592 VARIOUS FERTILITY FACTORS 



for there is plenty of good land to be had in America; and it would not be 

 worth his while to work the same farm to absolute exhaustion." 



"Agriculture is, of all industrial pursuits, the richest in facts, and the poorest 

 in their comprehension. Facts are Hke grains of sand which are moved by the 

 wind, but principles are these same grains cemented into rocks." 



"Science is conservative in her nature, not destructive. She does not reject 

 the truths discovered by practice, but receives them; they are never disputed 

 by her, but are examined and receive from her their proper import and further 

 application." 



"Modern agriculture has, up to this time, no connection with the history of 

 the development of man. That history is the mirror which reflects not only 

 his errors and failures, but also his onward progress. But modern agriculture 

 rejects the idea of ever being in error, and therefore she knows nothing of prog- 

 ress." 



It was also in 1859 that Abraham Lincoln spoke as follows: 



"To speak entirely within bounds, it is known that 50 bushels of wheat, 

 or 100 bushels of Indian corn, can be produced from an acre. . . . Take 50 of 

 wheat, and 100 of corn, to be the possibility, and compare it with the actual 

 crops of the country. Many years ago I saw it stated, in a patent -office report, 

 that 18 bushels was the average crop of wheat throughout the United States. 

 .... As to Indian corn, and, indeed, most other crops, the case has not been 

 much better." 



"What would be the effect upon the farming interest to push the soil up to 

 something near its full capacity? Unquestionably it will take more labor to 

 produce fifty bushels from an acre than it will to produce ten bushels from the 

 same acre; but will it take more labor to produce fifty bushels from one acre 

 than from five? Unquestionably, more thorough cultivation will require more 

 labor to the acre; but will it require more to the bushel? If it should require 

 just as much to the bushel, there are some probable, and several certain, ad- 

 vantages in favor of the thorough practice. It is probable it would develop 

 those unknown causes which of late years have cut down our crops below their 

 former average. It is almost certain, I think, that, by deeper plowing, analysis 

 of the soils, experiments with manures and varieties of seeds, observance of 

 reasons, and the like, these causes would be discovered and remedied. It is 

 certain that thorough cultivation would spare half, or more than half, the 

 quantity of land. This proposition is self-evident, and can be made no plainer 

 by repetitions or illustrations. The cost of land is a great item, even in new 

 countries, and it constantly grows greater and greater, in comparison with other 

 items, as the country grows older." 



"No other human occupation opens so wide a field for the profitable and 

 agreeable combination of labor with cultivated thought, as agriculture. I 

 know nothing so pleasant to the mind as the discovery of anything that is at 



