ECONOMIC CAUSES OF DEPLETION 77 



an increase, and 46 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 

 1890 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 

 of 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 as 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 people more careless and less competent ; he leaves 

 them less power and more poverty in every respect. On 

 the other hand, when he preserves and increases the fer- 

 tility of the soil, the people thereby become increasingly 

 efficient and capable. These two go together. It is 

 for us to see that the fertility of our soil shall be main- 

 tained, and that there shall be continuously improving 

 conditions for the rural population." " Consider that 



