CHAPTER XV

CONSERVING OUR NATURAL RESOURCES

RESOURCES OF THE SOIL

In the preceding chapter we learned that as a nation we have not been altogether thrifty in the disposal and use of our public lands. The same thing will have to be said regarding the use of the resources of the land, of which the soil is by far the most valuable.

It is said that 1200 boys in Ohio, organized in clubs, increased the average yield of corn from 35 bushels to 81 bushels per acre. The average returns per acre from the soil of the United States were lower before the war than in any European country, except Russia. The following table gives the production per acre of four cereals in the United States and five European countries in 1913. The same relative position of the United States would be shown if we took the average production of these countries for a series of years.

PRODUCTION IN BUSHELS PER ACRE UNDER CULTIVATION IN 1913

ABILITY OF THE AMERICAN FARMER

The low position of the United States in agriculture is by no means due to inferior ability on the part of the American farmer. The Secretary of Agriculture says that