The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1888-07-03
RALEIGH, N. c., JULY 3, 1888.

w u1FO OOOlI CIIS IcSu1I w ullo UIle
normal yield in England fifty years
ago was no more than about thirteen
bushels per acre, the average during
the last few years has reached as high
as 29.9 bushels per acre. According
to the report received this very day ]
observe that the average crop for 1885
was 3l.24 per acre.
Similar advantages have been ex
perienced in the treatment of meadows.
Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert have found
that without systematic enriching, the
most skillful farming would not pro.
duce upon English soil more than
about 1890 lbs. of hay per acre; while
in fields by the side Of those treated
in this way, judicious use of fertili.
zers has brought the crop up to about
6,4OO lbs. per acre.
But even this is not all. The various
fertilizers that are used enable the
farmer to great extent to be indie
pendent of the old system of the rota-
tion of crops; for in England, as in
this country, it has been found that
rotation of crops will not always result
in renewal of fertility. Just as in
the State of New York, when it was
found that wheat was beginning to
fail, clover was introduced and for a
time the want seemed to be supplied,
but little later the clover began to
fail, and the farmers were obliged to
look for some new means of satisfying
the new demand so it was in England,
but by means of the fertilizers intro
duced and the judicious use of manures
compounded in the farm yards, the
farmer has been able to raise contin-
uously those particular crops that
bring the best return at any given
time. On many of the farm lands Of
England by these and kindred means,
wheat has been raised continuously
for score Of years or more, with lit
tie, if any, decrease of the annual crop
per acre. It goes without saying that
the intrinsic value of the land has thus
been greatly increased.
But it is in Germany that the results
of the scientific treatment of the land
have been most completely shown. 1t
was about one hundred years ago that
Frederick the Great conceived the
idea of improving the resources of his
kingdom by the establishment of agri-
cultural schools and the reclaiming
and improving of waste lands. Every
body knows that the absorbing am
bition of that great monarch was to
make Prussia one of the foremost
powers of Europe. He had the sagacity
to perceive that this could only be
done by developing in every practic-
able way the natural resources of the
realm. Accordingly, though his king
dom was small and poor, he set apart
as much as thirty-two million dollars
a year for the purpose of improving
it's agricultural condition. His sue
cessors followed his example, and the
development of agricultural instruc-
ton has steadily progressed down to
the present day. Just after the battle
Of Jena, for example, when Prussia
had been reduced to about one-half it's
former territory and population, the
famous school at Moeglin was founded
and put under the direction of the
celebrated savants Thaer and Wolff.
After the revolution of 1848 the de-
partment of agriculture was raised to
the dignity of a separate ministry, and
from that time to the present the
policy of the government has led to
the constant enlargement of existing
schools and to the frequent establish
ment Of new ones.
The example of Prussia was fol
lowed by the other States. The far
famed academy of Tharandt was
founded in 1911, in the midst of the
turmoil incident to the Napoleonic
wars. In similar manner after the
battle of Sadowa the same govern
ment, that of Saxony, established the
agricultural college of the University
Of Leipsic Sixty thousand dollars
were given at once to complete the
outfit of scientific instruments and
collections. To-day the college con-
tains no less than twenty professional
chairs, each one of which is devoted
to instruction and practical investiga-
ton in agricultural chemistry and the
study of the physiology OF plants.
Thus every new disaster seemed to be
met with new expedient for strength