IN THE FIELD 227 



dence that nature is all the time forming more soil. If the 

 wild plants decay where they grew, the amount of humus is 

 also increased. Why do we often find much humus in the 

 woods and very little on the prairie ? 



From cultivated fields, however, the plants grown are partly 

 or entirely removed, and can therefore not furnish food for 

 those of the next season; and it has been found, as thinking 

 people ivould expert, that such lands become poorer from year 

 to year, unless some means are taken to restore the lost plant 

 foods to the ground. Therefore the farmer who does not 

 want his farm to become run down restores the plant food 

 to it in the shape of barnyard manure or as artificial fer- 

 tilizers, and he does not try to raise the same kind of grain 

 on the same field for years in succession. If, for instance, 

 wheat is grown year after year, nearly all of the wheat- 

 producing materials are withdrawn from the soil, and the 

 last crops will fall far short of the first ones. 



42. Stock-raising and Agriculture. Neglected or Undevel- 

 oped Opportunities in American Farming. 



As every successful farmer must fertilize his lands from 

 time to time, he is compelled to keep a good stock of cattle 

 and other animals on hand, because for the large majority of 

 farmers barnyard or stable manure is the best and cheapest 

 fertilizer. Cattle, moreover, enable the farmer to use for 

 pasture or hay land any low meadows which are too wet for 

 cultivation. Bluffs, broken or very stony soil may make good 

 pasture, although the land is not fit for cultivation. Besides 

 the advantages mentioned, a farmer who has a good stock of 

 cattle, hogs, or sheep is not dependent on the price of grain 

 alone for an income. During the last five or six years of 

 low grain prices American farmers have learned to appreci- 

 ate the wisdom of the mixed farming. 



New sources of profit are also being developed. Cream- 



