The Green Forest tribune., 1911-07-21
TAKE CARE
 OF
 YOUR SOIL
Arkansas College of Agriculture,
 Department of Agronomy.

The foundation of all agriculture is the soil. The basis of all agricultural progress is soil conservation and soil improvement. Not cnly does the productlveness of the soil concern every farmer; it concerns every hu man being. For it supports either di rectly or indirectly, not only every human being but every form of life whether plant or animal Our first concern then is the soil.
 Have we posted ourselves regarding the character of our greatest asset the worlds greatest and only perma nent asset? Have we reckoned it's possibilities? Have we considered how long 1t will last? Manifestly not. We nave treated the soil as if it would last foreyer-a most erroneous as sumption. The history of American agriculture is the history of waste and soil depletion. The westward wave of immigration and settlement Of new territories has been due. ir no small measure to the search for better land, leaving behind the mark of destructive methods. One or tive decades after settlement has found each locality poorer than before. the so-called improvement of the coun try began. What does all this mean NO more nor less than absolute evi dence that methods have been waste ful and destructive and altogethel wrong. In view of the fact that nc soil anywhere on the face of the earth has endured long without special eff fort to conserve and restore fertility our methods leading to waste and de struction of our only lasting resource becomes a serious matter Nor is il possible for this generation to fully realize the gravity of this system oi waste. That remains for the next generation which comes to subsist upon wasted soil, soil wasted Dy US. Have we any better claim to the wealth of the land than the genera t1onS that come after us?
 But while the span of generations of time serve to impress the lesson history teaches with reference to the soil, that the problem is of immediate consequence. Nearly every locality has it's worn out, thrown by land, anG more land only slightly better whics without changing of methods vii soon in it's turn be abandoned, also a disgraceful monument to the sins o1 our wardens of the soil who have sin ned against the parent as well as al future generations.
 With an increasing population ant cost of labor and land advancing, anC with unoccupied lands fast dwindlins in extent, we can no longer afford t1 recklessly destroy and then abandon to weeds any tract of land. Nor car we afford to allow the present yielc to become less, neither can we afford to continue on the present footing lower yields which are sure to come not considered. The only condition with which we can afford to be satis fled is one of improvement where the soil is so treated that it yields in creasingly more each year-a condi tion proven to be altogether possible
 Here are our mistakes:
 First, we cultivate crops and assist nature to build a portion of our req capital, the soil, into the plan tissues making seed, grain, fruit, fiber or hay We haul the crop to market and sell the product of our labor and a DOT ton of our soil each year. We con tinue this giving nothing back to the soil until the soil can no longer pro duce paying crops, and we abandon il to weeds.
 @ Our second wrong to ourselves and crime toward all future genera tions is the wearing out of humus in the soil. Humus is the life of the soil, without reasonable amount of which it can not be productive. A gutters readily, offers little space fol air and water. It is uninviting to the crops we try to grow. It is irrespon sive and unproductive. We pronounce it worthless.
 (3) Another sin. We allow oui soil to be guttered by surface run-of! water carrying away bodily fertility soil and all until our sloping fields are so ruined as to be beyond redemption We cast them out, without compunc ton.
 (4) We realize that something is wrong and in blind efforts to do some thing we commit another great error by seeking to make up the deficiency of our soils by means that make soil worse instead of better, when it is our bounden duty to follow natures teachings and do that which really improves the soil. I mean the general use of commercial fertilizers.
 We must right about face" or lose in the race. There are no longer to be had for the taking fertile plains lying just beyond our neighborhood or beyond the confines of the state waiting for our coming. Our saliva ton must now be worked out right
 Canker of tails is A disease that $