THE NEW FRONTIER 169 



we work, we can build topsoil and accomplish within a period of 

 months or a few short years what nature requires decades and 

 even centuries to accomplish. Nature has provided the example, 

 with simple and definite instructions written into the geological 

 pages of the earth, in processes which we can observe, utilize, 

 and improve upon. In the foregoing chapters of this book we 

 have discussed the examples and lessons which nature has pro- 

 vided. 



As has been pointed out over and over, topsoil is the living 

 surface of the earth upon which all life depends both vegetable 

 and animal life. This living surface is a very thin blanket, 

 stretched over the earth, threadbare in many places, with vast 

 areas of sterile rock and eroded slopes showing through. By far 

 the greater part of the earth's surface is measured in millions of 

 square miles of non-arable land deserts, mountains, swamps, 

 steaming tropical jungles. The limited area of arable land has 

 been closely estimated, surveyed or measured. 



The meaning of "limited," as applied to the arable topsoil 

 of the earth can be best illustrated by asking and answering two 

 simple questions, involving rudimentary mathematics: 



Question: "How much cultivable land is there in the world?" 



Answer: "Approximately, four billion acres." 



Question: "How many people are there in the world?" 



Answer: "Over two billion." 



That is, there are an average of about two acres of arable 

 land per person. Consider the situation in what is probably the 

 most favored land in the world the United States. With our 

 present population, we have approximately three acres of arable 

 land per person. Much of .this land is so depleted that, commer- 

 cially considered, it is hardly profitable to farm it. Of what we 

 would call good farm land, we have approximately two acres per 

 person. The people of the United States barely feed themselves. 

 While we export a great deal of food, yet in normal times our 

 imports of food practically balance exports. Were we to provide 

 a minimum standard of nutrition, as outlined by our government 



