Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-05-21


| tenn of agriculture that prevails through
ont these Stats Unaucstionahly the soil
| has been abused" Tho richest region of
the West is no moro exempt than New
England or the South Tho soil of the
West is being reduced in agricultural
potency by exactly the same processes
which have driven tn. farmer o. the
East, with all his advar age Of nearness
to markets, from the field.
DECREASING YIELDS
Within the last 40 years a great part
of the richest land in IN, country has
been brought under cultivation. We
| should, therefore, in he same time
/ have raised proportionately the yield
of our principal cro-s per acre: be-
cause tho yield of old lands, if proper
! ~ treated, tends to increase rather
than diminish. The year 1906 was one
of large crops and can scarcely be
taken as a standard We produced,
for example, more corn that year than
had ever been grown in the United
States in a single year before. But
the average yield per acre was less
than It was in 1872. We are barely
keeping the acre product stationary.
now ranges from 1914, In ordinary
years, to Is bushels per acre in the
best seasons And 50 it is on down
| the line.
But the fact Of SOL waste becomes
startlingly evident when we examine
the record of some States where single
cropping and other agricultural abuses
have been prevalent Take the case
.-;v,
abuse. Many OF us can remember
when New York was he great wheat
producing state of the Union. Tho
average yield OF wheat per acre in
New York for the last 10 years was
about Is bushels, For the first five
years OF that 1o-year period it was
1874 bushels, and for the last five IA
bushels In the farther West. Kansas
takes high rank rs a wheat producer.
Its average yield per acre for the last
10 years was 1416 bushels. For the
first five of those years it was 1914
and for the last five 1915 Up in the
Northwest. Minnesota wheat has made
a name all over the world. Her aver
age yield per aero for the same 10
years was 1926 bushels. For the first
five years it was 1912 and for the last
ing of a uniform law, independent Of
location. soil or climate It Is the law
Of diminishing return due to soil de-
struction. Apply this to the country
at large, and it reduces agriculture to
the condition Of a bank whose deposi-
tors are steadily drawing out more
money than they put in
UNFAVORABLE COMPARISON.
What Is true IN this instance is true
of our agriculture as a whole. In no
other important country in the world.
with the exception of Russia, is the in
dustry that must be the foundation of
every State at 50 low an ebb in our
own. According to the last census the
az erage annual product per acre of the
farms of the wAole United States was
worth $ll.3S. 1t is little more than a re-
spectacle rental in communities where
the soil is properly cared for and made
to give a reasonable return for cultiva-
ton There Were but two States in the
Union whose total value of farm products
was over $50 per acre Of improved land.
| The great State OF Illinois gave but
SPAS and Minnesota showed only $S,14.
No discrimination attaches to these
figures, where al are much at fault.
Nature has given TO us the most valuable
possession ever committed to man. 1t can
never he duplicated, because there is none
} like it upon the face of the earth And
we are racking and improverishl il
I exactly as We are telling the forests
and rif!ing the mines. Our soil, once the
envy OF every other country, the attrac-
ton which draws millions of Immigrant.
across the seas, gave an average yield
for the whole United States during the
s 10 years beginning with 1896 of 49,
bushels of wheat per acre. Austria and
D Hungary each produced over II bushels
{ per acre. France 1873 Germany 216 and
the United Kingdom 81 bushels per acre
D For the same decade our average yclc
$ of oats was less than 30 bushels, while
- Germany produced Al and Great Britain
r A. For barley the figures are q against
| 80 and A,6; for rye 1874 against "A fol
o Germany and S for ireland. In the
. United Kingdom, Belgium, the Neither
f lands and Denmark yield of more thar
= 30 bushels of wheat per acre has beer
z the average for the past five years.
d ROBBING THE SOIL.
n When the most fertile land in the worlC
, produces so much less than that of poore
quality elsewhere, and this low yielC
shows tendency to steady decline, tn
situation becomes clear. We are robbinl
n the soil, in an effort to get the larges
\ cash returns from each acre Of grount
5 in the shortest possible time and will
: the least possible labor. This soil Is no
| dead n