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pH 8.5

Issued October 10, 1911.

United States Department of Agriculture,

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY.—Circular No. 38.

CONSERVATION OF THE SOIL.

[Address of President Taft before the National Conservation Congress, at
Kansas City, Mo., September 25, 1911.]

Members of the National Conservation Congress:

At last year’s convention of this congress I had the honor and
pleasure of delivering an address on the subject of conservation of
Our national resources, and therein attempted to state what the term
®conservation” of our national resources meant, what were the
Statutes affecting and enforcing such conservation, classified the
different public lands to which it would apply, and suggested what I
thought was the proper method of disposing of each class of lands.
Nothing has been done on this subject by Congress since that time,
but it is hoped that the present Congress at its regular session will
take up the question of the conservation of Government land contain-
ing coal and phosphates or furnishing water power, adopt some laws
that will permit the use and development of these lands in Alaska
and in continental United States, and evolve a system by which the
‘Government shall retain proper ultimate control of the lands, and at
the same time offer to private investment sufficient returns to induce
‘the outlay of capital needed to make the lands useful to the public.
The discussion did not invoke the consideration of any question
which directly concerned the production of food.

To-night,* however, I wish to consider in a summary way another
aspect of conservation far more important than that of preserving
for the public interests public lands; that is, the conservation of the
soil, with a view to the continued production of food in this country
sufficient to feed our growing population.

We have in continental United States about 1,900,000,000 acres.
Of this, the Agricultural Department, through its correspondents,
estimates that 950,000,000 acres are capable of cultivation. Of this,
$73,729,000 acres are now in farms. The remainder, about

1,000,000,000 acres; is land which is untillable. It is reasonably
11373°—Cir. 38—11

2 . o Abe
certain that substantially all the virgin soil of a character to pei
crops has been taken up. It is doubtful how much of the part
not included in farms can be brought into a condition in which tillage
will be profitable.

The total acreage of farms in the last ten years, although the pres-
sure for increased acreage by reason of high farm prices was great,
was increased only about 4 per cent, or about 35,000,000 acres. There

are upward of 25,000,000 acres we will be Aa Cas in under our
irrigation system, and perhaps more, and the amount of lands which
can be drained and made useful for agriculture will amount to about

70,000,000 acres.

The total improved farm lands in the United States amount to
477,448,000 acres, which is an increase in the last 10 years of
62,949,000, or 15.2 per cent. The product per acre actually cultivated
increased in the last 10 years 1 per cent a year, or 10 per cent. The
total product increased in 10 years nearly 20 per cent.

The population in this same time increased 21 per cent. If the
population continues to increase at its present rate, we shall have
in 50 years double the number of people we now have. It is neces-
sary, then, that not only our acreage but also our product per acre
must increase proportionately so that our people may be fed. We
must realize that the best land and the land easiest to cultivate has
been taken up and cultivated, and that the additions to improved
lands and to total acreage in the future must be of land much more
expensive to prepare for tillage. The increase per acre of the prod-
uct, too, must be steady each year, yet each year an increase becomes
more difficult. Still, even in the face of these facts, there is no occa-
sion for discouragement. We are going to remain a self-supporting
country and raise food enough within our borders to feed our people.
When we consider that in Germany and Great Britain crops are
raised from land which has been in cultivation for 1,000 years, and
that these lands are made to produce more than two and three times
per acre what the comparatively fresh lands in this country produce
in the best States, it becomes very apparent that we shall be able to
meet the exigency by better systems of farming and more intense and
careful and industrious cultivation. The theory seems to have been
in times past that soils become exhausted by constant cultivation;
but the result in Europe, where acres under constant use for pro-
ducing crops for 10 centuries are made now to produce crops three
times those of this country, shows that there is nothing in this theory,
and that successful farming can be continued on land long in use,
and that great crops can be raised and garnered from it if only it be
treated scientifically and in accordance with its necessity. There is

nothing peculiar about soils in ee that gives the great yield per
[Cir. 38]

3

acre there and prevents its possibility in the United States. On the
contrary, there is every reason to believe that the application of the
same methods would produce just as large crops here as abroad.

One of the great reasons for discouragement felt by many who
have written on this subject is found in the movement of the popu-
lation from farm to city. This has reached such a point that the
urban population is now 46 per cent of the total, while the rural
population is but 54 per cent, counting as urban all who live in cities
exceeding 2,500 inhabitants. This movement has been persistent,
and has made it very difficult for the farmers to secure adequate
agricultural labor, with an increase in the price of labor which
naturally follows such a condition. Still we ought to realize that
enormous advance in the machinery used on the farm has reduced
the necessity for a great number of farm hands on each farm.

Mr. Holmes, of the Department of Agriculture, in the Yearbook
of that department for 1899, points out that between the years 1855
and 1894 the time of human labor required to produce 1 bushel of
corn on an average declined from 4 hours and 34 minutes to 41 min-
utes, and the cost of the human labor required to produce this bushel
declined from 353 cents to 104 cents. Between 1830 and 1896 the
time of human labor required for the production of a bushel of wheat
was reduced from 3 hours to 10 minutes, while the price of the labor
required for this purpose declined from 17? cents to 34 cents. Be-
tween 1860 and 1894 the time of human labor required for the pro-
duction of a ton of hay was reduced from 354 hours to 11 hours and
34 minutes, and the cost of labor per ton was reduced from $3.06
to $1.29.

In 1899 the calculation made with respect to the reduction in the
cost of labor for the production of seven crops of that year over the
old-time manner of production in the fifties and sixties shows it to
have been $681,000,000 for one year. But while it is possible to say
that there may be in the future improvements in machinery which
will reduce the number of necessary hands on the farm, it is quite cer-
tain that in this regard the prospect of economy in labor for the
future is not to be compared with that which has been effected in the
last 30 years. Hence we must regard the question of available popu-
lation and available labor in that population for the cultivation of
the fields as an important consideration. My impression from an ex-
amination of the figures is that the change in this last decade from
farm to city has not been as great in its percentage as it was in pre-
vious decades, and, if this be true, it indicates that there is in the
present situation an element that will help to cure the difficulty.
Farm prices are increasing rapidly, and the profits of farming are
becoming apparently much more certain and substantial. While the

[Cir. 38]

t

acreage of the improved land only increased 65,000,000, or 15 per cent,
and the total acreage only 4 per cent, the value of the farms in money
increased from $17,000,000,000 to $35,000,000,000 in 10 years, an
enormous advance. This of course was due somewhat to the invest- |
ment of additional money in the improvement of land and somewhat
to the increase in the supply of gold, which had the effect of advanc-
ing all prices; but the chief cause for the advance is in the increase
in the price of farm products at the farm. So great is this increase
that the value of the average farm has now gone from $2,895 to
$5,470, while the average value per acre has increased from $19.81 to
$39.69. In addition to this, comforts of farm life have been so
greatly added to in the last 10 years by the rural free delivery, the
suburban electric railway, the telephone, and the automobile, that
there is likely in the next 10 years to be a halt in this change toward
the city, and more people in proportion are likely to engage in gainful
occupation on the farm than has heretofore been the case. Such an
effect would be the natural result of the actual economic operation of
the increase in the value of the farm product, and the increase in the
certainty of farming profits.

It is the business of the country, in so far as it can direct the mat-
ter, to furnish the means by which this economic force shall exert
itself along the lines of easiest and best increase of production. Of
course the Government, by furnishing assistance in irrigation, in-
creases the amount of tillable land, and the States, if they undertake
the drainage of swamp lands, will do the same thing. The cost of
such improvements will be considerable, and will affect the farming
profit, but the result generally in such cases is to yield such great
crops per acre that the farmer can well afford to pay interest on the
increased investment. Increased acreage from any other source is
likely to be, however, in more stubborn land, calling for greater effort
in tillage and producing less per acre. We may reasonably infer
from the high prices of the decade immediately past that everything
was done by those who owned land to enlarge the acreage where that
was easy or practical, and that what is yet to be brought in as tillable
land presents greater difficulties and greater expense. The way in
which the States can help to meet future increased demand is by
investigation and research into the science of agriculture, and by giv-
ing to the farming community a knowledge which shall enable them
better to develop the soil, and by educating those who are coming into
the profession of farming. It is now almost a learned profession.

The first great step that has to be taken in reformed agriculture
is the conservation of the soil. Under our present system the loss
to the farms in this country by the erosion of the soil is hardly to be
calculated. Engineers have shown how much is carried down the

[Cir. 38] '

5

great rivers of the country and is deposited as silt each year at their
_ mouths. The number of cubic yards staggers the imagination. The
question is how this can be prevented, as it must be, because the
soil which is carried off by this erosion is generally the richest and
the best soil of the farms which are thus denuded.

Of the rain or snow which falls on the land, a part evaporates
into the air; a second part flows down the slopes to the streams, and
is called the run-off. The third part soaks into the soil and sub-
soil, and thence into underlying rocks, perhaps to reappear in springs
or seepage into streams. This is called ground water. The fourth
part is absorbed by organisms, chiefly by trees, grasses, and crop
plants, either directly through the tissues or indirectly through the
roots penetrating the moistened soil. Erosion is due to the run-off,
and its quantity is dependent on the slope of the farm and also the
nature of the soil and its products. Any reasonable slope, and any
full cover of forest or grass with an abundant mulch, or a close
crop on a deeply broken soil, or a friable furrow slice kept loose by
suitable cultivation, will absorb rain and curtail the run-off, or even
reduce it to slow seepage through the surface soil, which is the ideal
condition. Now, the ground water is the most essential constituent
‘of the soil, because solution, circulation, and organic assimilation
are dependent on water. All the organisms and tissues are made up
of this solvent of water, and it constitutes a large percentage of the
bodies and food of men and animals. The question of the amount
or ratio of ground water in the soil is a vital one. If it is excessive
it makes a sodden mass, sticky when wet, but baked when dry, so
that there is no possible absorption further into it, and it sends on
the water that falls on it to erode easy slopes.

_ The erosion begins on the farm and should be remedied there.
Deep cultivation tends to absorb the product of each rainfall and to
reduce the run-off. Deep cultivation brings up fresh earth salts to
the shorter rootlets, but carries down the humus and mulch to thicken
the soil and feed the deepest roots. In flat-lying fields and tenacious
soils tile drainage is the best method of relieving the farm from the
danger of too great run-off. Deep drainage permits both soil and sub-
soil to crumble and disintegrate and through mechanical and chemical
ehanges to become friable and capable of taking on and holding the
right amount of moisture for plant growth, while the water which
runs out through the drain is clear without carrying the soil with it,
and therefore without erosion. Of course, different farms require
different treatments. Certain farms require what is called contour
cultivation, by which each furrow is to be run in such a way as to
level and to hold the water. On hilly lands strips of grass land are

grown, called balks or breaks, separating zones of plow land, and
(Cir. 38]

6

they should curve with the slopes; and the soil being carried by the
water will be caught by them and constitute them a kind of terrace
without effort. The use of forests, of course, in foothills and deeply
broken country is essential and should be combined with grazing.
They will prevent the formation of torrents by making the mulch
and soil deep and spongy. Of course, over all mountain divides the
retention of forests greatly helps to prevent the carrying off of the
good soil to the valleys below. The proper selection of crops has
much to do with the stopping of erosion.

I gather these facts from the reports of the Secretary of Agricul-
ture as to the best method of preventing erosion. They are simple
and easily understood, but they need to be impressed upon the farmers
by education and by reiteration. Then the productivity of the soils
might very well be increased by more careful use of commercial fer-
tilizers. In 1907 $100,000,000 was expended in fertilizers, but the
Agricultural Department is of opinion that one-third of this was
wasted for lack of knowledge as to how to use it.

Careful crop rotation is essential because it has been found that the
remains of one crop have a poisonous effect upon the next crop if it
is of the same plant, but such remains do not interfere with the nor-
mal production of a different plant. Then a kind of crop may and
should be selected to follow which will renew that element in the soil
which the first crop exhausted.

Then there is the organization of the farm on plain business prin-
ciples by which the buildings and the machinery are so arranged as to
make the movement of crops and food and animals as easy and
economical as possible. A study as to the character of the soil and
the crops best adapted to the soil; the crops to be used in rotation
for the purpose of strengthening the soil—all these are questions that
address themselves to a scientific and professional agriculturist, and
which all farmers are bound to know if the product per acre is to
be properly increased. We have every reason to hope, from the
forces now making toward the education and information of the
farmer, as to the latest results in scientific agriculture, that the coun-
try will have the advantage of improvement in our farming along
the proper lines. Further agricultural development is to be found
in the breeding of proper plants for the making of the best crops,
while the growth of live stock is made much more profitable both to
the owner and to the public by improving the breed and the infusion
of the blood of the best stock.

The improvement in agricultural education goes on apace. All the
States are engaged in spending money to educate the coming farmer,
and this system is being extended so that now we have the consoli-

dated rural school, the farmers’ high school, and the agricultural col-
[Cir. 38]

K

lege, and one who intends to become a farmer is introduced to his
profession soon after he learns to read and write, and he continues
his study of it until he graduates from his college and applies for a
place upon the farm.

The land-grant colleges established by the Federal Government
have vindicated the policy in making the grant. Now the depart-
ment employs 11,000 persons, many of whom are engaged in con-
ducting experiment stations and spreading information all over the
country. The cooperation between the State agricultural school
system and the Federal Government’s publicity bureau and experi-
mental work is as close and fine as we could ask. It is difficult to
justify the expenditure of money for agricultural purposes in the
Agricultural Department with a view to its publication for use of
the farmers, or to make grants to schools for farmers, on any con-
stitutional theory that will not justify the Government in spending
money for any kind of education the country over; but the welfare
of the people is so dependent on improved agricultural conditions
that it seems wise to use the welfare clause of the Constitution to
authorize the expenditure of money for improvement in agricultural
education, and leave to the States and to private enterprise general
and other vocational education. \The attitude of the Government
in all this matter must be merely advisory. It owns no land of suf-
ficient importance to justify its maintenance of so large a depart-
ment or of its sending into all States agents to carry the news of
recent discoveries in the science of agriculture. The $50,000,000
which has been spent for research work in the department, however,
has come back many fold to the people of the United States, and all
parties unite in the necessity for maintaining those appropriations
and increasing them as the demand shall increase.

It is now proposed to organize a force of 3,000 men, one to every
county in the United States, who shall conduct experiments within
the county for the edification and education of the present farmers
and of the embryo farmers who are being educated. It is proposed
that these men shall be paid partly by the county, partly by the State,
and partly by the Federal Government, and it is hoped that the actual
demonstration on farms in the county—not at agricultural stations or
schools somewhere in the State, but in the county itself—will bring
home to the farmers what it is possible to do with the very soil that
they themselves are cultivating. I understand this to be the object
of an association organized for the improvement of agriculture in
the country, and I do not think we could have a more practical method
than this It i is ordinarily not wise to unite administration between
the county and State and Federal Governments, but this subject is
one so all-compelling, it is one in which all people are so much inter-

[Cir. 38]

\

\

4 ca purpose so cae Sieh ae Me that we may prop

the plan and try it.
‘On the whole, therefore, I think our agricultural future is h
I do not share the pessimistic views of many gentlemen wh¢
tistics differ somewhat from mine, and who look forward to a s
probability of failure of self-support in food within the lives o;
sons now living. It is true that we shall have to continue th
provement in agriculture so as to make our addition to the pr
per acre 1 per cent of the crop each year, or 10 per cent each decade
but considering what is done in Europe, this is not either impossibl
or improbable. The addition to the acreage in drainage and in
rigable lands will go on—must go on. The profit to the St
to the enterprise which irrigates or drains these lands will hb
sufficient to make it not only profitable but necessary to carry th
the project, and we may look forward to the middle of this ce
when 200,000,000 of people shall swear fealty to the starry flag
time when America will still continue to feed her millions and Te
them well out of her own soil.
Wasuineron, D. C., October 5, 1911.
[Cir. 38]

0002673027

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