Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-05-03
QUESTION OF SOIL FERTILITY.
Secretary Wilson's Report on lmpor-
tant Matter

In speaking Of the great question or
soil fertility, which is occupying the
minds of agriculturists all over the
country and the attention of the people
as to whether the American soils are
continually wearing out, as some au-
thorities say and as the soil experts 0f
the United States bureau of soils con-
tend to the contrary-Secrctary of
Agriculture James Wilson i'm his an
nual report deals with the subject as
follows:
"a great and fundamental problem,
which has confronted our people, as II
has the people of the world, Is the
question of the permanency of soil fer
tility. Of late years, particularly. the
idea has prevailed that the soils OF va
rious parts of the United States are
wearing out through loss of mineral
plant food, and that serious condi-
ton is thus presented for the future or
our people. SO important and funda-
mental is this problem for the welfare
of our people that | directed a thor
ough examination to be made of the
whole subject, and an exhaustive re-
port has been issued, from which GER
tain important conclusions can be Civ
en- in Il few words.
1T mas been found from the records
kept by our own department that. on
the average crop yields per acre have
shown a decided tendency to increase
during period of forty years, and that
there is no evidence Of general decrease
over large areas or i'm any particular
state, as is popularity supposed. This
indicates, undoubtedly, that on the
average our people are farming more
intelllgently, and, therefore. more sue
cessfuly, and that we are, through
these more intelligent methods, win
ming gradually larger returns from the
soil.
1T has been held. however. by some
writer's that even if the yields are in
creasing. the element of danger 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 ar
gument it has been necessary to eX-
tend the Investigations into older c0un-
tries, and the records of Europe have
been searched for information in re-
gard to the past history of these old
countries that can be taken as safe
guide for the future of the newer SOILS
of the United States. These records
indicate that in the middle of the six
teenth century, or, roughly speaking,
three or four hundred years ago, the
soils of Central and Northern Europe
were producing on the average about
as much wheat per acre as the soils of
the United States are producing at the
present time. These European soils
have been occupied for agricultural
purposes for at least Il thousand years,
during most of which period the cOun-
try was more densely populated than
the United States is at the present
time. So far as records are obtainable,
they indicate that as Il result OF m
creasing population and more intensive
and more intelligent methods of soil
control, and in spite Of their Longer "c-
cupaton, the average yield per acre
has increased until in the cas-" "f
Northern Europe the soils ar" now
producing about two or tw" and one
half times as much per acre as the
newer soils of the United States are
producing.
IN addition to this evidence Of ac-
tual crop yields per acre. an exhaustive
investigation mas been made of all the
chemical analyses which have been
made of soils for the last eighteen years
i'm certain countries of Northern Europe
in which crop yields have been increas-
ing. and likewise of the soils of the
United States including the older soils
of the eastern states and the newer
soils of the western states. The results