are unprotected, organic materials are not husbanded, decayed animal 

 matter is not utilized, fertility is often lost because of shallow tillage, 

 and by the formation of ditches, it is permitted to wash away. In fact, 

 millions of dollars' worth of fertility is wasted annually, either through 

 percolation or by being washed in rivers, lakes and seas. 



Wlien our soils were new, bristling with energy and fertility, they 

 produced without great effort more than enough to supply our needs. 

 As our population has increased, new lands have been cultivated and 

 new pastures utilized. Unfortunately, our land area is limited, but 

 there seems to be no stay in the increase in our population; hence, the 

 American people are facing a problem which demands their earnest 

 attention. 



Solution 



There seems to be but one solution to the problem. Production 

 must keep pace with the increase in our population if the nation is to 

 survive and prosper. The cost of living depends upon the farmer's 

 crops and flocks. The inexorable law of supply and demand regulates 

 the price, and that law knows no favorites nor can it be repealed or 

 modified. 



The responsibility rests with the farmer. He is the chosen servant 

 to produce from the soil enough to sustain the living. In view of the 

 fact, however, that the soil has been producing for millions of years and 

 that many nations have, by intensive methods, been able through their 

 farming operations to keep pace with the increase in population, we are 

 optimistic enough to believe that by imitating their methods and by 

 applying the scientific knowledge, which is gradually coming to us, we 

 can, in the United States, so manage our farming operations that we 

 will be able, not only to keep pace with the increase in our population, 

 but to produce a surplus for other nations of the world for many genera- 

 tions to come. 



The potential power of our soils is beyond man's comprehension. 

 The invisible and the unknown forces which have evidently been instru- 

 mental during the past ages in production, will, in time, as necessity 

 demands, become playthings in the farmer's hands as are nitrogen, 

 oxygen and carbon today. 



In this treatise we will deal only with the practical side of farming. 

 We will emphasize the two features, namely, stock-raising and tillage, 

 which are inter-dependent, and will insist that both features are abso- 

 lutely essential to profitable farming. 



We will endeavor to show that to till the land and not return to the 

 soil the manure from the stock, is simply mining, not farming, and each 

 year the soil is depleted of its fertility. 



We will treat of the seed-bed, fertility, seed selection and cultivation 

 of the growing plants. We will give special attention to drainage. 



