Norwich bulletin., 1914-03-19
THE TREASURES OF THE EARTH
By JANET NICHOLS.

or eeeFse aI1 feGs people are inter ssted in she nskaxre lessons which the pahlsc schools .are> giving them, There is nothing fn the wu<sd- more wonderful than che fairy tales that Mother Nature tells tzs when we tadhe time to Gsten to her, And the b0ys and girls of today ought to-se very glad. indeed, that they have an oppor4aliey eo learn such de- IkGhkfsi shfngs a& sr00ol. It is some E11tng th>t no uefie folk ever had be- np#~ &nce schools began. flor it is only 1u Ghe la.s3 h0ndx,ed years that we have pegNn to Re.kuseeesked in natures story book, es16 g much shorter time since 1t ocosrzed eo Us fha& children might be iEhewestsd In 3. too.
 6ut 1t is n0t only because it i. ir- tsseaSdklg ehxA Soesds ot education want Ehs children te ssxsdy the book of na- tufe. ThGA. w0aA be reason enough, bszS there is another one which most This reason 4a that our lsxe upon this pt&net and the future prosperity of the ccwnszy depeazd Gpoa what we know ahCNt nstnrA
 n ws just think for 6 minute ws will sse thai all wee&ka---tAst ia, everything Rsaf we heFe--coSnes out of the earth. Ali ouy prosperity. therefore. our man sTfnosxyee and our commerce, even our sFt and poetry and music, depend upon agriculture and mining. So, if we V6lt pAI A8EaCsAku1c ana 1Q4h2nB to De slaocs$sfuA-that ts If we want to get all the traasuzcz which nature has locked sn the bosom of the earth-we n,uSt know all about her ways The government of the United States and tho different state governments keep 8 LarSe number or men constantly study ing rhsse things and that is one reason why Cfe country has made such re- u78Fk2Eols progress.
 Our denaTtpaonts of agFicu lture have discovered plants that would grow on aosl wflsof had previously been barren, and thus has made gardens out of eesertA It has learned how to make other pa@nta nSoKe valuable. and it has fo Und ost how to destroy insects and plants that wore ruining important crops If we look at one or two of the things thsS the TTniteed States depart nnsnt of agriculture has done we will xef some idea of how valuable this work is and will wonder how the world managed to get on before de- partmeats of agriculture existed
 Out in the west, as We all know, ensre are great tracts Of desert and half desert land whore for long time it was supposed that nothing would grow. A few y<ars ago the secretary of egIi- culture CWtlson) predicted that these desert lands would one day feed the east, eod his prophecy is now begin ming to cosne true. By means of frriga- top part of this dessrt has been made to blossom like the rose. and other parts srs actually being made to grow some Of the best wheat on the market without any irriKati ton at all.
 Some of these desert lands have A rainfall of from twelve to eighteen inches a year. and tho department ex- perts found out how to keep this nois- ture in the soil instead of letting 1t Russians were growing on dry land very much like that of America . su- perfor kind Of wheat called durum, They brought sthis wheat to America. and now it has been shown that eur former desert is capable of producing fifty bushels of ir to the acre, the aver age natural yield of wheat under erdi- nary farming methods being only if teen bushels to the acre Now there are fFesa rt.neo,scs to ses.eoe.00e acres of