THE next day Percy spent a few hours at the State Capitol inRichmond, where he found the records of the State of much interest.
Thus he found that in practically every county there was more or less land owned by the commonwealth, because of its complete abandonment by former owners, and the failure of any one to buy when sold by the state for taxes.
Under such conditions the title to the land returns to the State, and after two years it may be sold by the State to any one desiring to purchase and the former owner has no further right of redemption. Some of these lands which are owned by the State, and on which the State has received no taxes for many years, are still occupied by their former owners or by "squatters"' and may continue to be so occupied unless the land should be purchased from the State by some one else who would demand full possession. Such purchasers, however, are likely to be unpopular residents in the community, if the transaction forces poor people from a place they have called home, even though they had no legal right to occupy it.
Percy found that the report of the State Auditor showed that the clerk of the court of Powhatan county had returned to the State $1.05 "for sales of lands purchased by the commonwealth at tax sales," while from Prince Edward county the State received a similar revenue amounting to $17.39 for the same year. The total revenue to the commonwealth from this source amounted to $667.85 for the year. Contrasted with this was the revenue from "Redemption of Land," amounting to $27,436.38, suggesting something of the struggle of the man to retain possession of his home before it becomes legally possible for another to take it from him beyond redemption.
According to the records about a million acres of land are owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia alone.
Percy decided to go to Washington to learn what definite information he might obtain from the United States Department of Agriculture. On the train for Washington he found himself sitting beside a Virginia farmer.
"These lands remind me of our Western prairies," Percy remarked. "You have some extensive areas of level or gently undulating uplands."
"They don't remind me of the Western prairies, I can tell you," was the reply. "I am a Westerner myself, or I was until eight years ago. These lands look all right from the train when the crops are all off, but I find that every patch of the earth's surface doesn't always make a good farm. Why you can go from Danville, Illinois, to Omaha, Nebraska, and stop anywhere in the darkest night and you're mighty near sure to light on a good farm where one acre is worth ten of this land along here."
"About what is this land worth?" asked Percy.
"Well, I thought six hundred acres of it was worth $5,000 about eight years ago, especially as the buildings on the place were in good repair and couldn't be built to-day for less than $6,000: but right now I think I paid a plenty for my land. It's just back a few miles at the station where I got on."
"How far is that from Washington?"
"About fifteen miles, I reckon, as the crow flies. My boy has a telescope his uncle sent him and we can see the Monument on a clear day."
"What monument?" asked Percy.
"Why, Washington's monument. Haven't you ever been to Washington?"
"No, this is my first visit. I am really thinking of buying a farm somewhere here in the East. I have been in Richmond and learned a great deal from the state reports, and I thought I might get more information from the Department of Agriculture in Washington."
"Perhaps," said the man, "but my advice is to keep in mind that there is a difference between buying land and buying a farm. I've got land to sell, by the way. I thought I'd need it all when I bought, but I can see now that I'll not need more'n half of it at the most; so, if you want two or three hundred acres of this kind of land right close here where you kind o' neighbor with the senators and other upper tens, and run back and forth from the City in an hour or so, why I think I can accommodate you. My name is Sunderland, J. R. Sunderland, and you'll find me at home any day."
"How much would you sell part of your land for?" inquired Percy.
"Well, I'd kind o' hate to take less than ten dollars an acre for it; but I think we can make a deal all right if you like the location."
ABOUT nine o'clock the day following Percy's arrival in Washington he sent his card into the office of the Secretary of Agriculture.
"Just step this way," said the boy on his return. "The Secretary will see you at once."
A gentleman who appeared to be sixty, but was really several years older, arose from his desk and greeted Percy very kindly.
"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. of all the raw materials used in all the manufactured products of this country come from the farms of the United States; yes, Sir, eighty-six per cent.
"Now, what can I do for you? I am very glad you called, and I will be glad to serve you in any way you desire. By the way, how is the corn turning out in your part of Illinois? Bumper crop, I have no doubt."
"I think so," said Percy, "after seeing the crops here in the East.
"That's what I thought," continued the Secretary." A bumper crop, the biggest we ever raised. Oh, they don't know how to raise corn here in the East. They just grow corn, corn, corn, year after year; and that will get any land out of fix. I found that out years ago in Iowa. I am a farmer myself, as I suppose you know. I found you couldn't grow corn on the same land all the time. But just rotate the crops; put clover in the rotation; and then your ground will make corn again, as good as ever."
"But I understand that clover refuses to grow on most of this eastern land," said Percy.
"Oh, nonsense. They don't sow it. I tell you they don't sow it, and they don't know how to raise it. It takes a little manure sometimes to start it, but it will grow all right if they would only give it half a chance. 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."
"Now, I do not wish to take up more of your time," said Percy, "for I know how busy a man you must be, but I am thinking of buying a farm, or some land, here in the East and have come to you for information. We have a small farm in Illinois and land is rather too high-priced there to think of buying more; but I thought I could sell at a good price, and buy a much larger farm here in the East with part of the money and still have enough left to build it up with; and, with the high price of all kinds of farm produce here, we ought to make it pay."
"You can do it," said the Secretary. "No doubt of it. Any land that ever was any good is all right yet if you'll grow clover, and you can start that with a little manure if you need it. I have done it in Iowa, and I know what I am talking about.
"Now my Bureau of Soils can give you just the information you want. We are making a soil survey of the United States, and we have soil maps of several counties right here in Maryland. You can take that map and pick out any kind of land you want,—upland or bottom land,—sandy soil, clay soil, loam, silt loam, or anything you want."
"SHOW this gentleman to the Bureau of Soils," said the Secretary to the boy who came as he pushed a button.
"All the world loves an optimist," said Percy to himself as he followed the boy to another office where he met the Chief of the Bureau of Soils, who kindly furnished him with copies of the soil maps of several counties, including two in Maryland, Prince George, which adjoins the District of Columbia, and St. Mary county, which almost adjoins Prince George on the South.
These maps were accompanied by extensive reports describing in some detail the agricultural history of the counties and the general observations that had been made by the soil surveyors.
"I desire to learn as much as I can regarding the most common upland soils," Percy explained. "Not the rough or broken land, but the level or undulating lands which are best suited for cultivation. I am sure these maps and reports will be a very great help to me."
"I think you will find just what you are looking for," said the Chief. "You can spread the maps out on the table there and let me know if I can be of any assistance. You see the legend on the margin gives you the name of every soil type, and the soils are fully described in the reports. One of the most common uplands soils in southern Prince George county is the Leonardtown loam, and this type is also the most extensive soil type in St. Mary county.
"The same type is found in Virginia to some extent. While the soil has been run down by improper methods of culture, it has a very good mechanical composition and is really an excellent soil; but it needs crop rotation and more thorough cultivation to bring it back into a high state of fertility. The farmers are slow to take up advanced methods here in the East. We have told them what they ought to do, but they keep right on in the same old rut."
For two hours Percy buried himself with the maps and reports. Finally the Chief came from his inner office, and finding Percy still there asked if he had found such information as he desired.
"I find much of interest and value, but I do not find any complete invoice of the plant food contained in these different kinds of soil."
"You mean an ultimate chemical analysis of the soil?" asked theChief.
"Yes, a chemical analysis to ascertain the absolute amount of plant food in the soil. I think of it as an invoice; but I see that you do not report any such analyses."
"No, we do not," answered the Chief. "We have been investigating the mechanical composition of soils, the chemistry of the soil solution, and the adaptation of crop to soil. We find that farmers are not growing the crops they should grow; namely, the crops to which their soils are best adapted. For example, they try to grow corn on land that is not adapted to corn."
"It seems to me," said Percy, "that our farmers are always trying to find a crop that is adapted to their soil. Down in 'Egypt,' which covers about one-third of Illinois, the farmers once raised so much corn that the people from the swampy prairie went down there to buy corn, and hence the name 'Egypt' became applied to Southern Illinois. But there came a time when the soil refused to grow such crops of corn; the farmers then found that wheat was adapted to the soil. Later the wheat yields decreased until the crop became unprofitable; and the farmers sought for another crop adapted to a still more depleted soil. Timothy was selected, and for many years it proved a profitable crop; but of late years timothy likewise has decreased in yield until there must be another change; and now whole sections of 'Egypt' are growing red top as the only profitable crop. After red top, then what? I don't know, but it looks as though it would be sprouts and scrub brush, and final land abandonment, a repetition of the history of these old lands of Virginia and Maryland."
"Well, can't they grow corn after red top?" asked the Chief.
"Many of them try it many times," replied Percy, "and the yield is about twenty bushels per acre, whereas the virgin soil easily produced sixty to eighty bushels."
"And they can't grow wheat as they once did?"
"No, wheat after timothy or red top now yields from five to twelve bushels per acre, while they once grew twenty to thirty bushels of wheat per acre year after year.
"If they rotate their crops, they would probably yield as well as ever," said the Chief.
"No, that, too, has been tried," replied Percy. "The Illinois Experiment Station has practiced a four-year rotation of corn, cowpeas, wheat, and clover on an experiment field on the common prairie soil down in 'Egypt,' and the average yield of wheat has been only twelve bushels per acre during the last four years, but when legume crops were plowed under and limestone and phosphorus applied, the average yield during the same four years was twenty-seven bushels per acre."
"Probably the increase was all produced by the green manure," suggested the Chief. "Organic matter has a great influence on the control of the moisture supply."
"That was tested," said Percy. "The green manure alone increased the average yield to only fourteen bushels while the green manure and limestone together raised the average wheat yield to nineteen bushels, the further increase to twenty-seven bushels having been produced by the addition of phosphorus."
"Well, Sir," said the Chief, "we have made both extensive intensive investigations concerning the chemistry of the soil solution by very delicate and sensitive methods of analysis we have developed, and we have also conducted culture experiments for twenty-day periods with wheat seedlings in the water extract of soils from all parts of the United States, and the results we have obtained have changed the thought of the world as to the cause of the infertility of soils."
"But you have not made analyses for total plant food in the soils or conducted actual field experiments with crops grown to maturity?" asked Percy.
"No, we have not done that," answered the Chief. "Those are old methods of investigation which have been tried for many years and yet no chemist can tell in advance what will be the effect of a given fertilizer upon a given crop on a given soil."
"That is true," said Percy, "but neither can any merchant tell in advance just what effect will be produced on the next day's business by the addition of a given number of a given kind of shoes to a given stock on his shelves. There are many factors involved in both cases."
"Yes, you are right in that," said the Chief, "we are just beginning to understand the chemistry of the soil, and we hope soon to have very complete proof of the advanced ideas we already have concerning the causes of the fertility and infertility of soils."
"Referring to the specific case of the Leonardtown loam of Maryland," said Percy, "I find the following statement on page 33 of the Report of the Field Operations of the Bureau of Soils for 1900. After describing the Norfolk loam of St. Mary County, the writer says:
"'The Leonardtown loam is a very much heavier type of soil. It covers about forty-one per cent. of St. Mary County. The soil is a yellow silty soil, resembling loess in texture, underlaid by a clay subsoil with layers or pockets of sand. This soil has been cultivated for upward of two hundred years, but it is now little valued and is covered with oak and pine over much of its area. It is worth from $1 to $3 per acre. The cultivated areas produce small crops of corn, wheat, and an inferior grade of tobacco.'"
"The generally low estimation in which this land is held is probably wholly unjustified," replied the Chief. "There are two or three farms in the area which, under a high state of cultivation with intelligent methods, will produce from twenty to thirty bushels of wheat per acre and corresponding crops of corn. Those farmers are a credit to the country. They furnish the towns with good milk and butter and vegetables, and they also help to keep the towns clean and sanitary by hauling out the animal excrements, and other waste and garbage that tend to pollute the air and water of the village."
"I can see how that might maintain the fertility of those farms," said Percy. "It seems that the general condition of this kind of land is about the same in Prince George County. On page 45 of the 1901 Report of the Field Operations of the Bureau of Soils, I have noted the following statement:
"'The Leonardtown loam, covering 45,770 acres of the area, is the nearest approach among the Maryland Coastal Plain Soils to the heavy clays of the limestone regions of Western Maryland and Pennsylvania. The surface is generally level and the drainage fair. The soil is not adapted to tobacco, and has consequently been allowed to grow up to scrub forest, so that large portions of it are at present uncleared. Such unimproved lands can be bought for $1.50 to $5.00 an acre, even within a few miles of the District line. The soil has been badly neglected, and when cultivated the methods have not been such as to promote fertility. When properly handled, as it is in a few places, good yields of wheat, corn and grass are obtained.'"
"That's right," said the Chief, "exactly right. Upon the whole it is one of the most promising soils of the locality, although it is not considered so by the resident farmers."
"You mean that it should be handled the same as is done by the successful farmers of St. Mary County?" inquired Percy.
"Yes, it needs thorough cultivation and the rotation of crops; and the physical condition of the soil needs to be improved by the addition of lime and manure, or green crops turned under."
"I have been looking over some of the other Reports of Field Operations," said Percy." I became interested in the description of a Virginia soil called Porters black loam. I find the following statements on page 210 of the Report for 1902:
"'The Porters black loam occurs in all the soil survey sheets, extending along the top of the main portion of the Blue Ridge Mountains in one continuous area. This type consists of the broad rolling tops and the upper slopes of the main range of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Locally the Porters black loam is called "black land" and "pippin" land, the latter term being applied because, of all the soils of the area, it is pre-eminently adapted to the Newtown and Albermarle Pippin. This black land has long been recognized as the most fertile of the mountain soils. It can be worked year after year without apparent impairment of its fertility. Wheat winter kills, the loose soils heaving badly under influence of frost. The areas lie at too high elevations for corn. Oats do well, making large yields. Irish potatoes, even under ordinary culture, will yield from two hundred to three hundred bushels per acre. It seeds in blue grass naturally, which affords excellent pasturage. Clover and other grasses will also grow luxuriantly upon it. The areas occupied by this soil are mostly cleared.'"
"Yes, Sir," said the Chief, "the Potters black loam is a fine soil—loose and porous as stated in the Report. You see it has a good physical condition."
"There is one other description in this Report for 1903 that is of special interest to me," said Percy. "This relates to a type of soil which the surveyors found in the low level areas of prairie land in McLean County, Illinois, and which they have called Miami black clay loam. I think we have several acres of the same kind of soil on our own little farm. I found the following statements on page 787:
"'When the first settlers came to McLean County they found the areas occupied by the Miami black clay loam wet and swampy, and before these areas could be brought under cultivation it was necessary to remove the excess of moisture. With the exception of a few large ditches for outlets, tile drains have taken the place of open ditches. Drainage systems in some instances have cost as much as $25 an acre, but the very productive character of the soil, and the increase in the yields fully justify the expense. There are few soils more productive than the Miami black clay loam. Some areas have been cropped almost continuously in corn for nearly fifty years without much diminution in the yields.'"
"Now there you are again," said the Chief. "Drainage, that's all it needed. You see it's a simple matter; and that's what the Leonardtown loam needs in places. Give it good drainage and good cultivation with a rotation of crops, and you'll get results all right."
"Has the Bureau of Soils tried these methods on any of this soil near Washington?" asked Percy.
"No use," replied the Chief. "We've got the scientific facts and besides, as I told you, some few farms are kept up in both Prince George and St. Mary counties and they are as good demonstrations as anyone could want. Now I suggest that you meet some of our scientists."
THE Chief showed Percy into the laboratories of the Bureau and introduced him to the soil physicist and the soil chemist. Percy was greatly interested in the various lines of work in progress and gladly accepted an invitation to return after lunch and become better acquainted with the methods of investigation used.
In the afternoon the physicist showed him how the soil water could be removed from an ordinary moist soil by centrifugal force, and the chemist was growing wheat seedlings in small quantities of this water and in water extracts contained in bottles. The seedlings were allowed to grow for twenty days and then other seedlings were started in the same solution and also in fresh solution, and it was very apparent that in some cases the wheat grew better in the fresh solutions.
The chemist explained that he also analyzed the soil solutions and water extracts from different soils and that there was no relation between the crop yields and the chemical composition of the soils.
"But it seems to me," said Percy, "that your analysis refers to the plant food dissolved in the soil water only at the time when you extract it. How long a time does it require to make the extraction?"
"As a rule we shake the soil with water for three minutes and then it takes twenty minutes to separate the water from the soil. This gives us the plant food in solution and with the addition of more water the nitrates, phosphoric acid, and potash in the soil immediately dissolve sufficiently give us a nutrient solution of the same concentration as we had before. Thus there is always sufficient plant food in the soil so long as there is any of the original stock."
"That is surely quick work," said Percy, "but I wonder if the corn plant might not get somewhat different results from the soil analysis which it makes."
"How do you mean?"
"Did you ever plant a field of corn and then cultivate it and watch it grow with increasing rapidity, until along about the Fourth of July every leaf seemed to nod its appreciation and thanks as you stirred the soil; and to show its gratitude, too, by growing about five inches every twenty-four hours when the nights were warm?"
"No," replied the Chemist, "I have never had any experience of that sort. I am devoting my life to the more scientific investigations relating to the fundamental laws which underlie these soil fertility problems."
"Well, I was only thinking," Percy continued, "that you analyze a fraction of a pound of soil in a few minutes, while the corn plant analyzes about a ton of soil by a sort of continuous process, which covers twenty-four hours every day for about one hundred and twenty days, and it takes into account every change in temperature and moisture, the aeration with any variation produced by cultivation, and also the changes brought about by the nitrifying bacteria and all other agencies that promote the decomposition of the soil and the liberation of plant food, including the action upon the insoluble phosphates and other minerals of the carbonic acid exhaled by the roots of the corn plants, the nitric acid produced by the process of nitrification, and the various acids resulting from the decay of organic matter contained in the soil."
"I am very familiar with the literature of the whole subject of soil fertility," replied the Chemist, "and our theories are being accepted everywhere. I have just returned from a lecture tour extending from Florida to Michigan, and our ideas and methods are being very generally adopted, not only in this country but also in Europe."
"The Chief of the Bureau very kindly permitted me to look over the maps and reports relating to the soils of Maryland and Virginia," said Percy, "but in this literature I found no data as to the amount of plant food contained in the various soil types that have been found in the surveys. May I ask if the Bureau has made any analyses to ascertain the total amounts of the different essential plant food elements contained in these different soils?"
"No," the Chemist replied, "a chemical analysis gives practically no information concerning the fertility of the soil. We have made no ultimate analyses of soils, although we have used the same methods of analysis in a study of the partial composition of the soil separates, or particles of different grades, such as the sand, the silt, and the clay."
"And have you also determined the percentages of sand, silt, and clay in the soils themselves?"
"Oh, yes, the physical composition of the soil is a matter of very great importance, and this is always determined and reported for every soil. Did you not see that in the Reports you examined this morning?"
"I think I did notice it," Percy replied, "but it is so easy for the farmer himself to tell a sandy soil from a clay soil that I did not appreciate the value of those physical analyses.
"In any case, I shall be very glad to know what results were obtained from the chemical analysis of the soil separates to which you referred."
"Those results are all reported in Bulletin No. 54 of the Bureau of Soils," said the Chemist, "and I have extra copies right here and will be glad to present you with one. And let me give you our Bulletin 22 also. This will enable you to get a clear idea of the principles we are developing which are solving the soil fertility problems that have completely baffled the scientists heretofore."
PERCY left the Bureau of Soils with a feeling of deep appreciation for the uniform courtesy and kindness that had been accorded him, but with a firm conviction that the laboratory scientists were too far removed from the actual conditions existing in the cultivated field. He sought the quiet of his room at the hotel in order to study the bulletins he had received.
Even with his college training he found it difficult to form clear mental conceptions of the results of investigations reported in the bulletins. Sometimes the data were reported in percentages and sometimes in parts per million. No reports gave the amounts of the element phosphorus; but PO4 was given in some places and P2O5 in others. In Bulletin No. 22, the potassium and calcium were reported as the elements and the nitrogen in terms of NO3, while potash (K20), quicklime (CaO), and magnesia (MgO) were reported in Bulletin 54.
By a somewhat complicated mathematical process, he finally succeeded in making computations from the percentages of the various compounds reported in the soil separates and from the percentages of these different separates contained in the soils themselves and from the known weights of normal soils, until he reduced the data to amounts per acre of plowed soil.
He was especially pleased to find that the essential data were at hand not only for both the Leonardtown loam and the Porter's black loam, but also for the Norfolk loam, which he had learned from one of the soil maps was the principal type of soil southwest of Blairville on Mr. Thornton's farm; and, furthermore, the Miami black clay loam of Illinois was included. Percy knew the black clay loam was a rich soil, for the teacher in college had said that the more common prairie land and most timber lands were much less durable and needed thorough investigation at once, while the flat recently drained heavy black land could wait a few years if necessary.
Percy first worked out the data for the Miami black clay loam. The chemist had analyzed the soil separates for only four constituents, and they showed the following amounts per acre of plowed soil to a depth of six and two-thirds inches, averaging two million pounds in weight:
2,970 pounds of phosphorus
38,500 pounds of potassium
18,440 pounds of magnesium
46,200 pounds of calcium
He then made the computations for the average of the Leonardtown loam of St. Mary County, Maryland, with results as follows:
160 pounds of phosphorus
18,500 pounds of potassium
3,480 pounds of magnesium
1,000 pounds of calcium
Percy stared at these figures when he brought them together for comparison. He then checked up his computations to be sure they were right.
"Almost twenty times as much phosphorus!" he said to himself. "Is it possible? And more than forty times as much calcium! Let me see! It takes one hundred and seventeen pounds of calcium for four tons of clover hay. The total amount in the plowed soil of the Leonardtown loam would not be sufficient for eight such crops; and six crops of corn such as we raised one year on our sixteen acres would take more phosphorus from the land than is now left in the plowed soil of this Leonardtown loam. The magnesium is not quite so bad—about one-fifth as much as in our black soil, and the potassium is almost one-half as much as we have."
Percy next turned to the Porters black loam, which he had noticed was to be found not many miles from Montplain. He thought he might induce Mr. West to drive with him to the upper mountain slope in order that they might see that land. His computations for the Porters black loam gave the following results:
4,630 pounds of phosphorus
48,300 pounds of potassium
12,360 pounds of magnesium
23,700 pounds of calcium
He viewed these figures a moment with evident satisfaction.
"Plenty of everything in this wonderful 'pippin land,'" he thought. "Big yields reported for everything suited to that altitude. 'Can be worked year after year without apparent impairment of its fertility,' so the Report stated. I should think it might, especially since clover is one of the crops grown. Both phosphorus and potassium are way above our best black land. Magnesium two-thirds and calcium one-half of our flat land, but still greater than our common prairie, according to the average they gave us at college. And no doubt there is plenty of magnesian limestone in these mountains which could be had if ever needed. The soil surveyor certainly did not say too much in praise of the Porters black loam, considering that its physical composition is also all right."
He worked out the Norfolk loam to see what he would get if he accepted Miss Russell's dare. The following are the figures:
610 pounds of phosphorus
13,200 pounds of potassium
1,200 pounds of magnesium
3,430 pounds of calcium
"Rather low in everything," said Percy, "compared with any soil I know that has a good reputation. More uniformly poor but not so extremely poor as the Leonardtown loam."
He wished that the nitrogen had been determined by the chemist, even though he knew the organic matter and the nitrogen must be very low in the poor soils, but nowhere was any such record to be found in the bulletin. He found the statement, however, that all data were reported on the basis of ignited soil.
"That will reduce some of these amounts about one-tenth," he said to himself. "In our physics work in college, good soils generally lost about ten per cent. in weight by ignition, even after all hygroscopic moisture had been expelled; but these very poor soils haven't much to lose, I guess. They surely contain no carbonates and very little organic matter, although they may contain some combined water."
PERCY spent three days in Washington.
"If I lived here long," he wrote his mother, "I think I should become as optimistic as the Secretary of Agriculture, even though the total produce of the original thirteen states should supply a still smaller fraction of the necessities of life required by their population. The Congressional Library is by far the finest structure I have ever seen. I cannot help feeling proud that I am an American when I walk through its halls and look upon the portraits of the great men who helped to make our country truly great.
"As I shook hands with the President of the United States at one of his public receptions held in the 'East Room' of the White House, I wondered if there was another country on the earth where the humblest subject could thus come face to face with the head of a mighty nation. In the Treasury Building I was permitted to join a small party of some distinction and shared with each of them the privilege of holding in my hands for a moment eight million dollars in government bonds.
"I have visited many of the great buildings, the Capitol, of course, and Washington's monument, which rises to a height of 555 feet above the surrounding land, or practically 600 feet above low-water level in the Potomac. There are many smaller monuments erected in honor of American heroes in various squares, circles, and parks throughout the City.
"The zoological garden took a full half-day, and I could have spent a much longer time there. They told me of a frightful occurrence that happened only last week. In a pool of water a very large alligator is kept confined by a low stout iron fence. A negro woman was leaning over the fence holding her baby in her arms and looking at the monster who seemed to be asleep; when, without a moment's warning, he thrust himself half out of the water and snapped the baby from her arms, swallowing it at one gulp as he settled back into the water. I fear the report is true enough, for they have made the fence higher in a very temporary manner, and I heard it mentioned by a dozen or more.
"I leave Washington by boat at five o'clock this afternoon, and I expect to land at Leonardtown, St. Mary county, Maryland, about six o'clock in the morning, when the boat will be ready to leave that port. It is a freight boat and stops for hours at large towns.
"I am planning for a trip into New England next week. I did not realize how easy it is to go there until I looked up the train service. In less than twelve hours' time, one can make the trip from the Virginia line, through the District of Columbia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and into Massachusetts,—ten different states, including the District. The trip from Galena to Cairo can hardly be made in so short a time, not even on the limited Illinois Central trains."
An hour before leaving the Washington hotel Percy chanced to meet a Congressman whom he had seen on several occasions at the University and who had spoken at the alumni banquet at the time of Percy's graduation.
"I'm very glad you introduced yourself, Mr. Johnston," said he. "Want to get a place down here, do you? Very likely I can help you some. I've helped several friends of mine to get good places. What are you after ?"
"I am thinking of getting a place of about three hundred acres," said Percy, "and I shall certainly appreciate any assistance or information you can give me."
"Whe-e-ew. What are you up to? Want to sell us a site for the new Government insane hospital, or going to lay out another addition to the city?"
"Neither," replied Percy. "I am looking for a piece of cheap land that I can build up and make into a good farm."
"Oh, ho!" said the Congressman. "That's it, is it? Well, now let me tell you that you've struck the wrong neck of the woods to find land that you can make a good farm out of. The land about here is cheap enough all right—cheaper than the votes of some politicians, but it can't be built up into good farms. Don't attempt the impossible, my friend. If you want cheap land for town sites or insane hospitals, right here's the country to land in; but if you want a good farm, you stay right in Illinois, or else follow Horace Greeley's advice and 'go West.'. That's a good suggestion for you, too. Just go West and get three hundred and twenty acres of the richest soil lying out of doors."
"There is not much land left in the West where the rainfall is sufficient for good crops," said Percy.
"Then take irrigated land. The Government is getting under way some big irrigation projects, and you ought to get in on the ground floor on one of those tracts. It is a fact that the apples from some of those irrigated farms sometimes bring more than $500 an acre."
"I don't doubt that," said Percy. "An illustration or example can usually be found to prove almost anything. I know that the Perrine Brothers, who conduct a fruit farm down in 'Egypt,' actually received $800 per acre for the apples grown on thirteen acres one year; and there is plenty of such land in Egypt that can be bought for less than $40 an acre, and near to the great markets. I am told, however, that there are from a dozen to a hundred applicants for every farm opened to settlement in the West in these years, and it is estimated that all of the arid lands that can ever be put under irrigation in the United States will provide homes for no more than our regular increase in population in five years, and that the only other remaining rich lands—the swamp areas—will be occupied by the increase of ten years in our population. It has seemed to me that it is high time we came back to these partially worn-out Eastern lands and begin to build them up. Here the rainfall is abundant, the climate is fine, and the markets are the best, and there are millions of acres of these Eastern lands that lie as nicely for farming as the Western prairies. 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. Just leave off the fertilizer one year and your crop is not worth harvesting. These lands never were any good and they never will be."
"But that is hardly in accord with what the people now living on these old Eastern farms report for the conditions of agriculture in the times of their ancestors."
"Oh, yes, I know people are always talking about their ancestors, and especially Virginians; but, Caesar! I wonder what their ancestors would think of them! You can't afford to take any stock in the ancestry of these old Virginians."
"I call to mind that the historical records give much information along this line," said Percy. "It is recorded that mills for grinding corn and wheat were common, that the flour of Mount Vernon was packed under the eye of Washington, and we are told that barrels of flour bearing his brand passed in the export markets without inspection. History records that the plantations of Virginia usually passed from father to son, according to the law of entail, and that the heads of families lived like lords, keeping their stables of blooded horses and rolling to church or town in their coach and six, with outriders on horseback. Their spacious mansions were sometimes built of imported brick; and, within, the grand staircases, the mantles, and the wainscot reaching from floor to ceiling, were of solid mahogany, elaborately carved and paneled. The sideboards shone with gold and silver plate, and the tables were loaded with the luxuries from both the New and the Old World, and plenty of these old mansions still exist in dilapidated condition."
"That all sounds good for history," said the Congressman, "but the historian probably got his information from some of these old Virginians whose only religion is ancestral worship. If the lands were ever any good they'd be good now. Good lands stay good. As an Illinois man, you ought to know that. My father settled in Illinois and I tell you his land is better to-day than it was the day he took it from the Government."
"My grandfather also took land from the Government," said Percy, "but the land that he first put under cultivation is not producing as good crops now as it used to, even though—"
"Then it must be you don't farm it right. Of course you don't want to corn your land to death. I lived on the farm long enough to learn that; but if you'll only grow two or three crops of corn and then change to a crop of oats, you'll find your land ready for corn again; and, if you'll sow clover with the oats and plow the clover under the next spring, you'll find the land will grow more corn than ever your grandfather grew on it."
"But how can we maintain the supply of plant food in the soil by merely substituting oats for corn once in three or four years and turning under perhaps a ton of clover as green manure. That amount of clover would contain no more nitrogen than 40 bushels of corn would remove from the soil, and of course the clover has no power to add any phosphorus or other mineral elements."
"Oh, yes. I've heard all about that sort of talk. You know I'm a U. of I. man myself. 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. Don't you understand that?"
"I am afraid that I do not," replied Percy. "I have received no such direct communication; but I saw a letter written from China by a missionary describing the famine-stricken districts in which he was located. He wrote the letter in February and said that at that time the only practical thing to do in that district was to let four hundred thousand people starve and try to get seed grain for the remainder to plant the spring crops. I have a "Handbook of Indian Agriculture" written by a professor of agriculture and agricultural chemistry at one of the colleges in India. I got it from one of the Hindu students who attended the University when I was there. This book states that famine, local or general, has been the order of the day in India, and particularly within recent years. It also states that in one of the worst famines in India ten million people died of starvation within nine months. The average wage of the laboring man in India, according to the Governmental statistics, is fifty cents a month, and in famine years the price of wheat has risen to as high as $3.60 a bushel. This writer states that the most recent of all famines; namely, that prevailing in most parts of India from 1897 to 1900, was severer than the famine of 1874 to 1878. No, Sir, I am not sure that I understand just what God's intentions are concerning the corn belt, but it is recorded that the Lord helps him who helps himself, and that man should earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. If God made the common soil in America with a limited amount of phosphorus in it, He also stored great deposits of natural rock phosphate in the mines of several States, and perhaps intended that man should earn his bread by grinding that rock and applying it to the soil. Possibly the Almighty intended—"
"Now, I'm very sorry, Mr. Johnston, but I have an engagement which I must keep, and you'll have to excuse me just now. I'm mighty glad to have met you and I'd like to talk with you for an hour more along this line; but you take my advice and stick to the corn belt land. Above all, don't begin to use phosphates or any sort of commercial fertilizer; they'll ruin any land in a few years; that's my opinion. But then, every man has a right to his own opinion. and perhaps you have a different notion. Eh?"
"I think no man has a right to an opinion which is contrary to fact," Percy replied. "This whole question is one of facts and not of opinions. One fact is worth more than a wagonload of incorrect opinions. But I must not detain you longer. I am very glad to have met you here. In large measure the statesmen of America must bear the responsibility for the future condition of agriculture and the other great industries of the United States, all of which depend upon agriculture for their support and prosperity. Good bye."
"I'll agree with you there all right; the farmer feeds them all.Good bye."