140 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



who made it the chief end and aim of their existence to "hog-in" 

 and appropriate to themselves the fertiHty which He was so long 

 in preparing. No land that was good to begin with can be per- 

 manently exhausted by one or two or even three generations of 

 farmers, however badly they may farm. The great Creator, 

 however, wisely locks up the fertility, and when man has put the 

 land out of physical condition by the exhaustion of the humus, 

 who made it the chief end and aim of their existence to ''hog-in" 

 from starvation, awaiting the time when a farmer who under- 

 stands the A B C's of farming, and thus has a key to unlock the 

 soil, puts in his appearance. 



This cry of exhausted land is not a new one. My father 

 bought an exhausted farm, so-called, in 1835, some fields of 

 which were so exhausted that they would produce but eight or 

 ten bushels of wheat per acre; but by first putting it in proper 

 physical condition and then applying lime, which (he did not 

 know why) evidently corrected the acidity of the soil, applying 

 manure when possible, and then sowing clover, he was able to 

 bring it into a normal yield of from twenty-five to thirty-three 

 bushels per acre, according to the season. 



This reminds me of the two Jews, Solomon and Isaac. 

 Their father had made a lot of money, then died and went to 

 Abraham's bosom. Solomon prospered on what his father left 

 him, but Isaac lost his money. When he spent all he went to 

 Solomon and said "Brother you know our father left this money 

 and you have made more, but I have not, will you lend me 

 $500.00?" Solomon said he would and offered it to him and 

 said " I shall charge you 9 per cent interest." Isaac said, "But 

 brother, our good father above would think you were charging 

 too high interest.' But Solomon told him " Well, Isaac, if the 

 good father sees it at all, he will think it is turned around and 

 will look like 6 per cent to him." 



This, then, is the first thing to which the twentieth century 

 agricultural teacher should direct the farmer's attention, the nec- 

 essity of putting his soil, in seasons where it is possible and as 



