Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1909-12-24
INTENSE Il FARMING.

INTENSIVE FARMING.
s. New YORK Tribune: III. James j.
Hills appeal ii the WORLDS Work for
the stopping Of agricultural waste Il
one Of the most timely and pertinent
utterances which have been made On
the whole subject of the conservation
Of our natural resources. Not long ago
there were published statistics showing
that the soils of the old countries ct
the world, or Of some of them. were
moi. wearing out, but were actually in
creasing in pr0ductiveness. This was
reassuring and encouraging. But
nothing would be easier than to mlsin-
terpret 1t or to misapply its teaching.
Instead of giving q charter for care.
lessness and prodigate expenditure OF
the resources Of fertility. it presents
what should be a convincing object Les.
son in the urgent need Of care and
economy.
Tie fact that some European lands
are far more productive than ours ana
that some lands in our New England
and middle states are much more pro-
ductlve than the pralries and plains OF
the west, is no proof that long cult.
waited fields are necessarily or are in
variably more fertile than the new.
Mr.. Hill cites the instructive contrast
between France and Spain. Both
countries have been cultivated for q
very long time. One of them Is ex-
ceedingly fertile and Is rich and proc
porous. The other 10 chiefly sterile
and is poor and unproeperous. It Is
quite true that New England produces
far more wheat by the acre than any
western state, yet it contains many So
called abandoned farms which produce
little or nothing. The lesson. writ
large on every field, is this: That 1t is
not the length Of time during which
land has been cultivated. but rather
the manner in which it has been Gull
tivated, which determines its produc.
tiveness. .~
France is more fertile than Spain be-
cause the French people are commen-
surately more thrifty and careful than
the Spanish. England. France and
Germany are more productive than
America because the land there is
cultivated more carefully and tho
roughly aud scientifically, and because
there is tar less waste of fertiliZing
material. All the sewage of PARIS and
Berlin is returned to the soil for Its
enrichment, while all that of New
York ard Chicago is poured into the
rivers ana the sea for their deflement.
The cultivated lands of Vermont are
more productive than those of Illinois
because their cultivation is more thor
ough and lntense Douglas Jerrold
said that in Australia the soil was SO
fertile that if you tickled 1t with hoe
it laughed with q harvest, and that
fight of fancy may be figuratively true
concerning some virgin soils; but such
conditions do not endure. The richest
virgin soil is not so productive as the
carefully titled and fertilized soil OF
old settled places, and q few seasons
cultivation suffice to exhaust 1T If
its richness is not replenlshed.
That is why, as MIR. Hill remands
us. thousands of men are deserving our
great grain states of the northwest for
The newer soil of Canada. They have
exhausted the virgin soil upon which
they settled few years ago, and
now, instead of replenishlng its fertil-
ity beyond what it was in It's virgin
state, they seek other virgin soils
elsewhere. It is q short-slghted and
prohigate process against which it is
we'll for SO authorit atlve a voice as
Mr.. Hills to utter protest ana a
warning. 1t is splendid thing to
reclaim by irrigation or otherwise
lands which we found deserts; but it
would be q still wiser thing to pre-
vent the deterioration OF lands which
we found fertile.