Rock Island Argus., 1909-02-20
TALKS TO men
ABOUT FARMING
Or. c. G. Hopkins of University oi
Illinois is Speaker at Broad
way Dinner.
GIVES AN INTERESTING TALK
Shows the Value of Science in Agricul-
ture, and Points Danger of Wear
ing Out of Lands.

Two lectures of exceptional interest.
and both dealing with scientific sub
jects, were delivered in Rock l5,and
iast evening, the one ON radium liquid
air and the wireless telegraphy by Pro
| fessor William B. Patty at Augustana
college, and the other by Dr. c. G.
Hopkins of the agricultural department
| of the Illinois university, at the reg
Ilar monthly meeting of the Broa1-
way Mems club, on the science of
farming.
At the Mems club dinner there were
between 800 and 400 men, representing
all walks in life in Rock Island and
Moline and the nearby community, and
| the speaker of the evening was ac-
| corded careful attention throughout
| his very interesting discussion of the
| advance of science III agriculture.
In his Introduction, DR.. Hopkins de-
clared that the greatest work of man
| is the building OF character in the
image of God, and next to that the
greatest work is the building of the
soil. He distinguished between the
art of agriculture and the science OF
agriculture. and showed that while the
art Of agriculture is one of the Oldest
arts, the science of agriculture is one
| of the newest sciences He held that
it is not necessary that the man who
tills the soil shall know all about the
science OF farming, but his work must
be directed by some one who does
know the science, and can direct the
work intelligently.
"Aal farmers know the art of agri-
culture, but do they know what the
ground contains, or knowing what ele-
ments it contains and what elements
are essential to the building of the
soil, do they know how to place these
1 Ielements there?" he asked. The state
nent is often made by an old farmer.
he said. that no college men can
teach me anything about farming
Haven't | worn out two farms?"
Conditions In China.
DR.. Hopkins gave some startling
facts regarding the conditions i'll
lChina, one of the four great agricul.
Itural nations which must produce
their own food supply. being too large
to draw on other countries for the ag-
ricultural products in exchange for
other products which even up the
economic balance. 1t is not uncommon
for a million people to die in China IN
a year, he said The other agricultural
lnations are Russia. India and the
United States, and of the four the Uni
tied States is the greatest, and already
is next TO Russia in population. OF
India he declared that there are more
people there who are hungry thar
there are in the whole of the United
States Dr. Hopkins gave interesting
statistics comparing the productive
power of land in India. Russia anC
China, with the United States.
Take All. Restore Nothing.
The conditions in these older coun
tries he declared to be due to tho
waste of agricultural methods. H. "
the essential elements of the soil are
taken from it and given to the crops
but nothing is ever restored, and il
time the land is worn out
The speaker showed the fallacy o
statistics which seem to show tina
the longer land is cultivated the bet
tier it becomes. Rhode Island is ont
of the examples, in relation to corn
While the crop per acre is create
in Rhode Island, the acreage is les
than one-half of one township in Hi
nois, and the total in both Rhode Is
land and Connecticut is less than +;
T,, ~
10 states in the corn belt is raiset
Itwo-thirds of all of the corn produce:
| in the world. Suppose we wear ou
the productive power of this corn belt
4 lwhere will we turn for corn land
There is no more. There is no LAM
wheye climatic conditions and soil con
, ditions are fitted for the raising D
corn as the corn belt is" DR.. Hop
kins declared that the reason Illinoi
land is increasing in value is just thi
: fact-that there is no more land to d,
{ had. He spoke of the irrigation AM
reclamation system as being a goo'
thing, but showed that the increase il
population in FIVE years will use all o
the land that can ever be put unde
cultivation in the arid west, and iIr
cation will never solve the problem
He showed that the United States p.
J drfnces 81 per cent of the wheat Gro
, Of the world, and 70 per cent of tn
lcorn crop, and yet in 1908 the Unite
States imported corn from Sout
America for the first time in history.
Where Science Enters.
Following up his discussion of tn
!, leorn land problem, DR.. Hopkins show
ed that there are 10 elements nece:
: lsary for the production of corn, an
I where any one of these is lacking. II
, lcrops will result. The most importar
lare nitrogen and phosphorus, becaus
Ithey exist in smaller quantities in ID
laverage crust of the earth. DR.. Hoi
lfins stated that the average crust {
lhe earth. spread to an even dept
: lof seven inches, contains enough iro