The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-01-02
AWARD OF HONOR
TOLATE f. H. KING
Although Dead for Several
Months. Geographic Society
Pays This Tribute.
HIS BOOK is IDEAL STUDY
Describes Waste OF United States
and Saving of Monaghan
Nations.
Especial TO The rimes-pispatch.l~

Especial 10 The Times Dispatch.l
Washington, January Although
he mas been dead for several months,
an award of honor has been made to
the late Professor l.. u, King. the
author II volume entitled Farmers
of Forty Centuries" ny the National
Geographic Society. OF Washington. D.
lC. Professor Kings book, completed
but shortly before his death, repre-
sents what the socct, believes is Eli
! ideai study of foreiw1 places. Tho
author describes the methods by viii IN
the Chinese support nearl! 50o,oOeooo
people ON an area smaller than the
improved farm lands OF the United
States, which they have titled for 1000
years, ana from this draws an interest
| ing parallel for the farmers of tho
! United States to consider.
III the United states - TO endure;
! if we shall protect our history, oven
through 800 5000 years. as the
Monaghan nations have done, and =
that history shall be written In coz
tiuuous peace, free from periods of
widespread famine or pesJilence, this
nation must Orient itself: it must
square its practices with a conserva
tion OF resources which can make en-
durarc> possible" he says!
He goes OH to point out that the
Mississippi River is annually bear,ng
| to the sea nearly $4,000 acref Zee. OF
the most fertile sediment, and between
levees along q raised bed through 200
miles OF country subject to inundation,
and that the people of The United
states and Europe are pouring into
the sea. lakes, or rivers and into tn"
underground waters from 5,794,3O0 to
l2.oOo.0O0 pounds of nitrogen: 1,SS1.90O
to 4.I5i,GG0 pounds OF potassium, and
71l,:oa to 3,057. 900 pounds OF phos-
phorus pei million of adult population
annually and this waste we esteem
one % the great achievements of our
civilization.' he adds. I'm the Far
East. for more than thirty centuries
these enormous wastes have been re
| 'igiou.iy saved. and to-day the 400,-
'c","ou OF adult population send back
| 20 their fields annually 15J,cGo tons Of
| phosphorus; $4,000 tons of potassium,
and l,l5S,000 tons Of nitrogen, COM
/ prisei II Il gross weight exceeding
lS2.000,UCc tons, gathered from every
nome, from the country villages, and
from the great cities. Man is the
most e; tiavaGant accelerator OF waste
| the world has ever endured. His
bosom Of destruction In the uncon-
trolled hnnds of n generation mas swept
into the sea soil fertility which only
centuries Of life could accumulate.
The rivers of North America are es-
! timated to carry to the sea more than
500 tons OF phos phorus with each cubic
mlle OF water. TO such loss modern
civilization is adding that of hydrau-
! lie sewage disposal, through which
| the waste of 500,000,0OO of people
might be more than $4,000 tons of
phosphorus annually, which could not
be replaced by l,295O0O tons of rock
! phosphate 70 per cent pure.
Forty canals across the United
States from East to West and sixty
| from North to South would not equal
| In number OF miles those OF China
Korea and Japan. 1t is probable that
| TINS estimate Is not too large for China
alone. y conservative estimate would
! place the miles of canals and nevecd
! river in the three countries at more
| than 100000 miles. In addition TO the
canal and levce construction work
there are numerous impounding reser-
! Voirs. which control overflow waters
! from the great streams and other
large and small lakes in the coastal
plain, giving an aggregate reservoir
E., area exceeding $4,000 square miles all
| oil which are brought into service in
| place the miles OF canals and leyeed
are steadily filling with the sediments
brought from the PARKWAY. uncultiva-
bic mountain slopes. and which are Ill
\ t'matcly destined to become rich al
| iuvial plains.
/ There is still another phase OF these
| vast worlSs--the wrestling from the
food waters Of the enormous volumes
| OF SILT which they carry depositing
1t over the flooded areas, in the canals,
! and along the shores IN such manner
as to add to the habitable and Guilt
! waited land. The city of Shanghai
stood originally on the seashorc. which
/ has now grown twenty miles to the
| northward and to the eastward. In
go B. c., the town Of Putai stood one
third of a mile from the sen, but in
/ $50 ii was forty-seven miles inland
ana is forty-cight miles from the shore
to-day.
There ought. and it would seem
there must be provided a way for send :
/ ing To the sandy palms Of Florida, and
F, Ia the sandy lands between there and
/ the Mississippi large volumes of the
rich silt and organic matter from this
and other rivers. aside from that which
should he applied SYSTEMATICALLY to
building above flood plain the lands
Of the delta, which are subject TO over
flow or are too low to permit ade-
I quate drainage. Such enormous field
! crosium as is tolerated at the present
time in our Southern and South At
] iantc states is permitted nowhere In
. the Far East, not even where tho topo-
/ eraphy is much sleeper y. H. MEG
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