Evening star., 1925-07-30

That unredeemed farmer, Calvin
Coolidge. who is now limited in his
agricultural activities mostly to the
White House lawn, declares that agri-
culture must be spelled with a capital
A during the rest of his sojourn at
1000 Pennsylvania avenue. In this re-
solve he is aided and abetted by his
chief gardener. whose very name ex-
presses his partisanship to lie sjardin.
American farmers as a class excels
those of any other nation in broad
knowledge, not only of general farm
ing, but of world affairs. Chinese
farmers excel Americans in ability to
make 200 blades Of grass or bushel
of rice to grow where none grew be-
fore, for they practice intensive farm
ing, with unlimited fertilizer and un-
limited labor Forty centuries of
farming in China leaves the soil more
fertile than 40 years in the Red River
Valley-'the bread basket of the
world''-where one kind of soil ex-
haustion has been repeated for gen.
Grafton, without replenishment. Chi
nanIen have learned nothing new in a
thousand years; American farming
has been revolutionized by science and
machinery within less than a single
lifetime. Economists declare that the
test of today Is not yield per acre, but
is yield per -man-and not yield of
crops alone, but yield of net profits
in the purchasing power of the farm
products, together with the farmer s
full share in the comforts and luxuries
of modern life.
The statesman's view of the prob
lem is not that of the mere farm bloc,
which seeks only the advantage of one
class; the statesman recognizes that
true prosperity will come not through
the farmers getting a greater share
OF reward at the expense of the city,
but through better distribution Of a
greater total prosperity, whether 1t
come from farm exports or from the
economies of the connections between
the farm and prosperous home mar
ket. Ninety per cent of farm markets
are in the home markets, 10 per cent
in exporting surpluses.
~ &F
Docs farm science pay?" ask the
skeptics. President Coolidge evident.
ly believes 1t can be made to pay bet.
ter.
Sometimes the most direct answer
is found in the alternative. What
would be the result IL all the Unfit
ences for good. from science were re
moved7 One might ask the entomolo
gist what unrestrained insect pests
would cost production. Or ask the
animal husban ndry experts what Is the
value of elimination of hog cholera
Texas fever and the foot-and-motith
disease. Or, ask the Bureau of Plant
Industry what it would mean If every
barberry bush in the Northwest were
DESTROYED instead Of permitting so,
600 900 bushels of small grain to per
ish annually of rust. where each bar
berry bush is a potential spring from
which flows a flood of rust for II
| miles or more. Or ask the cotton ex
pert what price cotton raisers coult
the boil weevil Or, ask the "drS
farmer" how much it is worth to fine
CROPS which will flourish agains
drought, or what is the value of thu
dust blanket in conserving the wa
| ter In the soil. Or, ask the horticul
turist, the agriculturist, the breeder
how much science has done in scout
| ing the world and bringing to us seed
which flourish In Siberia and there
| fore flourish under similar condition.
| in our highest ATTITUDES and coldes
which produces abundant pasturag'
upon our Southern farms, enabling
dairying to prosper Or, ask stock
raisers the value of the best breeds o
cattle and hogs and sheep, as com
pared with scrubs.
|
| If the masses OF farmers used th
most advanced knowledge of farm sci
entists, the productivity of all cropl
and the values of all kinds OF liv'
| stock would be multiplied. But no
one in 100 farmers applies the knowl
4 edge available. The result is that tn
| increased yield of all crops is aston
ishingly small.
| In, 1855 the average yield of 0arie.
! per acre was % bushels; today 1t