The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1911-10-06


cessful farming can be continued on
land long in use and great crops
raised and gathered from it If only
it be treated scientifically and in ac-
cordance with its necessity. There Is
nothing peculiar about soils in Europe
that give the great yield per acre
there and prevent its possibility in
the United States. On the contrary,
there is every reason to believe that
the application of the same methods
would produce just as large crops
here as abroad.
Zone of the great reasons for dis
enlargement felt by many who have
written on this subject is found in the
movement of the population from
farm to CITY, This has reached such
a point that the urban population IS
now 40 per cent of the total, wnlle
the rural population is but AZ per
cent, counting as urban all who live
in cities exceeding $500 inhabitants.
This movement has been persistent,
and has made 1t very difficult for
the farmers to secure adequate agrl-
cultural labor, with an increase in the
price of labor which naturally fol-
lows such condition. Still we ought
to realize that enormous advances IN
the machinery used on the farm mas
reduced the necessity for a great
number of farm hands on each farm.
"The first great step that has to be \
taken in reformed agriculture is the
conservation of the soil. Under our
great system the loss to the farms
in this country by erosion of the soil
is hardly to be calculated. Engi-
neers have shown how much is car
ried down the great rivers of the
country and Is deposited as silt eacn
year at their mouths. The number
of cubic yards staggers the magma
ton. The question is how this can be
provided, for the reason that the soil
which is carried off by this erosion Ia
generally the richest and the best SOIL
of the farms which are thus denudeo-
1.-THE improvement in agricultural
education goes on apace. All the
states are engaged in spending money
to educate the coming farmer, and
this system is being extended so that
now we have the consolidated rural
school, the farmers high school, and
the agricultural college, and ono who
intends to become farmer is intro
duced to his profession soon after ne
learns to read and write, and he con-
tinues his study of it. He graduates
from his college and applies for a
place upon the farm.
ut is now proposed to organize a
force of 5000 men, one to every coun-
| ty in the United States, who shall
conduct experiments within the coun-
ty for the edification and education
| of the present farmers and OF the
young farmers who are being edu-
Gated. 1t is proposed that these men
shall be paid partly by the county,
| partly by the state, and partly by the
federal government, and it Is hoped
that the actual demonstration on farms
in the county, not at agricultural sta
| lions or schools somewhere in the
state-but in the county itself, snail
bring home to the farmers what 1t is
possible to do with the very soil that
they themselves are engaged upon.
I understand this to be the object OF
an association organized for the i'm
provement of agriculture in this coun-
try, and do not think we could have
more practical suggestion than tnis.
"The fact is that farmers are like
other men and influenced by the same
considerations. They are not going
to the trouble of improving their
methods of agriculture just for the
fun of it, or in order to crafty those
who make speeches at agricultural
conventions, or the agricultural stat
isticians of the various states. They
are going to change their methods
when they can see it is profitable to
them to do so, and they want to be
shown. 1t is one thing to read about
a method and of increasing product
profitably and it is another thing to
have an ocular demonstration of the
possibility and practicability of the
course recommended. That is the
peculiar advantage Of the plea now
proposed by which an agriculturist
shall take his place in each county,
and selecting various farms shall
make demonstrations to the farmers
and shall bring before thir very eyes
the value of the methods that he sees
and the crops that he can produce.
1t is ordinarily not wise to unite ad-
ministration between the county and
state and federal governments, but
this subject is one so all compelling,
it is one in which all people are so
much interested, that cooperation
seems easy and the expenditure of
money to good purpose so free from
difficulty, that we may properly well
come the plan and try it. On the
whole, therefore, | think our agricul-
tural future is hopeful l do not share
the pessimistic views of many gentle
men whose statistics differ somewhat
from mine, and who look forward to a
strong probability of failure of self
support in food within the lives OF
persons now living. 1t is true that
we shall have to continue the improve
ment in agriculture so as to make our
addition to the product per acre one
per cent of the crop each year, or ten
per cent each decade; but consider
ing what is done in Europe, this is
not either impossible or improbable
The addition to the acreage in drain
age and in irrigable lands will go on
must go on. The profit to the state