ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 139 



It seems to me that in outlining the requirements of twen- 

 tieth century farming, it is best to call the farmer's attention 

 first to the absolute necessity of maintaining the soil in proper 

 physical condition for the growth and maturity of the plants 

 which he cultivates. In order that he should see the necessity 

 of putting and keeping his land in proper physical condition it 

 is necessary that he should understand the root system of plants 

 not merely to the extent of the root development of the various 

 plants which he cultivates, but also the means by which they 

 take their food, always in solution and in the most minute quan- 

 tities. Hence the necessity of their occupying as much as pos- 

 sible of the soil, and hence the necessity of havin'g the soil in 

 fine tilth. He must understand not merely the root system and 

 the general characteristics of the plants which he grows, but 

 also the water-holding capacity of soils, and the necessity of main- 

 taining a cistern over his entire farm when the plants make their 

 demands for water, and also the necessity of putting a cover 

 on that cistern in the shape of a mulch of dry dirt during as 

 great a portion of the period of plant growth as possible. 



These seem to me to be the very A B C's of farming, and 

 without a knowledge of these it is not possible to succeed ex- 

 cept on virgin soils, in favorable seasons or by accident. The 

 root system of plants cannot possibly be properly developed with- 

 out the soil being in first-class physical condition; nor can soils 

 out of first-class physical condition in seasons of partial drouth 

 ever supply the amount of water required for the full develop- 

 ment of the plant. 



There are many soils which are supposed to be exhausted, 

 which, by a judicious system of tillage, will afford fairly good 

 paying crops without the use of fertilizer, if once put in the pro- 

 per physical condition. It is not true in a strict sense that tillage 

 is manure; but it is true that tillage helps mightily even when soils 

 are somewhat lacking in some of the elements of fertility. 



I do not believe that the great Farmer of farmers, after 

 spending countless ages in preparing this great country for the 

 home of man, ever intended that its fertility should be perma- 

 nently exhausted by one or two generations of so-called farmers. 



