CHAPTER IX 



CONSERVATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF SOIL 



Better farming, better business, better living. ROOSEVELT. 



REGIONS that were naturally forested, but have since been 

 cleared by man, have been found to rapidly deteriorate in their 

 ability to produce crops. When first cleared they were spoken 

 of as virgin soils, and were usually very productive. 



Prairie soils were also much more productive when first used 

 by man than after he had made use of them for a number of years. 

 Statistics show a great decrease in the yields of wheat, corn, cotton 

 and other staple crops in the older systems of American agriculture. 

 These facts seem to indicate that the sj^stems as followed by man 

 have failed to give enough attention to the conservation of the 

 soil. The effort of the farmer in the newer sections of the country 

 has been to get from the soil as much of its fertility as possible by 

 raising large crop's on the land until it would no longer givre him 

 profitable returns. He then abandoned the land, or left it to others 

 who were not so familiar with its condition, and moved westward 

 or southward to newer regions. The reaction has now set in. 

 Some men from the west are returning eastward. Those in the 

 middle states have realized the temporary nature of the methods 

 originally followed and are rapidly changing them to more per- 

 manent methods. The term "permanent agriculture" is now 

 often used in the vocabulary of the best farmers in all parts of 

 the country. Conservation of the soil is recommended by all and 

 few are left to doubt the teachings of the leading advocates of 

 soil conservation. The actual practice of these teachings is coming 

 more and more to be a reality in American farming. 



Soil Maintenance. As crops are removed from the soil, fer- 

 tility must be returned. Conditions which reduce the humus or 

 bacteria content must be remedied immediately. Activities in 

 the soil must be kept up. Chemical changes which are so rapid 

 in a virgin soil must not be allowed to decrease because of misuse 

 by man. As many of the soils used by man in all sections have 

 already been reduced to a much poorer condition than they were 

 when he first began to crop them, the problems with which he is 

 now confronted are those of improvement rather than conserva- 

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