St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-11-06
sHoRr-sIGHTED FARAIING
E. s. Brigham of st. AIbans. Discuss
es Maintaining Fertilization of

| the SOu
| Prepared for the Vermont Com
mission on the Conservation of Nat
ural Resources.1
Since animal life can be sustained
directly or Indirectly only by food
produced from the soil, it is fortu-
nate for the welfare of the race that
agriculture differs from the other
so called extractive industries in that
| by proper methods of fertilization
and rotation of crops the fertility
and, therefore, the crop producing
power of the soil may not only be
maintained but may be increased,
whereas the mine can come TO but
one ultimate end, namely, exhaus-
ton. As evidence of this perman-
ency of the soil we may instance the
example of China and Japan which
are today producing large crops on
| land that has been cultivated for
more than three thousand years. we
may say, then, that from the stand
point of the general welfare any sys-
tenn of farming which does not at
least maintain the food producing
power of the soil is shortslghted
| farming.
1t is no exaggeration to say that
the greater part of the farming n
| this country has been shortsighted
| farming. The natural fertility of orr
soil, the immense acreage Of which
we were possessed, and the policy Of
the Federal Government of parcel
ing out the public domain to settlers
who would live upon it have tended
to make us careless of soil fertility
1t mattered little to the farmer that
he exhausted his soil, if his son could
go West and get free of charge
$50 acres of virgin soil; and it mat
tered little to the town that the soil
of it's countryside declined, so long
as it's food could be transported from
distance cheaper than it could be
produced at home. The result Of
this policy has been that our people
have lived lavishly upon the bounty
of new land, taking no thought of
the morrow until now the price of
food has increased to such an extent
that the high American standard of
living is threatened and far-seeing
public men point out the danger of
a food shortage if our population
keeps increasing at the present rate.
The question now is, what are we
going to do about it? The answer
usually given is, more education
for the farmer" which is good so
far as it goes. Good farming prac-
tice is based upon certain laws of
nature, with which man must CO.
operate, since he cannot change
them. Jugglery brings no reward in
dealing with Dame Nature.
Prof. Carver aptly expresses it,
Neither impudence, nor a smooth
tongue, nor a distinguished manner,
nor lurid rhetoric ever yet made an
I ~~G g
grain; but they have frequently
made an Office, a sanctum, a plat
form, and even a pulpit yield a larger
crop of dollars Since success in
farming depends upon an under
standing of these laws, it is good
policy for the state to make it easy
for those who desire to gain access
to this knowledge. The causes of
soil exhaustion, the elements of
plant food which are likely to be-
come deficient in the soil, the means
of maintaining proper physical con-
dition of the soil so that it's texture
and it's water holding capacity may
be preserved, should not only be
taught in our schools, but should
be made accessible to. those too old
to go to school by means of college
extension courses. With better edu-
cation we might reasonably expect to
see better organization of the bus
mess of farming, more careful saving
of all manurial wastes of the farm,
more intelligent purchase of fertiliz-
ing materials, and a counting in lie
cost Of production the cost of putting
back in the soil the amount of fer
tility removed by the crop, without
which we cannot hope to keep up the
Iww0 TO- Is
But the problem of short-sighted
farming cannot be solved by farmers
alone. There are certain phases of
this question which should be con-
sidered by all thoughtful people.
conservation simply means living,
the denial of some of the wants of
today that the needs of the future
may be supplied. During the last
third of the past century, farm pro-
ducts often sold for barely enough
to pay for the labor of producing
them. In that time of great plenty
system of distributing farm pro-
ducts was built up which has no.
where been equalled for expensive
ness. It is estimated that the farm
er receives only about one-third of
the money paid by the consumer for
his product. Now that land is be-
coming more scarce and more capital
must be used in the business of
farming, if the cost of keeping good
the fertility of the soil is added to
the cost of production, and if the
farmer receives the profit to which
he is entitled, we cannot expect to
retain our present expensive method
of getting farm products from pro-
Queer to consumer without having
the cost of living burdensome to
the people. European countries have
found relief in the parcels post and
in cooperative societies and among
buyers. Why not we?
Our aim should be neither high
prices nor low prices regardless of
future consequences, but rather to
secure an abundance and perman-
ent supply of food for the people at
a fair price to them and at the same
time at fair price to the producers,
for in this Wav alma can mQu he