84 COMMISSION ON COUNTRY LIFE 



mining the virgin fertility. On the better lands 

 this primitive system of land exploitation may 

 last for two generations without results perni- 

 cious to society, but on the poorer lands the limit 

 of satisfactory living conditions may be reached 

 in less than one generation. 



The social condition of any agricultural com- 

 munity is closely related to the available fer- 

 tility of the soil. " Poor land, poor people " 

 and " Rough land, rough people," have long 

 since passed into proverbs. Rich land well 

 farmed does not necessarily mean high ideals or 

 good society. It may mean land-greed and 

 dollar-worship; but on the other hand, high 

 ideals cannot be realized without at least a fair 

 degree of prosperity, and this can not be secured 

 without the maintenance of fertility. 



When the land begins to yield with difficulty, 

 the farmer may move to new land; develop a 

 system of self-sustaining agriculture (becoming 

 thereby a real farmer) ; or be driven into poverty 

 and degradation. The first of these results has 

 been marked for many years, but it is now 

 greatly checked because most of the available 

 lands have been occupied. The second result 



