The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-09-14
THE FARMER PROsPERs WHEN
SOIL RESPONDS, SAYS WILSON.
He Ceases to DO Wen When the
Soil Refuses to Respond
10 His LabOrs.

10 HIS AfAbOAS'
ST. PAUL.-'The most important
feature of farm conservation is the
soil. The farmer prospers while the
soil responds to his work and yields
good crops; he ceases to do well
when the soil refuses to respond to
his labor" declared James Wilson,
secretary of the department of agri-
culture, in a speech today before the
conservation congress. Continuing
he said:
The people of the older nations
take care of soil fertility as mat
ter of prime necessity, and long ago
ascertained the proper succession OF
crops. their relation to the soil, and
the feeding of man and animals
They knew the soil must be fed and
the proper physical conditions main
tanned and learned from expert
euce how to do it. They learned
that the decaying plant returned to
the soil was the best food the grow
ing plant could have. They became
aware that the removal Of crops
from the farm resulted in soil de-
terioratiOn unless the equivalent was
returned from some source. Ancient
history tells us that the legume was
used in rotation before Hellriegel dis
covered its office in fixing nitrogen in
the soil; the value Of bones was
known as a fertilizer before Liebig
gave us their anlysis. The office Of
sulphuric acid was known in max
ing superphosphate through which
the husbandman got the immediate
benefit of the fertilizers in the bones.
During the short history of our
country we have had new soils to
draw upon when exhaustion result
ed from the TObbing process, and
much of the nations prosperity is
the equivalent of what the soil has
lost. Our people have been well fed
and until recently they have been
cheaply fed This has been due in
part no doubt to the occupancy of
land easily obtainable as soon as the
older refused to yield abundantly,
and is one of the prime causes of
farm deseTtion that is now attract
ing so much attention.
Manufacturers increased and
prospered greatly during the last half
century because food was cheaper in
our country than in any one with
which we competed. Food is cheap
no longer. Population has increased
faster than production from the soil.
A new soil given to all who desired
was the basis of our past prosperity.
The soils of our older settlements
were robbed and neglected in the
east and in the south; they had little
or no attention. Railways were
pushed into the Mississippi valley,
where the glaciated soils were so
rich, so easily cultivated, and sup
posed to be inexhaustible. The gov
eminent policy of giving farms to
the people has exhausted the supply
in the regions where rainfall usually
assures good crops. The mountain
ranges held the snow and some val
ley lands are being irrigated which
yield abundantly, but only a small
per cent of land west Of the one hun
dredth meridian is being irrigated
SO we have found our limitations.
Bread and meat are SC dear that en-
plOyers of labor are un3er the neces-
sity of increasing compensation that
people may live.
Since the civil war heavy expor-
tations from the farm have paid for
eign debts and kept the balance of
trade in our favor Expectations
from the farm are steadily falling
OFF, both of meats and breadstuffs
We grow more crops every year, but
not enough to feed our increasing
population and keep up our exports.
The federal government is ex-
pending large sums to irrigate more
land, which is wise, but the amount