926 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVII. No. 441. 



longer ground for such fears. The pro- 

 ductiveness of the soil will keep pace with 

 the increase of population. "\ATien it is 

 necessary to produce 1,000,000,000 bushels 

 of wheat annually in this country it will be 

 forthcoming'. The part of the doctrines of 

 Malthus which holds that the food supply 

 can not be made sufficient to maintain the 

 increasing population as the years go by, 

 in my opinion, is absolutely groundless. 

 The food supply will always be sufficient, 

 but that supply must depend largely iipon 

 the researches of , agricultural chemistry. 

 The farmer to-day can prepare steers for 

 the market at one third less cost than he 

 could twenty-five years ago, because he 

 knows how to balance the rations in the 

 right proportions. He also knows how to 

 bring his stock into the market at an 

 earlier period and thus effect another great 

 saving. The cost of feeding farm animals 

 to-day is only about two thirds what it 

 would be had not the principles of science 

 been applied to raising stock on the farm. 

 After a while perhaps we will be able to 

 study the scientific feeding of man. He is 

 an animal too, you know. If we want a 

 man to be an athlete we feed him in a cer- 

 tain way, and so the time is not far distant 

 when we must learn to feed all kinds of 

 men for the markets just as we do the other 

 animals. And so economy will come in the 

 feeding of men as well as in the feeding of 

 what we are pleased to call the lower ani- 

 mals. We shall save at least one third and 

 shall still have as much as is good for us. 

 Here is another way in which the prin- 

 ciples of agricultural chemistry will prove 

 of economical value. I refer to the idea of 

 securing elements necessary for the growth 

 of the plant from the nitrogen in the air. 

 It has been suggested that the nitrogenous 

 material now in the soil is insufficient for 

 a very great period. But it may be aug- 

 mented yearly by the floods of which Pro- 



fessor Moore has spoken, by damming 

 rivers, etc., and the use of water power 

 thus secured for convei'ting the nitrogen of 

 the air into forms available for plant 

 nutrition, by electrical means. This, with 

 the nitrogen already available, is more 

 than enough for present and future needs. 

 With a sufficient food supply for the pres- 

 ent we can look with complacency upon our 

 rapidly increasing population, and rely on 

 agricultural chemistry for all additional 

 food needed. 



Economic WorJt of the Bureau of Soils: 



Professor Milton Whitney, chief of 



bureau. 



The Bureau of Soils of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture was organized 

 as a part of the Weather Bui'eau about 

 eight years ago. Since its organization it 

 has been separated from the Weather 

 Bureau and reorganized into an independ- 

 ent division, and later into a bureau, its 

 rapid growth in size, scope and efficiency 

 having been remarkable. One of its most 

 important lines of work is the soil survey 

 which, while not in itself immediately pro- 

 ductive, really constitutes a more intel- 

 ligent basis for the development of other 

 economic work in agriculture than has 

 hitherto been available. In the strenuous 

 competition for agricultural supremacy ex- 

 isting between different countries, states 

 and individuals, a thorough knowledge of 

 all factors bearing on agriculture is essen- 

 tial. The soil is one of these factors, just 

 as climate, insects and plant diseases are 

 others. 



As an illustration of the economic value 

 of the soil survey work may be mentioned 

 the introduction of Sumatra tobacco in the 

 Connecticut valley. A soil survey made 

 in that valley in 1899, showing the distri- 

 bution of the different soils, disclosed a 

 soil producing a leaf which was the closest 

 approach to the Sumatra wrapper. While 



