Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-06

land, his European forebearS were
peasant tenants. He owned as
much land as a baron In Eu-
rope. He had to till 1t all with his own
the necessity which was the mother OF
the invention of labor saving farm ma
chinery The American farm machin-
cry agent has gone into every country
of the world and has carried revolution
with him. To the triumphs. In this
field the American farmer is adding the
victories of science over ignorance. HIS
future is big with progress.
The United States has a total area
of about two billion acres. If one
billion be set aside for cities, towns,
mines, factories and other non-farming
land there will remain a balance of
$50, 900, 900 acres. This is almost three
times as much land as the farmer OF
today uses in growing the food stun
for the people Of the United States and
many of those of Europe. By exten-
sion of present methods of farming
to all this available acreage the United
States in the year 1000 will be able to
grow all the food stuff necessary for
its 1886, 900, 900 people. But the present
spirit of progress is not content with
merely extending present methods to
greater acreage. The American FARMER
Is determined to make 1.-TWO blades OF
grass grow where one grew before" to
make one blade of grass grow where
none grows now.
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson and
that wizard of the soil, Luther Bur-
bank, agree that the progress made
by the American farmer in the past
forty years is as nothing to what will
be done in the years to come. Toward
the end of this century the farmer will
be the best educated man in America.
He will be chemist with knowledge
to enable him to so handle his soils,
his fertilizers and his food stuffs as
to make them yield the maximum of
profit. He will be botanist with
knowledge to enable him to take ad-
vantage of the laws of heredity to
breed disease-resisting and frost-re-
sisting plants. He will keep pace With
every movement of the scientific world
which can be turned to his advantage.
He will be able greatly to increase
the quantity and quality of his wheat
and corn, vegetables and fruit, cotton
and wool without having to add sin
gle acre to his field.
But suppose this forward movement
is slower than now seems probable,
suppose the average farmer of ninety
years hence does only as well as the
best farmers of today. Even that
would mean the increase of the pres
ent yield of corn from three billion to
sc zen billion bushels a year, on the
present acreage. The acreage wheat
land in this country now yields fifteen
bushels per acre. Yet there are today
many farmers who are producing for
ty-five bushels an acre on land that
forty years ago was considered rich
when 1t gave an average of fifteen
bushels.
Leaving aside the wonderful improve
ment in the heredity of the plant-life
stock, which is helping the farmer
every day, the development OF the
science of soil chemistry is certain to
add to the power of the farmers arm.
Growing crops need certain chemical
foods Just as much as human beings
do. Our chemical diet Is taken as COM
pounded into bread and meat. The bill
of fare for the plants Is more candid
and there must be nitrogen. potash and
phosphorus The needs of different soils
and of various plants differ just as the
requirements of animals differ The
advanced farmer of today, aided and
abetted by Uncle Jimmy Wilson's
bright young men, Is studying the
needs of his soil and the appetite of
his crops
Commercial fertilizers will supply the
demands of the plants for suitable
food. The right kind of fertilizer will
be applied and the result will be uni
formly helpful. The cost of fertilizers
will be decreased The tobacco grower
must needs give his plants potash. To-
day the potash comes from German
mines and costs cents a pound A new
way has been found to obtain a supply
from our granite mountains by the SIM