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Issued October LO, 1911. 
 
 United States Department of Agriculture, 
 
 OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY.— Circular No. 38. 
 
 CONSERVATION OF THE SOTL. 
 
 [Address of Presidenl Tafl before the National Conservation Congress, :it 
 Kansas City, Mo., September 25, 1911.] 
 
 of the National ( ation Congn 
 
 At last year's convention of this congress I had the honor ami 
 pleasure of delivering an address on the subject of conservation of 
 oiii- national resources, and therein attempted to state what the term 
 nservation '' of our national resources meant, what were the 
 ites 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 it- 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 Tinted States, and evolve a system by which the 
 ernment shall retain proper ultimate control of the land-, and at 
 the same time offer to private investment sufficient returns to induce 
 the outlay of capital needed to make the land- 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 I' 1 in this country 
 
 sufficient to feed our growing population. 
 
 We have in continental United State- about 1.900.000.000 acres. 
 
 Of this, the Agricultural Department, through it- correspondents, 
 
 estimates that , .>.")0.000.000 acres are capable of cultivation. Of this. 
 
 ,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. 3S— 11 
 
certain that substantially all the virgin soil of a character to produce 
 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 that will be brought 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 moreintense 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 Europe that gives the great yield per 
 
 [Cir. 38] 
 
acre there and prevents its possibility in the United States. <>n the 
 contrary, there is every reason to believe thai the application of the 
 Mime methods would produce just as Large crops here as abroad. 
 
 One of the great reasons for discouragement felt by many who 
 have written <>n 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 n<>w p; 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 Buch 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 L899, point- out that between the years i s >v> 
 
 and L894 the ti of human Labor required to produce 1 bushel <>f 
 
 corn on an average declined from 1 hours and 34 minutes to 41 min- 
 utes, and the cost of the human Labor required to produce this bushel 
 declined from 35| cents to 10| cents. Between L830 and L896 the 
 time of human Labor required for the production of a bushel of wheat 
 \\;i- reduced from 3 hours to LO minutes, while the price of the Labor 
 required for this purpose declined from L7| cents to 3| cent-. Be- 
 tween L860 and 1894 the time of human Labor required for the pro- 
 duction of a ton of hay was reduced from 35i| hour- to 11 hours and 
 :'»! minutes, and the cost <>f Labor per ton was reduced from $3.06 
 to $1.29. 
 
 Tn 1899 the calculation made with respect to the reduction in the 
 cost of Labor for the production of seven crop- of that year over the 
 old-time manner of production in the fifties and sixties mows it to 
 
 have 1 n sc- 1 .oDu.i hiii for one year. But while it i- 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 i- 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 year-. Hence we must regard the question of available popu- 
 lation and available Labor in that population for the cultivation of 
 the Held- as an important consideration. My impression from an ex- 
 amination of the figures i- that the change in this Last decade from 
 farm to city ha- not Keen as great in it- percentage a.- it was in pre- 
 vious decade-, and. if tlii- he true, it indicate- that there i- in the 
 present situation an element that will help to cure the difficulty. 
 Farm prices an- increasing rapidly, and the profit- of farming are 
 becoming apparently much more certain and substantial. While the 
 
 Kir. 38] 
 
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 
 
 tCir. 38] 
 
great liver- of (lif country ami 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 richesl and 
 the best soil of the farms which arc thus denuded. 
 
 Of the rain <»r -now which falls on the land, a pari evaporates 
 into the air: a second pari How.- down the -lope- to the streams, and 
 is called the run-off. The third part -oak- into the soil and sub- 
 soil, ami thence into underlying rocks, perhaps to reappear in springs 
 or seepage into streams. This is called ground water. The fourth 
 pari is absorbed by organisms, chiefly by tree-, grasses, ami crop 
 plant-, either directly through the tissues or indirectly through the 
 - penetrating the moistened soil. Erosion is due to the run-off, 
 and its quantity is dependent on the -lope of the farm and al-o the 
 nature of the soil and it- products. Any reasonable -lope, and any 
 full cover of foresl or grass with an abundant mulch, or a close 
 crop on ;i deeply broken -oil. or a friable furrow -lice kept Loose by 
 suitable cultivation, will absorb rain and cm-tail the run-off, or even 
 reduce it to -low seepage through the surface soil, which i- the ideal 
 condition. Now. the ground water is the mosl essentia] constituent 
 of the -oil. because solution, circulation, and organic assimilation 
 are dependent on water. All the organisms and tissues are made up 
 of this solvenl of water, ami 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 i- excessive 
 it make- a sodden ma--, sticky when wet. but baked when dry, 
 that there i- no possible absorption further into it. and it -end- on 
 the water that fall- on it to erode easy -lope-. 
 
 The erosion begins on the farm and should he remedied there. 
 Deep cultivation tends to absorb the product of each rainfall and to 
 reduce the run-off. Deep cultivation brings up fresh earth salt- to 
 the -horter rootlet-, l.ut carrie- down the humus and mulch to thicken 
 the soil and I'm] the deepest root-. In flat-lying field- and tenacious 
 soil- tile drainage is the besl method id" relieving the farm from the 
 danger of too great run-oil'. Deep drainage permit- both -oil and sub- 
 -oil to crumble and disintegrate and through mechanical and chemical 
 ehanges to become friable and capable of taking on and holding the 
 right amount id' moisture for plant growth, while the water which 
 runs out through the drain i- clear without carrying the -oil with it. 
 and therefore without erosion. Of course, different farm- require 
 different treatments. Certain farm- require what i- called contour 
 cultivation, by which each furrow i- to he run in such a way a- to 
 level and to hold the water. On hilly land- strip- of grass land are 
 grown, called balks or breaks, separating zone- of plow land, and 
 
 Kir. 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 carefid 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] 
 
Lege, and one who intends to become a farmer is introduced to his 
 profession soon after be Learns to read and write, and Lie continues 
 bis study of it until he graduates from bis 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. \<>w the depart- 
 ment employs 11,000 persons, many of whom arc engaged in con- 
 ducting experiment stations and -pleading information all over the 
 country. The cooperation between the State agricultural school 
 system and the Federal Government's publicity bureau and experi- 
 mental work i- as close and line as we could ask. It is difficult !«• 
 justify the expenditure of money for agricultural purposes in the 
 Agricultural Department with a view to its publication for use of 
 the farmer-, or to make grants to schools for farmer-, on any con- 
 stitutional theory that will not justify the Government in spending 
 money for any kind of education the country over: hut 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 
 ana other vocational education. The attitude of the Government 
 in all this matter must be merely advisory. It own- 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 sr.O.oOo.noo 
 which has been spent for research work in the department, however, 
 has cdiiie 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 State.-, 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 -oil 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 tin.-. It is ordinarily not wise to unite administration between 
 the county and State and Federal Governments, but this subject i- 
 one so all-compelling, it is one in which all people are so much inter- 
 ior. 38] 
 
8 
 
 ested, that cooperation seems easy and the expenditure of money tj 
 good purpose so free from difficulty, that we may properly welcoi 
 the plan and try it. 
 
 On the whole, therefore, I think our agricultural future is hopeful 
 I do not share the pessimistic views of many gentlemen whose stal 
 tistics differ somewhat from mine, and who look forward to a stronj 
 probability of failure of self-support in food within the lives of pei 
 sons now living. It is true that we shall have to continue the ii 
 provement in agriculture so as to make our addition to the produc 
 per acre 1 per cent of the crop each year, or 10 per cent each decadel 
 but considering what is done in Europe, this is not either impossiblj 
 or improbable. The addition to the acreage in drainage and in ii 
 rigable lands will go on — must go on. The profit to the State oj 
 to the enterprise which irrigates or drains these lands will becomj 
 sufficient to make it not only profitable but necessary to carry througj 
 the project, and we may look forward to the middle of this century 
 when 200,000,000 of people shall swear fealty to the starry flag, as 
 time when America will still continue to feed her millions and fee^ 
 them well out of her own soil. 
 
 Washington, D. C, October 5, 1911. 
 
 [Cir. 38] 
 
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