commercial fertilizer than any other State."

"That is appalling," said Adelaide, "but still some larger countries
are building up their lands, such as those of Europe."

"In large part by the same methods as the New England truckers and
dairymen are following," he replied, "and in comparison with the
area and resources of their colonies and of the other great new
countries upon which they draw for food and fertilizer, they are
fairly comparable with the New England States in this country. Even
the Empire of Germany is only four-fifths as large as Texas. The
only country of Europe at all comparable with the United States is
Russia, and in that great country the average yield of wheat for the
last twenty years is eight and one-fourth bushels per acre, even
though, as a general practice, the land is allowed to lie fallow
every third year. The average yield for the five famine years that
have occurred during the twenty-year period was six and one-quarter
bushels of wheat per acre."

"That is wretched," said Adelaide, "I know about the Russian famines
for we have made contributions through our church for their relief,
but that condition can surely never come to this great rich new
country, can it?"

"It will come just as certainly as we allow our soil fertility to
decrease and our population to increase. As a nation we have
scarcely lifted a hand yet to stop the waste of fertility or to
restore exhausted lands; practically every effort put forth by the
Federal government along agricultural lines having been directed
toward better seeds, control of injurious insects and fungous