THEORIES CONCERNING SOIL FERTILITY 341 



gladly accepted by land agents and by landowners inexperienced 

 in the management of truly depleted soils. 



And why not ? No doctrine could be more pleasing, an in- 

 exhaustible national asset ! a self-maintaining food supply ! a 

 dish from which we can eat and eat, to-day, to-morrow, and for- 

 ever ! a bank account which requires for its maintenance only 

 the rotation of the check book among the members of the family ! 

 a " philosopher's stone " that creates an infinite supply of golden 

 grain from finite quantities of baser materials ! 



The possible enormous and irreparable damage of such teach- 

 ing lies in the fact that even our remaining supply of good land 

 will ultimately be depleted by the present practices beyond the 

 point of self-redemption, thus repeating the history of our aban- 

 doned Eastern lands, where the rotation of crops was the com- 

 mon rule of practice for more than a hundred years. 



The following extracts are typical : 



" SOILS NOT WEARING OUT 



" A most comprehensive bulletin has recently been published by the Na- 

 tional Department of Agriculture dealing with the question of soil composition." 



" The facts and figures presented in this bulletin tend to show that there 

 is not any immediate danger of the soils of the United States wearing out. " 



"Considering the fact that the farms of the United Kingdom have been 

 under cultivation for a thousand years or more, it is held by Professor Whitney 

 that continuous cropping does not necessarily tend to decrease production." 



" We believe that Professor Whitney's statements will come as a surprise 

 to a great majority of our readers, because the average man labors under the 

 belief that soils are gradually wearing out ; on the other hand, it is a fact that 

 our leading farmers, in every state in the Union, are not only able to main- 

 tain their crop yield, but they are increasing it from year to year." 



" It is true that there may be annually some loss.of mineral elements, but in 

 ordinary good soils, such as our clays and loams, the supply of these minerals 

 is so great that a five-hundred or even a thousand-year period will not reduce 

 the supply to a point where production is materially affected." The Home- 

 stead, October 28, 1909. 



" FERTILITY OF SOIL 



" Artificial Fertilizers Said to be all Wrong 

 " Special Correspondence. 



"WASHINGTON, Nov. 17. Artificial fertilizers phosphates and nitrates, 

 chiefly act upon the soil as drugs act upon the human body, according to 



