Evening star., 1937-07-18
A. p. Photo

"A. T. lHOLO.
In most places the only restorative that
is practicable is the slow. deliberate
process OF nature, operating through
means of the natural forest or grass
land. Much of our soil today is like
an overWOrked patient to whom the
doctor says, Take your choice
vacation or undertaken" Fortunately.
as we have seen, there is so great a
need for the products-wooda and grass
OF so-called idle" land-that the
vacation can be made to pay for itself
directly as we'll as indirectly.
Before this can be done the man who
lives upon the land must get rid of one
OF the great illusions Of modern life:
when 1t comes TO wealth most OF US
confuse the symbol with the thing
Itself, just as we do in many other
relationships OF life, Nothing is more
dlftlcult for the average man than to
real lize that cash on the barrel head
is not wealth, but merely a way Of
measuring it.
~ A' a sohi anu 81 olCSQtt VI
We have played on ourselves In the
United States. this destruction OF at
least one-third OF our most essential
wealth-the soil
There are no more wukmanlike
| farmers in the United States than
those Of the Eastern Shore" Across
the CheSap peake. partly in Maryland,
partly in Virginia. lies this realm that
has been settled for 800 years. The
great wars that rocked the rest OF the
Nation passed lightly over it. 1t pro-
duces fish and game in abundance
and particularly vegetA Bile. for the
Eastern markets Violent fluctuations
IN demand and price have brought
their ups and downs but the people
always have enough to eat. and the
best The top fertility of the sandy
soil was long ago consumed. and today
enough money for fertilizer goes on
each acre each year to buy the same
amount OF ground in some places.
Forest Part Of Farm.
Every farm has large grove OF pine
trees. whose Skaters" or fallen
needles. are constantly worked into
the soil and used for many purposes
The forest is as much a part OF the
farm as the barn or plow. and as
| necessary. But it is not the virgin
forest. Each grove consists Of uni.
form age, and that age l should estl-
mate runs to something over $50 years
In other words these people had al
one time cleared the peninsula SO they
could farm it all; and present. the,
found 1t necessary to call back the
forest to their aid This would be a
very good lesson for us to remembe
elsewhere in the United States. where
| the motto is: Don't use any land
for trees if you can possibly use it for
anything else"
1t Is not particularly easy to find
places in the United States where such
mistakes will not have to be undone
But they do exist. About 1850 group
OF Norwegian Lutherans started to
settle a rather hilly tract near
Meridian. Texas They might have
chosen the flat. fertile. black cotton
land not far away; but they preferred
the less productive. more stony land
which reminded them OF their native
Norway.
TO enter this rolling domain from
the south. one must pass up q beauti-
ful valley which has been handled in
the good old American way. Every
field that could be put to the plow
mas been ploWed-without terracin
or other precaution And the hill
SIDES too steep for that purpose have
been grazed bare, so that the hard
rock shows between the juniper tree,
which form sparse growth. Every
where is evidence that the soil is
washing away. while downstream 4
beautiful artificial lake has been given
up to die because Of the silt that is
being carried into it. This silt /.
farm real estate. but the city that de.
pends upon the lake seems much more
concerned than the farmers who are
losing what they paid for.
But as one passes through this
picture Of destruction. he suddenly
becomes aware Of change. Neat
compact farmsteads with everything
under shelter, good gardens. plenty of
chickens, milk-cow and other ac-
cessories OF good living are en-
countered. Only the nat fields Of the
valley bottom are plowed-beautifully
plowed and contoured. too. The up
lands are all in pasture-green, fertile
pasture with no trace OF the under
lying limestone showing. Soil and
vegetation both remain In place. The
pastures are cross-fenced-that il.
divided into sections 40 that one por-
ton may be used while the others
recuperate
The little 12-mile circle about the
town. in addition to feeding itself,
marketed 10000 bushels of wheat,
10000 pounds Of mohair, and 5000 900
worth Of produce last year. Depres-
sion passed it by, and booms have
left 1t equally unperturbed. 1t has
never seen any land speculation such
as that which rocked the grain belt to
tsee WASTE, Page D-a5