The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-11-22
SOIL NOT WEARING OUT.

Recent developments luulcdIS lHdt
we may be obliged to give up our be-
lief that the soil in America is wear
ing out, just as we have had DEUS
ions not SO disagreeable shattered. As
comprehensive bulletin on the. soil
question, prepared by so careful an
expert as Prof. Milton Whitney, has
recently been issued by the depart
ment of agriculture.
The facts and figures presented in
this bulletin tend to show that there
is not any immediate danger of the
soils of the United States wearing
out 1t is pointed out that the yield
of wheat in the United Kingdom for
the ten-year period from 1897 to 1905
was 80 bushels per acre; while the
yield in the United States during the
same period was a little less than IA
bushels per acre. Considering the TACT
that the farms of the United King
dom have been under cultivation for
a thousand years or more, 1t Is held
| by Professor Whitney that continuous
| cropping does not necessarily tend to
decrease production. This fact is
made strikingly apparent by inquiry
4 into the agricultural history of Ger
| many. In that country, the average
Weld of wheat in the middle OF the
sixteenth century was about equal to
the average yield in the United States;
/ while al the present time, the wheat
/ weld in Germany is little more than
double that of this country. This In
4 stance. according to Professor Whit
i ney. shows that the larger yield of the
/ older country is not due to the eHects
of better climatic conditions, but
rather to the personal effort of the
farmer and the development Of a more
efficient system of agriculture.
Professor Whitney has this to say
concerning the productivity OF agri-
cultural lands in general:
"The productivity of the newer
agricultural soils of the United States
4 and of the older agricultural soils OF
Europe. taken as whole and for a
nation. is not declining, as Is popu
larly supposed. Individual farms de
teriorate and soils wear out as they
have always done, but as whole il
seems probable that We are producing
more crops per acre than formerly
This is undoubtedly due to many fac
tors: to better and more intellfgen
: cultivation, more and better systems
of rotation of crops, and. in late
years. to intelligent use OF fertilizer!
/ three methods of control in tht
hands of every individual farmer II
,-4 iza fN1
crease in farm animals and stock, tn,
Improvement in seed selection an,
, breeding, and the increasing densit,
: in population, which is forcing atten
r ton to more intensive methods. Ant
: so far as our information goes Their,
! is apparently no significant differene
at the present time between the con-
2 position of the oder agricultural soil
: of Europe and the newer agriculture
4 soils of the United States with re
+ spect to potash, phosphoric acid linn
l AID magnesia."
. Commenting on the bulletin tn
; Wisconsin Farmer says; I'VE beliey
9 that Professor Whitney's statement
, will come as a surprise to great m;
. jority of our readers, because tn
" aNSidee HAL iaDoTs UHueT the Del1e
that soils are gradually wearing out
on the other hand, it is a fact that GU
leading farmers in every state in th
I union, are not only able to maintai
I their crop yield, but they are increa
ing it from year to year For instanc
= it is not uncommon to find the cor
2 crop running up to NINETY, even TO or
hundred bushels per acre on land ths
has been under the plow for q perfo
) of fifty or even seyenty-five year
. | Where such yields as this are obtaii