Cato, the renowned agriculturist of Roman times, said: 'To maintain 

 the fertiUty of the soil, plow deep, plow again and mix with the soil well- 

 rotted manure." 



Tull, several centuries later, said: "The fertility of our soil will not 

 wane if we plow deep, rotate crops and mix with the soil animal dung." 



The history of "Farmers of Forty Centuries" presents a vivid 

 description of what is being accomplished by a people who know the art, 

 but not the science, of farming. 



King tells us that five hundred million people, more than five times 

 our entire population, are being maintained from the cultivated fields of 

 Japan, Korea and China, an area much smaller than the tilled lands of 

 our own country. Manure, he states, is as precious to those people as 

 their harvest. Their ways of farming are not based upon scientific 

 knowledge, but they do things as their forefathers did. They do not 

 know the plant food elements contained in manure, but they do know 

 that when evenly spread and worked into a deep, well-made seed-bed, 

 an abundant crop is assured. They cannot tell why leaf -moulds, peat, 

 muck and sediments from rivers and ponds enrich the soil, but they do 

 know that when these substances are not used, the soil produces 

 grudgingly. Without being able to give a scientific reason, they have 

 plowed deep, packed and pulverized, utilized organic matters of all 

 kinds and irrigated, producing year after year from five to seven times 

 more than our farmers. 



We, with our fertile soil, have heard the alarm of depletion which is 

 being sounded through our land. Do you not think it time for us to 

 imitate the methods of those farmers who are producing enough on a plot 

 of ground no larger than the area contained within a boundary line 

 extending from Chicago south to the gulf; thence westward to and 

 along the western line of Kansas, and back to the place of beginning, to 

 feed five hundred million of people? Do you not feel that all farmers 

 should adapt methods which many of our advanced agriculturists 

 have demonstrated will bring rich results? 



Why should we be alarmed? Why should we fear want? Why 

 should we not produce enough to keep pace with the increase in our 

 population and for centuries have a surplus? 



We know the art and we possess knowledge which makes plain the 

 reasons why scientific methods are successful. We should not wait 

 until grim necessity compels us to adopt nature's ways, nor neglect to 

 conserve fertility which was manifestly intended to perpetuate the pro- 

 ducing ability of our soil. 



Farmers! To rob the soil of its fertility by growing crops and not 

 observe stock-raising as a feature of equal importance, is larceny upon 

 posterity. Not to protect from waste, manures, organic matters and 

 other substances containing plant food elements, is certainly a crime. 



