The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1912-11-14
TINES HAVE CHANG ED.

There is no occupation in the world
that calls for more ability and judg-
ment, brains, training, industry and
adaptability than farming. 1t is
mans job, To pillow and SOW and reap
without understanding is no more real
farming than cutting mans leg is
real surgery.
Agriculture is the basis of the ma
tion's wealth The soil is our great
est asset, and conserving and building
this up helps every one.
In ten years, between 1900 and 1910,
our population increased fifteen mil
lion-about y per cent; our farm area
increased little over A per cent; our
meat producing animals actually drop
ped off over twenty millions in num-
ber,
In 1900 for every one hundred people
we had 90.3 cattle. Ten years later
we had only 6S. For hogs the figures
were respectively 81, going down to
81; for sheep the drop per hundred
population was from 81 to 81. Think
what this means! Cheap meat cannot
be made on high-priced land and sixty
cent corn, but science, the silo and
alfalfa will enable the farmer to carry
three times as much stock on his farm
as he thinks he can. This would build
up the fertility of his fields and reduce
the cost of producing meat one-half.
We now consume % per cent of our
corn and 81 per cent of our wheat.
We have an unprecedented high cost
of living. We must produce more,
and we must get it to the customer at
less cost.
There are approximately ten acres
of farm land per capita for the present
population. Only one-half of this is
under plow: the other half is woodland,
waste land, broken land, pasture, etc.
1t now takes practically all we raise to
feed the people. We are beginning to
import foodstutfs. In fifty years our
population will be double. What shall
we do about it?
a generation or two ago Denmark
was in poverty and distress. The gov
ernment wisely determined TO revive
agriculture and apply scientific meth
obs. 1t tried various means to that
end but with little success. 1t finally
sent out demonstrators, This did the
business and brought Denmark from
poverty to thrift. 1t doubled the land
values; it quadrupled the savings bank
deposits; it made Denmark happy,
prosperous nation. 1t sent the people
from the cities back to the farms, and
Denmark today is the finest agricultur-
al country in the world.
The gross output of our farms is
about nine billions of dollars per year
1t is fifteen times greater than the iron
and steel industries: it employs nearly
one.,hird of our people. 1t costs APP
proXimately eighty dollars per year
per capita to feed the people. Every
agricultural authority in the land
agrees that in ten years, when the
farm demonstrator is in every county,
and scientific methods are in vogue,
we will largely increase, if in fact we
do not double, our yield per acre.
TO maintain this scientific army In
the field will cost US about eight cents
per person per year. II the increased
crop value is only twenty per cent, the
gain on one years crop would pay the
cost of keeping up this work for two
hundred and fifty years!
The government and the states have
expended over two hundred million ot
dollars in developing scientific know
ledge relating TO agriculture. This
knowledge is practically in cold stor
age. Why not get it fout and put it tc
work on the farms? The intel'ectua
giant and empire builder, James J
Hill, says eve know enough now o
agriculture, If IL were applied, L
double our farm yield and to triple th'
farmers income"