chiefly act upon the soil as drugs act upon the human body, according to 



