Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-12-04
Nor AT ALL "sTARTLING'

MI ;tam in our special correspoh-
a from Chicago published in wed
nesday's News" that over s"VV0o.V-
non annually had been added 10 .'is
tnreipn trade of the United o'aees
.hrn,,pb tho efforts of the farmers
III the country, is not at all surp' 's si
10 rs. though the dispatch charac.et-
ize,s the idea as "a rather starting
proposition
Recent experiments n crop rot'
tton and scientific farming nave co'i-
v,nced experts in Chicago ana eise
where that by such methods OF coun-
teract exhaustion of the soli the a'i-
nual crop yield of the country can DC
doubled.
such n forecast may seem extraVa-
rant but it is fairly within reason.
Neither is 1t surprising that the SUB
gestion that steps be taken 10 ~
sure this result was first made ps
ra,nes !. Hill at the White House con-
E ference last spring. Were any s' atcs
man to show us how to add seven
hilton dollars annually to our foreign
tr,des y" lie said, 1T would be the
sensation of the hour Yet mere Is
nothing Improbable in such an eN-
pectation. ~,
Mr., Hilrs argument was. In nrle',
that the way to do this In agrlcullure
Is omen; that the farm products OF inc
Z United States In 1906 We're valued III
s6.794,uo0.0oO and in 1907 at S.
412,o0O,oO0; that all Of our vast 40
nestle commerce, equal In vaine "
,i,e foreign trade of all the NATIONS
combined, is supported and paid tor
a by the land. OF our farm area only
II one half is improved; that it does not
tnroduce one-half OF what 1t could pc
made. to Yield, and this not alone by
some complex system of intensive cui-
#ture, but merely by ordinary care ana
Industry ntelligently applied; and that
the fertile soil OF America Is the CAPT
Nal 6,,pon which alone we can ara"
through all the future, but the amount a I'M.
of the draft that will be honored de-
pents upon the care and intelligence
given to its cultivation.
we do not know that the case mas
Z ever been more strongly and concl-.
sely stated than BY Mr.. Hill Inc
chief. difficulty lies In inducing tne
American farmers to follow expert
advice ION agriculture. few years
ugo tho cotton-ball wecvil, one OF the
worst if not the worst Insect pest IN
the United States at the present
time, though it infests only the cot
n ton. plant. came into Texas from
Mexico. The government entomolog-
lists warned the people of Texas TO
destroy the insect, and showed them
how to do 1t. Very little attention,
however, was paid In Texas to the
warnings of the government officials.
E1any of the self-styled "practlcal
farmers even laughed at the earnest
appeals of the experts of the asrl-
cultural department at washington.
At that time Texas was producing
4 three fourths OF the worlds greatest
crop, but in few years the pail
wceyil destroyed just three-fourths of
the entire crop of Texas. Ihen the
insect invaded Arkansas and ok
lahoma and is expected presently 10
90 east OF the Mississippi. as it Is
spreading at the rate of about forty
miles per year
Our Idea is that one of the first
steps in lcgislating should be the
enlargement of the duties OF
the hortcultursts and cntomolosists
and other specialists of tho ASricul-
tural College, also the extension OF
the duties of the state boards to
include thorough inspection with a
view to the prevention or control of the
insect and weed enemies of agricu!-
t,Ire; the creation of forest commits
sion With ample powers to begin the
work of reforesting our dcnuded
mountain areas and principal can
yons; and the extension OF the duties
of the state engineers in relation TO
Investigating proposed sites for reser-
voirs, and for completing water
survey Of the state.
By taking such steps now the result
In a few years viii probably show
that tho railroad president quoted
above Is not at all extravngant in
his predictions of the possibilities o.
wisely directed American agricuture