ECONOMIC CAUSES OF DEPLETION 77 



an increase, and 40 per cent, acknowledge a marked 

 decrease. '' The decrease of yield per acre in that Pro- 

 vince," says Dr. Robertson, " must be concurrent with 

 exhaustion of fertility." 



The broadest inductions we can reach show that this 

 loss is widespread. The area under cultivation in the 

 West — Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta — in- 

 creased 269 per cent, in the last decade ; the amount of 

 products increased only 185 per cent. In the United 

 States the wheat area increased 56 per cent, between 

 1S90 and 1900, the yield only 40 per cent.; the corn 

 area increased 31 per cent., but the yield only 25 per 

 cent. 



Here again, as in the case of the exploitation of the 

 forest, the lure of the soil is addressed to the worst that 

 is in man, the appeal of the soil to his best. " The lure 

 t»f the Prairies is like unto the lure of the Yukon and 

 the lure of the Cobalt, — ' Come and take something, 

 ship it out, and make yourself rich.' " But the 

 appeal of the soil is that we treat the land with loving 

 care so aa to reap ever-increasing profits while preserv- 

 ing the crop-producing power of the soil for the benefit 

 of our descendants. And the reward is not material 

 only, whether present or prospective. " When man 

 exhausts the soil, what does he do? He helps to make 

 the j)oopl(' more careless and less competent; he leaves 

 them less [»o\ver and more poverty in every respect. On 

 the oth<'r hand, when he preserves and increases the fer- 

 tility of the soil, the p(K)ple therel)y becom(! increasingly 

 efficient and capable. Tliese two go together. Ft is 

 for us to see that \\u' fertility of our soil shall be main- 

 tained, an<l that there shall l)e continuously improving 

 conditions for the rural population." " Consider that 



