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that New England contains many so-called abandoned farms 

 which produce little or nothing. " The lesson, writ large on 

 every field, is this : That it is not the length of time during 

 which land has been cultivated, but rather the manner in which 

 it has been and is cultivated, which determines its productive- 

 ness." For Mr. Hill points out that while the richest virgin soil 

 is not so productive as the carefully tilled and fertilized soil of old 

 settled places, a few seasons' cultivation suffices to exhaust either 

 if their fertility is not replenished. 



In discussing the " demonstration " work now being conducted 

 in various states by the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 the Outlook says : " It is not difficult to persuade the farmers of 

 the desirability of increased crops, but it is difficult to persuade 

 them that it can be done. Finally, one or more farmers in each 

 district are persuaded to work a few acres in accordance with * use 

 as directed.' The demonstration farmer must do all the actual 

 work himself. Therein hes the force of the argument. What 

 he can do his neighbors will believe they can do. Each month 

 specific instructions are sent to each demonstrating farmer. Each 

 month, too, a local agent visits him and gives word-of-mouth 

 instructions. Notice is sent to all the co-operating farmers to 

 meet the agent on a given demonstration farm, where the crop 

 and plans are exhaustively discussed. This is called a ' field 

 school.' In these discussions it has been found with pathetic 

 frequency that many small farmers had never fully complied with 

 any of the essential rudiments of successful farming. Year after 

 year they had gone on charging their perfectly avoidable failures 

 to the land or the elements. One of the converts to the new 

 farming thus frankly expressed himself at a public meeting in 

 Alabama last year : ' I was born in a cotton-field and worked 

 cotton on my farm for more than forty years. I thought no one 

 could tell me anything about raising cotton. I had usually 

 raised one-half a bale on my thin soil, and I thought that was all 

 the cotton there was in it in one season. The demonstration 

 agent came along and wanted me to try his plan on two acres. 

 Not to be contrary, I agreed, but I did not believe what he told 

 me. However, I tried my best to do as he said, and at the end 



