Show THE MACHINE AGE SPOILS A PROPHECY By H. H L. L RUSSELL Advisory Council Agricultural Com Corn mission A American Association A A A NOTED British scientist forecast fore fore- cast thirty years ears ago that by 1931 all aU available wheat land In the tha I world would bt lit under cultivation cultivation tion and If it tho J yields per acre i could not be bo increased in creased beyond 12 that which then prevailed there y would be a world worM shortage T The he average yield then was bushels per acre y During the past H. H L. L RUSSELL seven years the world over It has been On the acres eres In cultivation this Increase would amount to almost a half halt billion billion bil bil- bil lion bushels more production than the world standards of thirty years I ago In place o dire distress due to shortage we have had distress due duo to surplus Wheat farmers have shown no great inclination to curtail materially materi I ally their output perhaps a 10 decline de cline dine compared with 70 reduction In hi steel This unwillingness or perhaps perhaps per per- haps Inability to adjust production to current needs makes the problem I all the tho harder to solve Not only are we now growing more wheat per unit of land but acreage has been very greatly ex tended In twenty years Canada has increased acreage Australia Aus almost as much Another significant fact is the materially lessened lessened lessened les les- les- les use of wheat A much more diversified diet has developed More vegetables and fruits are used than formerly The reduction of 12 bushels consumed per person per annum since the last generation necessitates nearl nearly bushels bush els less wheat than was formerly re re- re- re Machines Increase Supply The factor that has exerted the most potent Influence In this rising world flood of grain has been the rapid development of the machine The old days of the cradle required from thirty to forty hours of hand labor to harvest an acre of grain Then came the binder which reduced reduced reduced re re- re- re the process to four or five hours per ver acre Now the combine does the work In forty five minutes per acre Where it used to cost ten cents a bushel merely to thresh the tho grain the modern combine cuts and threshes at it a cost ranging from 3 S Sto to 5 cents a bushel With this reduced reduced re reo re- re cost of production tion the possibility possibility of acreage expansion is tree tre tre- tre Lands heretofore regarded regard regard- ed as worthless except for tar grazing have recently come into competition with the older wheat belts The Russian Effort Within the past two or three years another disturbing element has come Into the picture Soviet Rus Bus sia ia Is attempting a comeback fraught with possibility that cannot yet be fully evaluated Russia Is eagerly utilizing the very latest of scientific knowledge to enlarge her agricultural possibilities With feverish she is literally pouring millions into the tho expansion of 01 her university research institutes experimental stations and breeding farms Her scientists are aro combing the earth for new crops and n new w methods No country in In Europe is manifesting more Interest and activity ity Uy in laying hold of the best science wherever it may be found It is of more than passing Interest Interest interest inter Inter- est that the wheat yields reported on the hugo trust farm known as the Giant Glant ran last year as much muchas as 18 bushels to the acre On this single Bingle farm larm the crop harvested Is h reported to havo have been bu bushels busho A single farm of IlL 27 Story of Samson Found in Oriental Literature Discoveries DIsco on the site of the ancient city of Beth In Palestine by lir the Haverford and cal expedition confirm confirm confirm con con- firm the scientific supposition that this gray mound on the border between between between be be- tween Dan and Judah was once A II Apart apart part of Egr Egypt's ts t's domain on once co Philistine once Hebrew once Roman once Byzantine but it would have VC been more interesting If the American archeologists had bad found something like a visiting card of ot the giant Samson or a abit abit abit bit of ot Jewelry with the mono monogram ram of a n lad lady named Delilah in fn th the ruins For It Is supposed that it was here at Beth that the famous betrayal of Samson Samson- the shearing of the luxuriant locks which resulted in the loss of his Herculean powers took powers took place Ilace Modern criticism Is InclIned Inclined In In- dined to make rather light of ot the feats of Samson as recorded In Inthe Inthe inthe the Scriptures Similar tales of ot a n. gigantic hero hero even even of his temptation temp temp- tation tatton and fall are tan are found in orl- orl literature that go before the Hebrews |