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[SDLrVlStl^ SEP % PUB Garde]L> VOL. LXI INDIANAPOLIS, SEPTEMBER 29, 1906. NO. 39 FUTURE OP THIS COUNTRY. The Population Increasing Paster Than Production. Model Farms to Influence Intensive Agriculture the Hope of the Country. A Remarkable Address of J. J. Hill. Population In 1950 204,041,228. Timber supply exhausted. Iron ami coal mines depleted. Mannfacturtng limited. Tide to tne city will turn back to the farm. Model farms and Intensive agriculture. The road to Increased production. The example of other nations. The remarkable address of Mr. James J. Hill, of the Great Northern railway, at the recent Minnesota State fair is surely a key note on agriculture. The address takes a most comprehensive view of the future of all the great industries, for mining and manufaeturing and agriculture are all linked together iu n large sense. We have space for only a fair summary of this great address, and chiefly of that part of it relating to agrieulture, but note more briefly his statements based on statistics and the present knowledge of our other natural resources. 1. Mr. Hill begins his address by calling attention to the fact that by the present rate of increase of population, the United States will have 204,011,223 people in 1050. 2. That ly that time our timber supply at the present rate of use will be practically exhausted. 3. That at the present rate of consumption iron and coal mines, so far as now known, will be depleted. 4. That our manufacturing, which is chiefly based on these natural resources, will come to a turn in the road. 5. That the great tide- of population now headed for towns and cities, under the influence of manufacturing and the other industries will be compelled to turn back to the soil and the farm for sustenance. Elaborating these live propositions with strong deductions based on statistical facts relating to each, and quoting the present rate of consumption aud exhaustion of our known resources of mines and forests, Mr. Hill proceeds with great clearness to consider our last hope, that of agriculture. There is no element of pessimism in the address, for plain facts are wholly relied on and quoted. Under these conditions Mr. Hill says the Reliance Must be the Soil. "This Is the sole asset that does not perish, because It contoins within Itself, If not abused, tne possibility of infinite renewal. All thc life that exists upon this planet, all the development of man from his lowest to bis highest qualities, rest as firmly and as unreservedly upon the capacities of the soil as do his feet upon the ground beneath him. The soil alone Is capable of self-renewal, through the wasting of the rocks, through the agency of plant life, through Its chemical reactions with the liquids and gases within and without It. A self-perpetuating race must rely upon some self-perpetuating means of support. Our one resource, therefore, looking at humanity as something more than the creature of a day, Is tha productivity of the soil. Aud since that too may be ralsod to a high power or lowered to the Point of disappearing value, It U of the first consequence to consider how the. people of the United States have dealt with this, their greatset safeguard and their choicest dowtv." Mr. Hill says that ouly half the agricultural lauds are now tilled, nnd that tillage is so indifferent in quality that the land so cultivated does not produce one- half of what it might be made to produce. These indifferent methods of cultivation have caused deterioration of soil more than five centuries of proper cultivation would have caused, and yet we ns a nation are only a little over a century old. Quoting again from Mr. Hill's address, he says of Soil Depletion. "On the new lands of the West, where once the wheat yield was from twenty to thirty bushels per acre, It Is now from twelve to eignu-en Frankly, nnd without shame, this Is attributed to thc "wenring out" of the soil, as If the earth were a garment that must be destroyed by tho wearing. If the earth, the mother of humanity, is to "wear dred aud fifty, or two hundred millions, within the lifetime of those now grown to man's estate, with a potential food supply that falls as the draft upon it advances. How are these people lo l«e red!" - Intensive Agriculture Needed. .Mr. Hill lays great stress upon tha importance of intelligent and intensive agriculture, and refers to the great work being done along these lines by the several agricultural colleges and experiment stations, and says: "Agriculture in the most intelligent meaning of tho term is something almost unknown In the United States. We have a light scratching of the soil and the gathering of all that it can be made to yield by the most rapidly exhauatlve methods, except in Isolated instances, on small tracts here ami there, farmed by people Bomellmes regarded as cranks, and at some experiment stations, there, is no attempt to deal with the soil seleutlttcally. "MODEL FARMS." "The government should establish a small Model Farm in every rural Congressional District; later perhaps in every county in the Agricultural States. Let the Department of Agriculture show exactly what can be done on a small tract of land by proper cultivation, moderate fertilizing and due rotation of crops. The sight of the fields and their contrast with those of their neighbors, the knowledge of yields secured and profits possible, would be worth more than all the pamphlets poured out from the government printing office in years." J. J. Hill. out" what is to become of the race? The fact is that the 9oI1b properly treated maintain their productiveness indefinitely under cultivation. The further fact la that, with the disappearance of pestilence and the discontinuance of war that belong to the future., all contributing to the growth of populaion, the productive capacity of the Boll must be sustained at its highest point or the world suiTer want." "It Is not ninny years since the favored wbeat- produclug arojiB of the American Northwest gave a yield of from twenty-five bushels per acre up> wards. Now an average of twelve to fifteen is accepted as satisfactory. Under the stress of need, by Intelligent cultivation, many of the lands of Great Britain, cropped for a thousand years, are made to bear thirty bushels to the acre. The rich deep soil of our own country, drawn upon for a few decades, produces about twelve. The same ratio holds good of other cereals aud of every product of the field. The sea Islands that once grew the most famous cotton staple In the world are virtually abandoned. The people have neglected the preservation of the toll. They take away all and give nothing back. "Thorough fertilization of the land has no place In the general work on thc American farm. .Average American agriculture means the extraction from nature of the greatest Immediate return at the lowest possible outlay of labor or money, with sublime disregard of consequences. Except at scattered experiment stations and in Isolated Instances there is little done In the United States towards farm economies. Scientific adaptation of soil to product, intelligent rotation of crops, diversification of industry, intensive farming constitute the rare exception and not the rule. Oily two states in the Union show an average total value Of farm products in excess of thirty dollars per acre of Improved land. The figure for Illinois In 1000 was $12.4S; for North Carolina $10.72; for Minnesota $8.74. By proper cultivation these returns could easily be doubled nnd still leave the soil's resources unimpaired. The doubling of all products of the farm would add to the wealth of this country from five to six billion dollars every year, according to the crop yield of the season and the range of market prices. Therefore, and this Is the focal point of the whole matter, the country i» approaching the inevitable advent of a population of one hun- generously or even fairly. In manufactures we have come to consider small economies so carefully that the difference of a fraction of a cent, the utilization of a by-product of something formerly consigned to the scrap heap, makes the difference. t>etween a profit nnd bankruptcy. In farming we are satisfied with a small yield at ihe expeuse of the most rapid soil deterioration. We Rre satisfied with a national average annual product of $11.38 per acre, at the cost of a diminishing annual return from the same fields, when we might Just as well secure from two to three times that sum. Here Is a draft which we may draw upon the future and know that It will not be dishonored. Ilere Is the occupation In which the millions of the future may find a happy nnd contented lot." He says when the tide again turns to the soil, under other exhausting natural resources for manufacturing, as it will in time, we can utilize the surplus population in agriculture, under intensive methods of fr.rming adopted in England and other countries, and increase our annual agricultural products to double the present yields of $5,000,000,000 in value per year, to ten nnd even- fifteen billions of dollars every year. In this country thc average wheat yield is about 13 bushels per acre. Great Britain has an average yield of 30 irashels, and her soil naturally is much inferior to ours. "Some thirty yoars ago the French considered a crop quite good wlvn It yielded twenty-two bushels to thc acre; but with the same soil the present requirement is at least thirty-three bushels; while In the best sols the crop Is good only when It yields from forty-three to forty-night bushels. and occasionally the product Is as much as fifty. five Imis1i,>Ih to the acre." Some Interesting Facts. "Some Interesting facts have been brought out by the work of the Minnesota State Agricultural SchooL With only ordinary fertilization, and with such culture as *ould be applied to large areas, the average yield of wheat oj the plots nuder experiment for atven rears was 26.4 bush els per acre; of oats 07.2 bushels; of corn 42.8 bushels, and of hay the average for five years waa ;t.91 tons per acre. This was accomplished merely by usiug a system of five year rotation; the land being treated in Ibis order; corn, wheat, meadow, pasture, oats. The figures given are nearly double the average yield from the farms of the State. There Is therefore no exaggeration In the statement that our farm production could lie made two-foal what it Is by the mere application af more careful methods without any Intensive cultivation whatever. If the lands of the states were cultivated according to a seven year system of rotation—grain, grain, grass, pasture, grain, oats, grain—without fertilizers, It Is estimated on good authority that the same amount of grain would be gathered during the four seasons in which It appears In this regular order as is now obtained from cropping grain every year. That is to say, the fanner would obtain at the end of seven years exactly the same, amount of grain that he now takes as the entire product of his fields; while in addition he would have the Whole amount of other crops and of stock for which the three seasons of vacation from grain growing would furnish opportunity. He would, while preserving the. fertility of his acres and guarding against soil deterioration, add three- sevenths to the volume of his material profits. Such Is the promise of the simplest of all improvements in method." "A recent report of the department of agriculture cites thc case of a farm In Pennsylvania which was so exhausted as to be Incapable of prolusion. This little tract of fifteen acres, devoted strictly to dairying and treated each year ry particle of the natural fertilizers thus .obtained, produces a revenue of about $3,000 or $200 per acre annually. There Is no secret in the process, Just as there la no uncertainty In the result. And by a combination cf judicious crop rotation which admits and requires diversification of farm industry, with careful fertilizing, the estimate of a doubled money value for the yield of the present farm area of the United States would be found under the mark." Establish Model Farms. Mr. Hill in his address recognizes the fact that a few State agricultural colleges and stations are not sufficient to hurry forward the great work of developing agriculture, but claims that model farms should be established for object lessons which would Quicken agricultural thought and action. He says: "The government should establish a small model farm on its own land In every rural congressional district, later perhaps in even* county In the agricultural states. Let the Department of Agriculture show exactly what can be done on a small tract of land by proper cultivation, moderate fertilizing and due rotation of crops. The sight of the fields and their contrast with those of their' neighbors, the knowledge of yields secured and profits possible, would be worth more than all the pr.mphlets poured oujt from the government printing office In yenrs. The government ought not to hesitate before the comparatively small expense and labor involved in such a practical encouragement of what Is the most Important Industry of our present and the stay and promise of our future. Disseminate knowledge of farming as It should and must be, Instead of maintaining the pitiful bribe of a few free seeds. Declare everywhere, from the executive chamber, from thc editorial office, from the platform, aud above all from every college classroom and from every little schoolhouse In the land, the new crusade. Let the zeal for discovery, for experiment, for scientific advancement that have made the last century one of multiplied wonders focus itself upon the problems of the oldest of sciences and arts; the corner-stone of all civilization; the Improvement of tillage and making to grow two grains where ouly one grew before. Only thus may a multiplying population secure its permanent maintenance. Only thus may the struggle for existence that has power either to curse or bless be brought to any other termination than the peace of death." The Crop Reporting Board of the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Agriculture finds that the condition of corn on September 1 was 90.2, as compared with 88.1 last month, 89.5 on September 1, 1905, 84.0 at the corresponding date in 1904, and a ten-year average of 81.
Object Description
Title | Indiana farmer, 1906, v. 61, no. 39 (Sept. 29) |
Purdue Identification Number | INFA6139 |
Date of Original | 1906 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | United States - Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or not-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Date Digitized | 2011-02-10 |
Digitization Information | Original scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or non-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Digitization Information | Orignal scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Transcript | [SDLrVlStl^ SEP % PUB Garde]L> VOL. LXI INDIANAPOLIS, SEPTEMBER 29, 1906. NO. 39 FUTURE OP THIS COUNTRY. The Population Increasing Paster Than Production. Model Farms to Influence Intensive Agriculture the Hope of the Country. A Remarkable Address of J. J. Hill. Population In 1950 204,041,228. Timber supply exhausted. Iron ami coal mines depleted. Mannfacturtng limited. Tide to tne city will turn back to the farm. Model farms and Intensive agriculture. The road to Increased production. The example of other nations. The remarkable address of Mr. James J. Hill, of the Great Northern railway, at the recent Minnesota State fair is surely a key note on agriculture. The address takes a most comprehensive view of the future of all the great industries, for mining and manufaeturing and agriculture are all linked together iu n large sense. We have space for only a fair summary of this great address, and chiefly of that part of it relating to agrieulture, but note more briefly his statements based on statistics and the present knowledge of our other natural resources. 1. Mr. Hill begins his address by calling attention to the fact that by the present rate of increase of population, the United States will have 204,011,223 people in 1050. 2. That ly that time our timber supply at the present rate of use will be practically exhausted. 3. That at the present rate of consumption iron and coal mines, so far as now known, will be depleted. 4. That our manufacturing, which is chiefly based on these natural resources, will come to a turn in the road. 5. That the great tide- of population now headed for towns and cities, under the influence of manufacturing and the other industries will be compelled to turn back to the soil and the farm for sustenance. Elaborating these live propositions with strong deductions based on statistical facts relating to each, and quoting the present rate of consumption aud exhaustion of our known resources of mines and forests, Mr. Hill proceeds with great clearness to consider our last hope, that of agriculture. There is no element of pessimism in the address, for plain facts are wholly relied on and quoted. Under these conditions Mr. Hill says the Reliance Must be the Soil. "This Is the sole asset that does not perish, because It contoins within Itself, If not abused, tne possibility of infinite renewal. All thc life that exists upon this planet, all the development of man from his lowest to bis highest qualities, rest as firmly and as unreservedly upon the capacities of the soil as do his feet upon the ground beneath him. The soil alone Is capable of self-renewal, through the wasting of the rocks, through the agency of plant life, through Its chemical reactions with the liquids and gases within and without It. A self-perpetuating race must rely upon some self-perpetuating means of support. Our one resource, therefore, looking at humanity as something more than the creature of a day, Is tha productivity of the soil. Aud since that too may be ralsod to a high power or lowered to the Point of disappearing value, It U of the first consequence to consider how the. people of the United States have dealt with this, their greatset safeguard and their choicest dowtv." Mr. Hill says that ouly half the agricultural lauds are now tilled, nnd that tillage is so indifferent in quality that the land so cultivated does not produce one- half of what it might be made to produce. These indifferent methods of cultivation have caused deterioration of soil more than five centuries of proper cultivation would have caused, and yet we ns a nation are only a little over a century old. Quoting again from Mr. Hill's address, he says of Soil Depletion. "On the new lands of the West, where once the wheat yield was from twenty to thirty bushels per acre, It Is now from twelve to eignu-en Frankly, nnd without shame, this Is attributed to thc "wenring out" of the soil, as If the earth were a garment that must be destroyed by tho wearing. If the earth, the mother of humanity, is to "wear dred aud fifty, or two hundred millions, within the lifetime of those now grown to man's estate, with a potential food supply that falls as the draft upon it advances. How are these people lo l«e red!" - Intensive Agriculture Needed. .Mr. Hill lays great stress upon tha importance of intelligent and intensive agriculture, and refers to the great work being done along these lines by the several agricultural colleges and experiment stations, and says: "Agriculture in the most intelligent meaning of tho term is something almost unknown In the United States. We have a light scratching of the soil and the gathering of all that it can be made to yield by the most rapidly exhauatlve methods, except in Isolated instances, on small tracts here ami there, farmed by people Bomellmes regarded as cranks, and at some experiment stations, there, is no attempt to deal with the soil seleutlttcally. "MODEL FARMS." "The government should establish a small Model Farm in every rural Congressional District; later perhaps in every county in the Agricultural States. Let the Department of Agriculture show exactly what can be done on a small tract of land by proper cultivation, moderate fertilizing and due rotation of crops. The sight of the fields and their contrast with those of their neighbors, the knowledge of yields secured and profits possible, would be worth more than all the pamphlets poured out from the government printing office in years." J. J. Hill. out" what is to become of the race? The fact is that the 9oI1b properly treated maintain their productiveness indefinitely under cultivation. The further fact la that, with the disappearance of pestilence and the discontinuance of war that belong to the future., all contributing to the growth of populaion, the productive capacity of the Boll must be sustained at its highest point or the world suiTer want." "It Is not ninny years since the favored wbeat- produclug arojiB of the American Northwest gave a yield of from twenty-five bushels per acre up> wards. Now an average of twelve to fifteen is accepted as satisfactory. Under the stress of need, by Intelligent cultivation, many of the lands of Great Britain, cropped for a thousand years, are made to bear thirty bushels to the acre. The rich deep soil of our own country, drawn upon for a few decades, produces about twelve. The same ratio holds good of other cereals aud of every product of the field. The sea Islands that once grew the most famous cotton staple In the world are virtually abandoned. The people have neglected the preservation of the toll. They take away all and give nothing back. "Thorough fertilization of the land has no place In the general work on thc American farm. .Average American agriculture means the extraction from nature of the greatest Immediate return at the lowest possible outlay of labor or money, with sublime disregard of consequences. Except at scattered experiment stations and in Isolated Instances there is little done In the United States towards farm economies. Scientific adaptation of soil to product, intelligent rotation of crops, diversification of industry, intensive farming constitute the rare exception and not the rule. Oily two states in the Union show an average total value Of farm products in excess of thirty dollars per acre of Improved land. The figure for Illinois In 1000 was $12.4S; for North Carolina $10.72; for Minnesota $8.74. By proper cultivation these returns could easily be doubled nnd still leave the soil's resources unimpaired. The doubling of all products of the farm would add to the wealth of this country from five to six billion dollars every year, according to the crop yield of the season and the range of market prices. Therefore, and this Is the focal point of the whole matter, the country i» approaching the inevitable advent of a population of one hun- generously or even fairly. In manufactures we have come to consider small economies so carefully that the difference of a fraction of a cent, the utilization of a by-product of something formerly consigned to the scrap heap, makes the difference. t>etween a profit nnd bankruptcy. In farming we are satisfied with a small yield at ihe expeuse of the most rapid soil deterioration. We Rre satisfied with a national average annual product of $11.38 per acre, at the cost of a diminishing annual return from the same fields, when we might Just as well secure from two to three times that sum. Here Is a draft which we may draw upon the future and know that It will not be dishonored. Ilere Is the occupation In which the millions of the future may find a happy nnd contented lot." He says when the tide again turns to the soil, under other exhausting natural resources for manufacturing, as it will in time, we can utilize the surplus population in agriculture, under intensive methods of fr.rming adopted in England and other countries, and increase our annual agricultural products to double the present yields of $5,000,000,000 in value per year, to ten nnd even- fifteen billions of dollars every year. In this country thc average wheat yield is about 13 bushels per acre. Great Britain has an average yield of 30 irashels, and her soil naturally is much inferior to ours. "Some thirty yoars ago the French considered a crop quite good wlvn It yielded twenty-two bushels to thc acre; but with the same soil the present requirement is at least thirty-three bushels; while In the best sols the crop Is good only when It yields from forty-three to forty-night bushels. and occasionally the product Is as much as fifty. five Imis1i,>Ih to the acre." Some Interesting Facts. "Some Interesting facts have been brought out by the work of the Minnesota State Agricultural SchooL With only ordinary fertilization, and with such culture as *ould be applied to large areas, the average yield of wheat oj the plots nuder experiment for atven rears was 26.4 bush els per acre; of oats 07.2 bushels; of corn 42.8 bushels, and of hay the average for five years waa ;t.91 tons per acre. This was accomplished merely by usiug a system of five year rotation; the land being treated in Ibis order; corn, wheat, meadow, pasture, oats. The figures given are nearly double the average yield from the farms of the State. There Is therefore no exaggeration In the statement that our farm production could lie made two-foal what it Is by the mere application af more careful methods without any Intensive cultivation whatever. If the lands of the states were cultivated according to a seven year system of rotation—grain, grain, grass, pasture, grain, oats, grain—without fertilizers, It Is estimated on good authority that the same amount of grain would be gathered during the four seasons in which It appears In this regular order as is now obtained from cropping grain every year. That is to say, the fanner would obtain at the end of seven years exactly the same, amount of grain that he now takes as the entire product of his fields; while in addition he would have the Whole amount of other crops and of stock for which the three seasons of vacation from grain growing would furnish opportunity. He would, while preserving the. fertility of his acres and guarding against soil deterioration, add three- sevenths to the volume of his material profits. Such Is the promise of the simplest of all improvements in method." "A recent report of the department of agriculture cites thc case of a farm In Pennsylvania which was so exhausted as to be Incapable of prolusion. This little tract of fifteen acres, devoted strictly to dairying and treated each year ry particle of the natural fertilizers thus .obtained, produces a revenue of about $3,000 or $200 per acre annually. There Is no secret in the process, Just as there la no uncertainty In the result. And by a combination cf judicious crop rotation which admits and requires diversification of farm industry, with careful fertilizing, the estimate of a doubled money value for the yield of the present farm area of the United States would be found under the mark." Establish Model Farms. Mr. Hill in his address recognizes the fact that a few State agricultural colleges and stations are not sufficient to hurry forward the great work of developing agriculture, but claims that model farms should be established for object lessons which would Quicken agricultural thought and action. He says: "The government should establish a small model farm on its own land In every rural congressional district, later perhaps in even* county In the agricultural states. Let the Department of Agriculture show exactly what can be done on a small tract of land by proper cultivation, moderate fertilizing and due rotation of crops. The sight of the fields and their contrast with those of their' neighbors, the knowledge of yields secured and profits possible, would be worth more than all the pr.mphlets poured oujt from the government printing office In yenrs. The government ought not to hesitate before the comparatively small expense and labor involved in such a practical encouragement of what Is the most Important Industry of our present and the stay and promise of our future. Disseminate knowledge of farming as It should and must be, Instead of maintaining the pitiful bribe of a few free seeds. Declare everywhere, from the executive chamber, from thc editorial office, from the platform, aud above all from every college classroom and from every little schoolhouse In the land, the new crusade. Let the zeal for discovery, for experiment, for scientific advancement that have made the last century one of multiplied wonders focus itself upon the problems of the oldest of sciences and arts; the corner-stone of all civilization; the Improvement of tillage and making to grow two grains where ouly one grew before. Only thus may a multiplying population secure its permanent maintenance. Only thus may the struggle for existence that has power either to curse or bless be brought to any other termination than the peace of death." The Crop Reporting Board of the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Agriculture finds that the condition of corn on September 1 was 90.2, as compared with 88.1 last month, 89.5 on September 1, 1905, 84.0 at the corresponding date in 1904, and a ten-year average of 81. |
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