Getting along with Help 121 



business, demanding other knowledge than nnere 

 rule of thumb. The earth, the soil, is a chemical 

 laboratory whose operations must be understood 

 if the supply of food is to equal the demand. The 

 world must starve on old-fashioned methods of 

 farming. Here again it is *' grinding necessity*' 

 that calls men back to the land. The truth is that 

 we know very little about the land as the producer 

 of food. We have here and there slightly scratched 

 its surface, exhausted its vitality, and ignored its 

 chemistry. By chemistry we do not mean a shelf 

 of dirty bottles filled with mysterious fluids which 

 bum, or of boxes of curious salts which unexpected- 

 ly explode. It is not a case of freshman chemistry. 

 We mean that the earth is a storehouse, a labora- 

 tory of infinite resources. Everything from the 

 soil ; everything back to the soil, — this is the cycle 

 of the world before our eyes. Whence follows the 

 fundamental importance of the soil. And this 

 importance, recognized however partially in our 

 day, explains the present interest in all forms of 

 farming. 



Then too, in our day, our country is no longer 

 isolated, or its numerous business centers and 

 local markets inaccessible ; the railroads, the trolley 

 lines, the automobile bring the American world 

 together. Youth loves companionship, not soli- 

 tude, and the fruit-farm of to-day is a suburb. 

 Women set the pace of life and diversion is within 

 reach of the farmer. Excessive urbanity, if I may 

 use the word as meaning city-ness, wearies, yes, 



