MANAGEMENT OF SPECIAL SOILS 285 

 Poor Soils 



The soils of Western Canada are far from poor as a 

 rule, but a few small areas of land have been settled upon 

 that never should have been opened for homesteading. 

 In a climate such as ours at this stage of our economic 

 development some of the latter cannot be farmed at a 

 profit, much less can they be brought up to a state of 

 productiveness once their virgin fertility is lost. 



Many of our soils become "poor" after cultivation for 

 a few years with no return of organic matter. The pro- 

 cess is so slow and so gradual that the pioneer farmer 

 seldom notices it. A false sense of security in the last- 

 ing power of soils has ever blinded the first generation 

 of farmers to the inevitable result of ruining the land. 

 It is only where one notes the records of many years that 

 the truth forces itself home. One instapce out of many 

 is sufficient to illustrate this point. The average yield 

 of wheat in Kansas for twenty-five years previous to 

 1890 was 14 bus. 47 lbs., while for the twenty-five years 

 subsequent to that date it was 12 bus. 27 lbs. The aver- 

 age for oats for the first period was 33 bus. 08 lbs., and 

 for the last, 22 bus. 17 lbs. 



In the early years of cultivation over much of the 

 semi-arid plains of America manuring seldom produced 

 large increases but after a few years cropping it has in- 

 variably been found to produce excellent results. As an 

 example, on the Kansas land mentioned above, where 

 manure produced very little increase in the early 

 years, an application equal to 23/< tons per acre per year 

 during the years 1911 to 1917 increased the yield 7 1-3 

 bus. or about one-half more than from unmanured land. 

 Similar results have been reported from many places in 



