Natural Fertility of the Soil 7 



WHAT BECOMES OF OUR FERTILITY? 



Since fertility is dependent upon so many conditions, 

 or, in other words, since the essential elements of fertility 

 are dependent upon their utility, and since, in this sense, 

 fertility is largely determined by natural conditions, it is 

 pertinent to inquire, first, whether under our present 

 systems of management, or mismanagement, of the land, 

 it is suffering any natural loss of fertility. As already 

 pointed out, the most important function of fertility is 

 to furnish nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, and 

 since the content of these in our soil, together with the 

 knowledge we have as to their use, measures, in a sense, 

 our prosperity as an agricultural people, the possibilities 

 of losing them from the soil is a matter of national con- 

 cern, and is of vital interest to individual farmers, who, 

 in the aggregate, make up that part of the nation directly 

 affected by the results of such loss. 



It would, perhaps, be possible, by a careful chemical 

 survey of our soils, to determine both the actual and 

 potential fertility of our entire country, and this knowl- 

 edge, together with an accurate measure of the intelli- 

 gence exercised in its use, would enable a prediction as 

 to our future development, if present methods were con- 

 tinued. That is, whether our land would become barren 

 and worthless, as has been the case in many older coun- 

 tries which at one time were quite as productive, or 

 whether it would constantly increase in productiveness, 

 even with continuous and profitable cropping, although, 

 as already pointed out, the present barrenness or sterility 

 of a country formerly fertile may not be due entirely 

 either to the natural or to the artificial loss of these 

 constituents. 



