The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1880-07-08
Food and Starvation.

We often hear complaints of failure OF
crops, want Of yield, that land does not
yield "as it used to do" and the cause
is SO apparent and the remedy so easy
that it Is strange there should be any
discussion upon the subject. It all lies
in a nut shell, and is contained in the
Two words, Food and Starvation"
The virgin soil was rich to fairness in
decayed vegetable matter, and long with
stood the constant drain of cropping, but
for years it has been drained Of its life
blood without any return-is now ex-
hausted. Put it back to the condition it
was when the plough first broke the sod,
and the result would be the same. But
no efforts have been made in that direc-
ton. Every successive crop has more
depleted and enfeebled it; has tended to
sap it of all plant food, and the inevita-
bic consequence is that growth should
correspondingly dwindle and land scarce
" repay culture.
Stock is fed if expected to repay in
labor. Horses and oxen are not starved,
but land is rarely looked upon in the
came light, as it should he. Feed your
acres as you do your beef and pork and
they will increase in fairness; starve, and
they will equally show their bones.
What other result could be expected {?
How can the exhaustive process 70 on
without at last resulting in failure?
Feeble and impoverished soil never will.
never can give a fair return; it is simply
impossible. Want of rest and nourish-
ment tends ever to sterility, and when q
farmer complains that his land will
scarcely "grow white BEANS" the cause
requires no long seeking. But we must
enter our protest against the "White
bean" view of the matter. They, as
wall as anything else, deserve and re.
qu1re proper food, and will equally repay
the giving. Poor land never grew even
a good crop of beans, and they delight
as much as wheat and corn in weed
less culture and fertilizing properties,
We find the food and starvation cues
ton SO ettectually set forth in late num-
Der of the Vermont Chronicle, that we cam
not refrain from copying it:
"Since the creation, until less than one
hundred years ago, the soil of Vermont
had been growing richer and richer by
the growth and decay of vegetation, by
the decomposition of the rocks. and
by the chemical changes going on in
the soil. The first settlers of this State
entered upon goodly heritage, indeed.
No prairie of the West, no Californian
valley, reports better wheat crops than
were grown in Vermont for the first fif.
ty years Of her soils cultivation. Never
were there seen, on all the earth's green
surface, better meadows or richer past
ures. These things, that were the rule
short time ago, are now becoming the
exception. We have exhausted and
spent our fathers endowment. Like tho
captains sons, We have spent all we
took in. And now-though, thank God.
We have only taken away the high con-
dition, and not the native strength of
our land-it will take much toll, much
study, and farming based upon true and
genuine business principles" to make
Vermont what she was. Shall we do it,
or shall We 60 West to devastate more
land? Our fathers are excused, because
they knew, and could know, no better.
That excuse is not for u.s."