A Depleted Soil Means a Depleted Citizenship

A Depleted Soil Means a Depleted Citizenship By Dr. Thos. L. Martin, Agronomist, B. Y. U. THE influence of soil upon the type of people found in a given area is receiving much attention from rural sociologists, economists and human geographers of our country. Men in other fields of human endeavor, such as forestry, plant pathology, plant physiology, etc., are showing an increasing interest in the soil as related to their particular field of study. The few feet of crust which surround this earth's sphere, while being the home of vast numbers of physical, chemical and biological forces, also deter- mine, as these forces work, where man shall live, and determine too the kind of man that shall live and what he shall do while he sojourns here on this earth. The fact that soil has a great influence upon the character of citizenship in the community is borne out by a number of investi- gators. Our attention is called by one writer to the situation which prevailed during the early settling of our Atlantic states. In the southern and eastern portions of one of the states the land is hilly, of low fertility, and communication is rather difficult. The soils of such areas were depleted quickly. The better type of farmer who settled in this region sold his worn-out farm and moved into the central part of the valley where the soils were more desirable. The members of this better group were successful workers, more business-like in their dealings and despised the farmer who was slouchy in his habits. The group of farmers in the southern and eastern parts of the state who stayed with their worn-out farms and tried to eke out an existence were of an indifferent class. They were given to religious frenzy and to foolish superstition, such as planting potatoes in the dark of the moon. This hilly country caused such farmers leisurely to attack every problem. They were resigned to poor crops and hard work; uncouth in dress, slow to raise their standard of living, and carried a conceit that their ways were the best. This unprogressive type of person seems to adapt himself to soils of low fertility and soils situated so that a good living is a very difficult attainment. Really live young people who have the driving temperament pull away from such environments and seek their temporal salvation where soils are not depleted. That a depleted soil is followed by depleted citizenship is ob-

DEPLETED SOIL MEANS DEPLETED CITIZENSHIP 119 servable on every hand. Marginal people tend to collect on soils which yield a margin, and sub-marginal people accumulate where soils have been allowed to decline to the point of low and unprofit- able productivity. In the town of Lebanon, in the state of Connecticut, are two dis- tinct types of soil: the Charleston series and the Gloucester series. The Charleston series consists of soils which are greenish-gray, com- pact glacial till, quite retentive of moisture, fairly level and well adapted to cropping. The Gloucester series is of a loose texture, leachy, stony and not well adapted to cropping. The Charleston series when farmed properly gives a higher labor income than the Gloucester. This difference, were the farmers equally efficient, would mean simply a difference in productivity of the soils, but this is not the case as indicated by the fact that the milk production per cow is 25% higher than with the Gloucester series. There are more native-born farmers on the farms. In fact the sons of the better native farmers who first possessed lands of the Gloucester series sold out and moved to the more desirable soils of the Charleston series. The poorer soils of the Gloucester series seem to have become possessed mostly by the Russian Jew type of foreigner, while the better soils are owned by the native sons. It is interesting to note the experience of the people of Bible lands. Will C. Barnes in his Story of the Range contrasts the pres- ent population of Palestine and its soil productivity with the days when Israel was in her glory. The ranges supported vast numbers of livestock. At the cele- bration of the completion of the temple of King Solomon, there were no less than 22,000 oxen and 120,000 head of sheep sacrificed. The king of Moab rendered unto the king 100,000 lambs and 100,000 rams. When Israel made war against the Midianites under Moses they took as booty 675,000 head of sheep, 36,000 beeves and 35,000 asses. There are a number of evidences that this territory supported vast numbers of people and animals. The lands were flowing with milk and honey and civilization flourished to such a degree that it has influenced in no small way the civilization of the present day. What are the conditions now in Palestine? The soils are worn out, the ranges, due to poor management, are depleted, the soils have been washed and the productivity is almost nil. The quality of the citizenship is comparatively pitiable. One is justified, when con- sidering the Bible descriptions and the chastenings of the prophets, in saying that this deplorable condition is due in no small way to neglectful and wasteful agricultural practices. A neglected, worn-out soil tends to invite to itself a similar

120 IMPROVEMENT ERA type of person. A soil of high fertility, weed free, and in a state of high productivity acts as a magnet for the higher type of husband- man. It is a duty we owe to the coming generation to see to it that our soils are left as good as we find them. Dean Davenport says that "The future of a people is no better than the quality of the land it occupies." Let a vigorous community become shiftless and the quality of the land will deteriorate and soon such areas will become the homes of a lower class of people. Davenport says: "The farmer when he takes over a piece of land accepts an obligation, a great public responsibility to the fu- ture. Farming is a mining process and one must repair the damage done and must put back what is taken out. It must be as capable of supporting life as it was the day he took over the responsibility. If he neglects his land by poor farming then he is putting a mortgage on the food of babies not yet born. It is selling out the national future. It is treason in high places." Good farming is fair with the land, feeding it before it becomes hungry. Poor farming merely skims the cream and leaves the land exhausted. The constant growing of sugar beets without rotation and without manuring the soil depletes the soil, filling it with plant and animal diseases so that it will yield but five tons where it yielded twenty-five tons before. There are exceptions, of course, but take the country over, marginal lands are held by marginal peoples and sub-marginal lands by sub-marginal peoples. Allow the soils to deteriorate and slowly the quality of the citizenship will deteriorate. One troublesome weed is literally taking possession of vast areas of land in several of our nearby counties. The agricultural leaders have warned against the danger when there were but few weeds and all the land for miles around was in the pink of prosperity, and the citizenry was jubilant with the joys of life. The advice was ignored, or rather it was difficult to secure cooperative activity. One man would do his duty while his neighbor ignored the advice. Ir- rigation streams spread the seeds over the land where the industrious farmers labored. The youth grew up in this environment. They had vigor. They gave promise of being fine agriculturists. But in their tender years this discouraging situation became more dis- couraging and soon these fine country youths resolved to leave farm- ing and seek a livelihood elsewhere. The more shiftless youth stayed on the job. The vigorous, progressive farmer who had tried to keep his farm clean but, due to lack of cooperation, failed, he too left for more favorable climes. In one locality, at least, discouragement is now present, the agricultural youths are few in number, the state threatens to take over the lands if the owners do not clean, the own- ers dare the state to do it, the reason being that it will cost more to

DEPLETED SOIL MEANS DEPLETED CITIZENSHIP 121 clean the land than it is worth. Because of the weed, quarantines are placed against the produce that is being raised. A sad situation pre- vails. The quality of the land has slowly changed and so has the quality of the citizenship. Our lands must be kept at a high stage of productivity and a high type of citizenship must be maintained. The responsibility of the soil husbandman is enormous. The population of the United States is increasing at an enor- mous rate. By the year 1950 we shall have increased our population another thirty to forty million. Already we are importing food stuffs. What shall we do then if our lands produce only as they do now? For nearly a century food production in the world has been ahead of food consumption, but according to the economic curve, within the next fifteen years food production in the world will equal food consumption and after that we shall be living on a lower standard because food production will be lower than food consumption unless something can be done to improve our present methods of soil production practices. Of the vegetable materials produced on the soil 76% of it is fed to animals, 24% is eaten by human beings. As population in- creases this will change, more crops will be consumed directly by humans, since in a given area larger numbers can be sustained in that way. Animals will decrease, manures will decrease, demands will increase for agricultural products. Good lands by that time will indeed pay well and happy will be the man who has kept up the fertility of his soil. The demands of the future compel greater attention to our lands. The business interests, even the clubs of our various counties, could well concern themselves with the soil problem. The quality of the soil determines the quality of the people, and they in turn determine the quantity and quality of the business done. Soils which are now good should be maintained so. Business interests the country over should take an interest in this very thing. When people say, "We secured twenty years ago 400 bushels of apples an acres but now only 40," or, "When I was a child I remem- ber we raised 500 bushels of potatoes and 25 tons of sugar beets but now only 50 bushels of potatoes and five tons of sugar beets," it is cause for alarm. Consider the farming and soil conditions which prevail in the poor south and the significance of the foregoing takes on a greater significance. All forces of this country, farmer and other- wise, should center upon the problem of good soil management, because a depleted soil means a depleted citizenship; and what can be worse?