Cyril G. Hopkins

“ Why should they not be built up into good farms?"
"Now, let me give you a little fatherly advice," said the Congressman, laying his hand on Percy's shoulder. "I tell you this land never was any good. If the East and South hadn't been settled first, they never would have been settled. Poor land remains poor land, and good land remains good land; and if you want to farm good land, you better stay right in the corn belt. You can't grow anything on these Eastern lands without fertilizer and the more you fertilize the more you must, and still the land remains as poor as ever. ”

“ Lincoln was always the President of all the people of the United States, and his death was a far greater loss to the South than to the North. To place the power to govern the intelligent white of the South absolutely in the hands of their former ignorant slaves was undoubtedly the most abominable political blunder recorded in history; and even this was intensified by the unprincipled white-skinned vultures who came among us to fatten upon our dead or dying conditions. Those years of so-called reconstruction, constitute the blackest page in the history of modern civilization. ”

“ To bring about the adoption of systems of farming that will restore our depleted Eastern and Southern soils, and that will maintain or increase the productive power of our remaining fertile lands of the Great Central West, where we are now producing half of the total corn crop of the entire world, is not only the most important material problem of the United States; but to bring this about is worthy of, and will require, the best thought of the most influential men of America. Without a prosperous agriculture here there can be no permanent prosperity for our American institutions. ”

“ We understand, even better than you, that everybody is poor in a country where the land is poor; and it should be to the greatest interest of the railroad companies as well as to all other industries, to unite in an effort to make it possible for every landowner to apply large amounts of limestone to his land,—the more the better,—and no one should expect any large profit from the business; but wait till the benefit is produced on the land,—wait till the farmer has his increased crops, and some money from the sale of those crops. ”

“ These are Lincolns words:
"'No other human occupation opens so wide a field for the profitable and agreeable combination of labor with cultivated thought, as agriculture. I know nothing so pleasant to the mind as the discovery of anything that is at once new and valuable—nothing that so lightens and sweetens toil as the hopeful pursuit of such discovery. And how vast and how varied a field is agriculture for such discovery! The mind, already trained to thought in the country school, or higher school, cannot fail to find there an exhaustless source of enjoyment. Every blade of grass is a study ”

“ The cost of land is a great item, even in new countries, and it constantly grows greater and greater, in comparison with other items, as the country grows older.'"
Percy paused and said: "If I understand correctly these words of Lincoln, the land need not become poor. But I do not know why land becomes poor. I do not know what the soil contains, nor do I know what corn is made of. We plow the ground and plant the seed and cultivate and harvest the crop, but I do not know what the corn crop, or any crop, takes from the soil. ”

“ Why, for years the Iowa farmers said blue grass wouldn't grow in Iowa. Yes, Sir, they just knew it wouldn't grow there; and then I showed them that blue grass was actually growing in Iowa,—actually growing along the roadsides almost everywhere,—blue grass that would pasture a steer to the acre—just came in of itself without being seeded. No, I tell you they don't sow clover down here. They just say it won't grow and keep right on planting corn, corn, corn, until the corn crop amounts to nothing, and then they let the land grow up in brush. ”

“ We cannot make crops nor bank accounts out of nothing. The rotation of crops does not enrich the soil, does not even maintain the fertility of the soil. On the contrary, the rotation of crops, like the rotation of your check book, actually depletes the soil more rapidly than the single system; and, if you ever have your choice between two farms of equal original fertility, one of which has been cropped with wheat only, and the other with a good three or five-year rotation, for fifty years, take my advice and choose the "worn-out" wheat farm. ”

“ As Thou with Thy presence hast surrounded all forms of creation and all stages of being with the providences of welfare and development and grace, so we pray, our Father, for guidance through the sessions of this institute, for the providences of Thy love and Thy wisdom divine as it reveals itself in the open field, in the orchard, in the garden, bringing forth those things which replenish the earth with food and fill the mouths of our hungry ones with bread. ”

“ The farm is the basis of all industry, but for many years this country has made the mistake of unduly assisting manufacture, commerce, and other activities that center in cities, at the expense of the farm. The result is a neglected system of agriculture and the decline of the farming interest. But all these other activities are founded upon the agricultural growth of the nation and must continue to depend upon it. Every manufacturer, every merchant, every business man, and every good citizen is deeply interested in maintaining the growth and development of our agricultural resources. ”

“ I assume that much of the land in Rhode Island has been farmed for 250 years, and the fact that you are still producing more than thirty bushels of corn per acre, as an average, is, it seems to me, a fact of great significance. I suppose you use all the manure you can make from the crops you raise and perhaps use some commercial fertilizer also. I should like to know what yield of corn you produce without any manure or fertilizer?"
"We don't produce any," said Mr. Robbins; "at least we know we wouldn't produce any corn without fertilizing the land in one way or another. ”

“ It is worth while to consider how little real wealth there would be in America if the remaining rich lands should become impoverished. The railroads would at once cease to pay dividends, and those who are now millionaires in railroad stock would find themselves on the rapid road to poverty. The manufacturer of finished products from the raw materials raised on the farm, the manufacturer of agricultural implements, and the great urban population whose income is from the trade in raw materials and manufactured goods would soon see their wealth shrivel. ”

“ I studied chemistry in the University under a man who knew more in a minute than all the 'tommy rot' you've been filled up with. I also lived on an Illinois farm, and I speak from practical experience. I know what I am talking about, and I don't care a rap for all the theories that can be stacked up by your modern college professor, who wouldn't know a pumpkin if he met one rolling down hill. I tell you God Almighty never made the black corn belt land to be worn out, and he doesn't create people on this earth to let 'em starve to death. ”

“ As agriculture is the fundamental support of America and of all her other great industries, so the fertility of the soil is the absolute support of every form of agriculture. Now, if there is any one factor that can be the most important, where so many are positively essential, then the most important factor in the problem of adopting and maintaining permanent systems of profitable agriculture on American soils is the element phosphorus. ”

“ I realize that to rebuild in my life what another has torn down during his life is a task the end of which can hardly be even dimly foreshadowed. Some friends are already beginning to ask me what results I am getting, and they apparently feel that we must succeed or fail with a trial of a full season. I have said to them that I have no objection whatever to discussing our plans at any time, so far as we are yet able to make plans, but that I shall not be ready to discuss results with anyone until we begin to secure crop yields in the third rotation. ”

“ I see you are from Illinois, Mr. Johnston. I am an Iowa man myself, and I am always glad to see any one from the corn belt. Do you know we are going to beat the records this year? It is wonderful what crops we grow in this country, and they are getting better every year. We are growing more than two-thirds of the entire corn crop of the globe, right here in these United States. Yes, Sir, and we are just beginning to grow corn; and corn is only one of our important agricultural products. Do you know that eighty-six per cent. ”

“ I am convinced that there are hundreds or perhaps thousands of valuable facts that have been acquired through experience and observation by the average farm boy of eighteen or twenty years that would be of little or no value to him in most other occupations; and in this respect I should be handicapped if I leave the farm life and begin wholly at the bottom in some other profession. Perhaps agriculture is not a profession, but I think it should be if the highest success is to be attained. ”

“ We have no right to follow him. His mother only saw that he went to the little granary where a few loads of corn were to be stored for future use. Yes, she saw that he closed the door as he entered. Not even his mother could see her son again a child. Women and children weep, not men. The heart strings draw tight and tighter until they tear or snap. The body is racked with the anguish of the mind. The form reels and sinks to the floor. The head bows low. Pent up tears fall like rain.—No, that cannot be. Men do not shed tears. ”

“ He said that it is never necessary to apply fertilizing material to any soil for the purpose of increasing the supply of plant food in that soil. He admitted that applications of fertilizers sometimes produce increased crop yields, but that the effect was due to the power of the fertilizer to destroy the toxic substances excreted by the plants, and this is really the principal effect of potash, phosphates, and nitrates, and also of farm manure and green manures. ”

“ The fact is there is a side to agriculture that I knew almost nothing about as a so-called practical farmer, and I am coming to believe that what we commonly call practical farming is often the most impractical farming,—certainly this is true if it ultimately results in depleted and abandoned lands. The truly practical farmer is the man who knows not only how to do, but also what to do and why he does it. The Simplon railroad tunnel connecting Switzerland with Italy is twelve miles long,—the longest in the world. ”