48 The State and the Farmer 



sis in agricultural discussion was placed largely 

 on the farm mortgage, but we have learned 

 that a mortgage on a farm is not inherently 

 different from a mortgage on any other prop- 

 erty. I recall very well when the era of com- 

 pounded fertilizers was at its height: all one 

 had to do was to have the soil and plant an- 

 alyzed to determine the deficiencies, and then 

 to prepare a medicine to cure the disorder. I 

 remember the advent of farm machinery, which 

 was supposed to be able to solve the farmer's 

 difficulties. I saw the beginning of spraying 

 for insects and plant diseases, and it was fig- 

 ured up for us what losses we suffer from bugs 

 that prey on our crops; it has cost us more to 

 fight bugs than to fight Indians, counting the 

 value of crops that they destroy; spraying 

 would provide a remedy, and yet bugs are still 

 with us. At one time the emphasis was placed 

 on under-drainage, and we need a recrudes- 

 cence of this teaching. In parts of the great 

 West, the emphasis is naturally placed on irri- 

 gation. We have looked to the rural free de- 

 liveries of mail as one of the great means of 



