SIGNIFICANCE OF HIS WORK 



prove to be a prodigal son instead. It was because the produc- 

 tion of the one blade was often at the expense of the future that 

 Doctor Hopkins' voice was raised and a crusade conducted 

 with all the rugged force and enthusiasm of his personality. 



He taught, as you well know, that agriculture based on the 

 provident use of the soil is the foundation of national welfare, 

 and that the maintenance of fertility is the basis of permanent 

 agriculture. He looked upon the soil as a legacy, one of the 

 greatest natural resources, which after supplying our present 

 needs should be transmitted unimpaired if not enhanced in fer- 

 tility and productiveness. 



He did not stop with the advocacy of this thesis, but he set 

 about developing a practical system for carrying it out. It 

 was not merely a theory with him ; it was a feasible, practical 

 method of farming. When he said in one of his later bulletins 

 — "Every farmer should practice a high-grade system of 

 permanent agriculture. This is made possible by good crop 

 rotations and the application of materials economically supple- 

 menting soil deficiencies," he spoke without reservation and 

 from the depth of his convictions. The idea was not wholly 

 new, but he gave new force to it, basing it on work which 

 was both intensive and extensive. 



Undoubtedly more than any other man he was responsible 

 for impressing upon the farmers of the Middle West the in- 

 evitable result of continued overdraft on soil fertility, and the 

 idea of permanent fertility. When he first undertook this, his 

 was like "the voice of one crying in the wilderness," but 

 instead of being deterred by apathy he was spurred on. He 

 couldn't be stilled. He was an evangelist preaching the gospel 

 of soil fertility and permanent agriculture, to an audience that 

 broadened and widened until it included the whole country. 

 And he moved them, he put his message across ; his theory 

 became accepted in principle, if not indeed in every detail. 



Because he was successful and had such a far-reaching 

 influence, this work constituted one of the most striking dem- 



59 



