Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1907-11-22
THE FARMER IS KING
Wonderful Improvement Made in
Agricultural Conditions.
ADDING TO WORLDS WEALTH
Intelligent Cultivation, Scientific Treat
mint and Judicious Fertilizing arc
Making the Soil More Productive

One of the most remarkable ten
denotes of the times in the United
States is the depletion of it's great
resources. Every leading industry
ia being developed 10 such an un.
precedented extent that experts fear
the country may be handed down TO
the next generation barren of the
great natural resources that have
made it first in the family Of nations
The geological survey, which knows
the mineral resources of the United
States as child knows its picture
book, has stated that the coal sup
ply will be exhausted, at the present
rate of consumption, in less than
seventy five years; that the date of
the exhaustion of the natural gas
supply Is not generation hence;
that the petroleum of the country
will cease to form the basis of q
profitable industry within the mem
ory Of men living, and that even the
artesIan wells are losing some of
their force by the reckless waste of
the water they pour ont. Likewise.
the forest service sees the complete
exhaustion of the timber supply of
the country within quarter of a
century.
But there Is today one great force
the farm. While every other ln-
dustry is tearing down the farmer
ls building up. While others are
robbing the soil of its treasures, be
is adding to its possibilities. Intel
ligent cultivation, scientific treat
ment, judicious fertillzing, are max
ing the soil produce unbounded
wealth, and at the same time max
ing it more productive for the years
to come. Under the stimulus of
the Department of Agriculture, it
Is going forward with a rapidity
that has never been equaled in the
sixty centuries that man has earned
his living with the sweat of his
brow. Farms are becoming more
fertile every year, AMI new areas
are annually being added to the
producing acreage.
The work of the Department of
Agriculture has done, and will do,
much for the Nation. Il has in
creased the per acre yield Of wheat
from 9.9 bushels in 1886 to is. 8
bushels in 1905. 1t has increased
the per acre yield of corn from % 3
bushels in 1866 to 80. 3 bushels in
1906, or 4sS, 900, 900 bushels more
in the aggregate than would have
been produced on the same number
of acres in 1866. The money value
of these two increases alone, under
prices prevailing last December, Is
S26s, 900, 900. thus abundantly jus
tifying the statement of Secretary
Wilson that the department has al
ready brought about results worth
hundreds of millions of dollars an.
nually.
Great as has been the progress of
the agricultural interests of the
country in the past forty years,
Secretary Wilson feels that the de-
partment has scarcely crossed the
threshold of ITS mission of discovery
aud education, and that the farmer
IS just awaking to the latent posi-.
bilities of the soil. The department
has proved that by simply folio wing
well understood principles of farm
management the cotton growers
of the country could grow a bals
and . quarter 70 the acre where they
now grow two-tifths Of bale. See
rotary Wilson foresees the time,
within quarter Of century, wher
the corn crop per acre can be in
creased By one-half. Wheat, Ia
says, may be made 10 yield one-half
more 70 the acre within q genera
lion, and At present quotations, on
The same acreage. that would meaf
anuther quarter billion dollars fol