The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-12-10
SOIL
ENRICHMENT now
VERY MUCH NEEDED
In the East to Bring Farms Up
to a Proper Degree of
Usefulness.

NEW YORK. Dec. 10.-Declaring
that the abandoned farms OF the
eastern states might well be worth
500 an acre. instead OF $40. DR..
Cyril G. Hopkins OF the University
OF Illinois. today sounded a note Of
warning as to the neeG for perman.
ent and scientific soil enrichment
throughout the agricultural lands OF
7 the United States-in the West as
well as the East. He strongly urg-
ed cooperation to this end on the
part OF the city people. DR.. Hop
klns made his plea before the ninth
annual convention OF the Association
OF Life insurance Presidents. which
is considering various problems in
i'volved In loaning life insurance funds
on farm mortgages. At present
about six hundred and sixty million
dollars OF life Insurance money is
loaned on farms, principally in the
South and West.
The most important and the most
neglected factor In American agri-
culture is that OF soil enrichment"
said DR.. Hopkins. For three GEN.
/ uries the American farmer has drawn
the support of the nation from the
fertility contained in our virgin soils,
with widespread soil depletion as
result. When the land became too
poor to raise profitable crop by
the ordinary means OF soil stimula-
ton, the American farmer has, as u
general rule. allowed the farm to go
back to nature, and he has either
moved 10 newer lands or Joined the
increasing urban population.
The improvement Of seed, the
use OF tile drainage, the invention
and general adoption of labor-savlng
machinery. the development Of cheap
and rapid means OF transportation,
and the opening Of the worlds mar
kets to our farm products, have all
combined 10 make possible and to
encourage rapid deterioration of the
American soils. Crop rotation Is
good farm practice. but 1t makes
possible more rapid soil depletion be-
cause of the larger crops produced
where insect pests ana plant dis
eases are avoided by such rotation.
The United States bureau OF CEN
sus reports that the aggregate area
OF improved farm land agrlculturally |
abandoned from 1880 to 1910 was o.
S09.S34 acres in New England, New |
York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. |
II q state like Massachusetts should |
entirely stop farming, the fact would
be made known and emphasized the |
country over and the world around,
but, II another equal area OF i'm
proved farm land Is to be agricul-
turally abandoned, it could be SO
selected as to stop farming in eight |
states including New Hampshire,
Vermont, Massachusetts,. Rhode ISL
and. Connecticut, New Jersey, Della
ware. and either Maine or Florida.
In other words, the combiner area
of improved farm land found in these
eight states in 1910 was less than
9.S09.S34 acres.
Already the question OF food has !
begun to exert pressure in this coun-
try. During the last census decade |
our population increased by twen-
ty-one per cent. the same in per-
centage but far greater In the alb
solute than during the preceding de-
cade; but there was less than two |,
per cent increase in food cereals and |
no increase In food-producing AMI
mails. by five-year averages. CENTER
ed on 1900 and 1910. respectively,
our average annual expectations de-
creased from Els million to 1913 mil
lion bushels OF wheat. from 162 mil
lion to only forty-eight million
bushels OF corn. and from $500 mil
lion 10 1,500 million pounds of meat,
In order that we might feed our in
crease OF sixteen million people.
THE only hope of the future lies
in the application Of science and edu-
cation and honesty to the control OF |
industry and agriculture, and let US
understand and never forget that
agriculture is the basic support of all
industry and that the fertility of the
soil is the absolute support Of every
form Of agriculture.
"The fertility fthe soil is we'll
under the control of the farmer, II
he is provided with accurate infor-
nation and with the necessary capt.
tai to enable him to put into practice
rational systems of truly permanent
agriculture. There was no need
whatever that the cultivated farm
lands Of the eastern states should |
have been depleted. Lying at the
door Of our greatest market, with
the application OF knowledge and
with such encouragement as should
have been given, those lands could |
easily have been preserved and even |
increased in fertility until their pre-
sent value might well have cen no. |
twenty dollars, but four hundred dol