Norwich bulletin., 1912-06-05

Now that the soil survey has been secured for New London county by Congressman Higgins, the following from the chief of the bureau of soils at Washington will be of interest and value to the residents of the county.
 We have seen much In the papers of late years about the soils of this country wearing out and becoming de- ficient in plant food from the removal and sale of crops We see all around Us individual failure and individual farms running down in that they pro- duce less crops than formerly. Sim liar alarmist reports and similar indi- vidual failures have been brought to our attention since the time of the early Greek and Latin writers.
 For the past hundred years scien- lists have been Investigating this matter and have reached nearly oppo- site views. One school believes that the removal and sale of crops reduces by so much the mineral store of plant food and that unless this is restored pound for pound in a comparatively few years, the soil will be fundamen- tally impaired. The other school be- lleves that there are natural compen- sating changes which keep the soil fairly uniform in composition, regard less of ordinary use, and that the cases Of failure which we see are the result or abuse or misdirected effort, are not fundamental, and can be prevented or overcome by more intelligent control of the soil and that the more and longer a soil is used under such intel igent control, the more productive and safe it becomes
 We may well afford to let these views be settled by the scientists, for a re- view of the worlds history indicates that there is no such great disaster threatening us, but, on the contrary, there is much hope and encourage ment.
 Fundamental Factors.
 To a business man and to one who desires to get the best results, there are three fundamental factors govern ing the use of the soil problem.
 a, The matter and what it is adapt ed to. In the construction of trolley lines we do not use copper rails and steel trolley wires for reasons that are sufficiently apparent to any construc- ttcn engineer but we reverse the use which gives an excellent and durable rolling surface, and the most efficient medium for the transmission of DOW er It is quite as obvious that in agri- culture a truck soil should not be used for a main wheat crop nor for any purpose save for that for which it is best fitted.
 b. The nature of the material and how to maintain it in it's best physical and chemical condition. This knowl- edge we acquire in construction worl, through experience and from scientific investigation.
 c. When men have acquired this knowledge of material and how to manipulate and apply it, we keep them at it. We do not let carpenters work in steel, nor bricklayers work ir wood. It is neither economical noi efficient. In Germany, man who un- derstands the handling of a moor soi is not supposed to know much about 2 sandy soil A man who understands a sandy soil is not wanted on a clay soil farm. This organization and rela- ton of labor to soil has come to then through necessity and as d result o- hard experience where from the fierce struggle for existence every acre mus be maintained at its greatest efficien. cy.
 It is inconceivable that the highest efficiency can be maintained in oul soils unless the particular soil typt is recognized and understood and ap- piled to the purpose for which it is best adapted or that labor is not se- lected with reference to the need O. the farm The equipment, including the kind and amount of labor and oi power, must be essentially different fol a sandy loam farm and for clay farm and yet how little have we rec ognized this fundamental requirement
 Not Fixed Source of Income.
 The soil itself is not a fixed an, generally decreasing source of income as are many of the other natural re sources of the country. The wealtl of the soil may not properly be com pared with a fixed bank account upol which drafts in the form of crops ar continuously drawn, with the ultimat result of the complete exhaustion o the capital involved. The soil is nor nearly comparable with an investe, fund whose annual interest is paid il