The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1925-05-12
FOOD PROBLEM
is NEGLECTED.
EXPERT AYERS
Declares U. S. Could Double
Her Farm Production
If She Tried
BY CHARLES r. STEWART
NEA Service Writer

Washington, May 12.~-Congressman
Martin L. Davey Of. Ohio estimates
or, as he puts it, guesscs--rtha at
America could double her farm pro-
duction if she tried. Few farmers,
even, have studied the soil as Davey
has. He calls himself stree sur
geon." l think tree doctor' fits
better, with the emphasis ON stree
dietetics
OF course if tree needs an OPP
GRAFTON, Davey operates. He has
to be something of a general a rac-
titioner. Aboreaf medicine is young.
1t hasn't reached the stage ofsmuch
specialization. But in the main, it
seems to me that Davey prefers doc
toring to the knife. Like most good
doctors, he concerns himself princi-
pally with what his patients eat, de-
pending little on drugs.
Trees bread and butter, meat and
potatoes, cake and ice cream are the
soil, with q little flavoring and few
relishcs which they absorb from the
air. So, as tree dietician, Davey
studies the soil.
Farmers study the soil, too, but
Davey's study has to be more
thorough than theirs. For tree
has such an appetite! ITS only a
big plant, after ALL" observes Davey.
Yes, but whereas At plant like IA
stalk of grain requires only cubic
inches Of soil, a tree requires cubic
yards. 1t follows that Davey has to
go into it more deeply-in the literal
as we'll as the figurativc sense-than
almost anybody, except miner or a
prospcctor drilling for oil Thus
what he knows about the soil is the
last word.
AS an expert, then, Davey points
out that very little soil remains on
earth which isn't already being farm
ed. AS for this country, call the land
available for cultivation and not now
cultivated" he says, "is about equal
to the state of Illinois. When this
additional land is reduced to cult
walton there will be no more"
American farmers are cold toward
the suggestion of increased crop pro-
duction just now. With a surplus al
ready--or what Davcy calls an zap
parent surplus"-they ask, "Why
raise more?" "Our present-day pro-
blem," they say at the Agriculture
Department, "is one of marketing,
Production will take care of ITSELF
but our increasing population -.
Davey urges. "When we reach the
subsistence limit-what then 2" "That
will be long time," answer some.
LESS than a generation, judging
from the past insists Davey. "In
my own short life l have seen farm
after farm abandoned, exhausted,
that in my youth produced excellent
crops"
"At the worst we can trek else
where" argue the optlmists. ''In all
the world" responds Davey, "there
iS'ie'io Duo oHC oPoC SdpoDiC VI
abundant production which is not UNI
der cultivation now-the South
American valley of the River Plate.
And that is being settled rapidly"
:
Gas we can't spread out" continues
Davey, 1--WE must intensity. Much of
our exhausted land can be reclaimed.
That which is unexhausted must
be safe guarded from exhaustion,
that, as required, its productivity
may be increased.
"Otherwise, though the rich al
ways will be we'll fed, this will be-
come a. country of famine for the
poor. An abundance of cheap fer
tilizers!" Davey was discussing the
Importance of Muscle Shoals develop
ment. "That's our need"
But why worry about what's in
the future, until we come to it? ats
poor policy replies Davey, "to neg
lect the question of your food sup !,
ply until you begin to stafve."