The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-05-14

decay and ultimate ruin? Is the day
to come when the New Zealander will
sketch the ruins of St. Paul from Lon
don bridge, and the ruins of the cap
itol at Washington from Arlington
Heights ? The question is n that
may we'll stir our thought, and may
we'll deserve our serious contempla-
ton.
The answer is not difficult. Ma
lures lesson is an easy n which even
primitive peoples have sometimes
learned and needed. We know that
in China, even though her civilization
seems to us rude and unprogresslve,
ways have been found of meeting the
demands Of fertility, SO that the wants
of a great and ever increasing popu-
lation are met by an ever increasing
supply. In India, there is even more
striking illustration Of the easy posi-
bilities within reach. For, although
within the present century the popu-
lation of that teeming peninsula has
nearly doubled, the resources of the
soil are commonly ample to meet this
enormously increasing demand. To
some of the nations of antiquity the
secrets of successful agriculture were
well known. For, so long as the Blu
COLES of Virgil, and the letters of Cic-
ero, and the essays of Columella, re.
main to instruct and delight us, the
world can never forget how carefully
the resources of the soil and the con-
ditions of successful culture were
studied by the great Roman people.
BUTT is in modern times that this les
son has been most carefully learned.
Everywhere in Europe an enormous
increase, in population has resulted
from the changes in civilization dur
ing the last century. The new inven-
tons have set up water wheels by ev-
cry running stream, and have put the
steam engine to work in every village.
Hamlets have everywhere grown into
villages, villages into cities; and a
dense population has pushed itself into
regions which before we're unpeopled.
Thus the demand for bread has be-
come everywhere o and more i'm
perative.
Now a new necessity always leads to
new expedients. Prices we're in
creased by the increased demands, and
these prices in turn were met by new
methods of increasing the supply.
Thus there sprang up in all parts of
Europe systematic efforts to increase
the productiveness of the soil.
Let IS glance fora moment at what
has been done in those countries that
have felt the new demands most keen
ly, and that have been most success
full in meeting them.
Look first at England. In 1843,
Mr.. Lawes established an experiment
station at Rothamstead, and from that
time to the present systematic expert
ments have been conducted with a
view to as~certaining the peculiarities
of soils in England, and the effect upon
those soils of different and
fertilizers.
Perhaps the most interesting Of
these experiments are those by which
the capacity of different soils has been
tested for bearing continuous crops.
From 1852 down to the present time,
certain fields have borne the same
crops without interruption, Of
them without fertilizers of any kind,
some of them treated with CONNER
cial fertilizers, and some of them
treated with farm yard manures.
Not to go into any detail, it is per-
haps enough to call your attention to
the results of experiments on the
growth Of wheat. On the unmanured
fields the crop has steadily declined,
the average for fOrty-three years be-
ing thirteen bushels per acre. The
fields treated with artificial manures
have yielded upon an average from
twenty-seven to thirty-six bushels per
acre during the last thirty-three years;
while the field treated with farm-yard
manure has steadily increased in fer
tility, yielding upon an average thir-
ty-three and one-half bushels per acre,
and in 1885 yielding forty and one
eighth bushels per r
The results of these kindred exper-
iments are naturally awaited with
great interest by all the farmers Of
the kingdom. The methods here
shown to be advantageous have been
very generally applied throughout the
kingdom And what now do we find
to have been the result? While the
normal yield in England fifty years
ago was no more than about thirteen
bushels per acre, the average during
the last years has reached as high as
29.9 bushels per acre. According to
the Report received this very day I
observed that the average crop for
1885 was 3l.24 per acre.
Similar advantages have been ex-
perienced in the treatment of mead
ows. Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert have
fOund that without systematic oDriob