The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-04-16
QUESTION OF SOIL FERTILITY
Secretary Wilson's Report on Impor-
tant Matter.

minds or agriculturiStS all over the
country and the attention of the
people-as to whether the American
soils are continually wearing out, as
some authorities say and as the
soil experts of the United States bu-
reau of soils contend to the contrary
Secretary of Agriculture James
Wilson in his annual report deals with
the subject as follows:
"a great and fundamental prob
lem, which has confronted our peo-
pie, as it has the people of the world,
Is the question of the permanency Of
soil fertility. OF late years, particul-
arly, the idea has prevailed that the
soils Of various parts Of the United
States are wearing out through loss
of mineral plant food, and that a
serious condition is thus presented
for the future Of our people. So
important and fundamental is this
problem for the welfare Of our peo-
pie that I directed a thorough ex-
animation to be made of the whole
subject, and an exhaustive report has
been issued, from which certain i'm
portant conclusions can be given in
few words.
1T has been found from the rec
ords kept by our department that
on the average, crop yields per acre
have shown decided tendency to in
crease during a period of forty years,
and that there is no evidence Of gen.
eral decrease over largre areas or in
any particular State, as is popularly
supposed. This indicates, undoubt-
edly. that on the average our peo-
pie are farming more intelligently,
and, therefore, more successfully, and
that we are, through these more in
telligent methods. winning gradually
larger returns from the soil.
''It has been held, however, by
some writer's that even if the yields
are increasing, the element of dan
ger is that the larger crops remove
larger amounts of plant food from
the soils and bring nearer the time
when the soils will eventually wear
out. To meet this argument it has
been necessary TO extend the in
vestigatiOn into older countries, and
the records Of Europe have been
searched for information in regard
to the past history of these older
countries that can be taken as
safe guide for the future Of the newer
soils of the United States. These rec
ords indicate that in the middle of
the sixteenth century, or. roughly
speaking, three to four hundred
years ago, the soil of Central and
Northern Europe were producing on
the avergae about as much wheat per
acre as the soils Of the United States
are producing at the present time.
These European soils have been oc-
cupied for agricultural purposes for
at least a thousand years. during
most Of which period the country
was more densly populated than the
United States is at the present time.
So far as records are obtainable, they
indicate that as a result of increas-
ing population and more intensive
and more intelligent methods Of soil
control, the average Of their longer
occupation, the average yield per acre
has increased, until in the case of
Northern Euproe the soils are now
producing about two or two and one
half times as much per acre as the
newer soils Of the United States are
producing.
In addition to this evidence Of
actual crop yields per acre, an eX-
haustive investigation has been made
of all the chemical analyses which
have been made of soils for the last
eighteen years in certain countries of
Northern Europe in which crop yields
the soils Of the United States, in
Guiding the older soils of the East
crn States and the newer soils of the
Western States. The results Of these
analyses, published side by side, show
no significant difference in chemical
composition between the older soils
of Europe and the newer soils of the
United States. Microscopical exami-
nations of the soils fail to show that
the longer occupation of the soils of
Europe has changed noticebaly the
meteorological character of the soils
1t is reasonable to infer from the
work that has been done that with
in historic times the occupation of
the soils for agricultural purposes has
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