The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1910-06-02
SOILS OF UNITED STATES
ARE not WEARING OUT
Secretary Wilson Says Farms Are
Producing More Each Year.
FAILURES ARE DUE TO NEGLECT
Errors OF judgement, Not Poor Soil, Are the
Cause Of Crop Failures, According to
Agriculture Experts.

! Washington, D. c.-Th-s soils of the
United States are not wearing out
Secretary of Agriculture James VIII
son says so, and he is supported by
the findings of the men who have
been surveying the 700 different kinds
of soil in the various sections of this
country
Though soils will not wear out
through cultivation, it is possible for
them to ''run down for lack of prop
er treatment 1t mas been found
from records of crop yields that the
yields per acre have shown a decided
tendency to increase during the past
forty years, and there is no evidence
of decrease over large areas OF in any
particular state, ais has been popular
ly supposed. The farmers are FARMING
more intelligently and successfully !;
and are winning richer harvest from
the soil
1t has been claimed that with larg-
er crops, correspondingly larger guam
titles of plant food are being removed
from the soils and bringing nearer the
time when the soils will be complete
ly worn out. The experts Of the ag-
ricultural department did not confine
their researches to this county, but
worked in northern Europe as we'll:
These records indicate that in the
middle of the sixteenth &sntury as
much wheat. per acre, was being pro-
duced in central and northern Eu-
rope as the United States is produc-
ing per acre at the present time.
So far as records are obtainable,
they show that as the result of in
creasing population, more intensive
system of farming and greater intel
ligence in all branches of agriculture,
the average yield per acre is increas-
ing in Europe, despite the longer &C.
cupation of the land, so that soils
there produce two and one-half times
as much per acre as newer soils in the
United States.
The results of these analyses when
set down side by side in parallel col
umns, show no material difference be-
tween the older soils of Europe and
the newer soils Of the United States.
Examination under the microscope
fails to disclose in the longer used
soils of Europe any noticeable change
in the meteorological character Of the
soils.
Failures on the farm in this coun-
try, according to Secretary Wilson,
are due to the individual neglect of
farmers and errors of Judgment. In
dividual farms are allowed to be-
come run down through Indifference
and lack of intelligent cultivation and
lack of knowledge as to the soil adap-
tation and methods Of control, and
are all too common in some sections.
But such injury as has resulted to
the soil in such cases may be RENE
died by more intelligent methods.
1t is to correct these conditions and
give the American farmers acurate
knowledge as to soil conditions and
their adaptability, that the department
of agriculture has been working for
years A total of 257,694 square, miles
in the United States have been sur
veyed since the work began in 1899.
These maps are now in general de-
mand. both by farmers moving into a
new locality and those who have liv-
ed all their lives in the locality sur
veyed and who desire expert confir-
nation of the cropping systems they
have been following, so that they may
be assured they are proceeding along
the most profitable lines in their farm
ing operations.
Crop surveys and maps Of the soil OF
forty-five areas in twenty states have
been made,
A warning to the farmers to take
heed of the adaptability Of their soils
was uttered in recent summary OF
this work by Secretary Wilson. He
said:
N"The idea has prevailed in the past
that through the use Of commercial
fertilizers and intelligent control, all
soils can be made to produce at will
any crop that it is desired to grow.
From scientific point, this may be
possible, but it cannot be done at a
profit. There. are soils that may be
adapted commercially to wheat pro-
duction, fruit culture, or to any staple
crop and others that cannot be SO
adapted. These latter should remain
as forest soils. The highest develop
ment of agricultural production will
result from the adaptation Of each
type of soil to a particular line of
crops, bearing in mind at all times
the market requirements and the
transportation facilities"