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Show v THE DAIRY COW TO THE RESCUE , Tho' following remarks wero mads by Dr. John A. Widtsoo at tho weekly week-ly meeting or tho, Dairy Products Campaign Commlttoo, May 10, 1022. "This subject," said thS doctor, "may bo app'roachod from mnny dlf-forent dlf-forent nnglos. I proposo to discuss it soloy In its relation to our agrlculturo which Is tho foundaton of tho Stnto. Without agriculture wq could havo no commonwealth horo. Surprising as tho statement" may bo to many of our citizens, I mako it solemnly that our agriculture Is rdstlng today on a very uncertain foundation. Principal among tho catiBcs contributing to this condition is tho Question 0f lrrlgalon. In many places thoro is a sliortago of wator and as a result, valuable land is unable to produco maximum crops. But ovon more serious than this is tho fact thatjmuch of our land is over Irrigated tb an oxtont that is really sorlous. This prnotlco Is shorlonlng tho II fo of many of our farms. "But Irrigation Is not tho only thing which endangers agrlculturo In this Btato. For millions of years our Inhds hnvo boon accumulating fertility fertil-ity from tho ploments. Wo havo made tho serious mlstako of assuming assum-ing that this fertility would last, for-ovor, for-ovor, when tho fact of tho matter Is that most of our agricultural lands which havo been cultivated more thaa twenty years nro bolng rapidly exhausted, ex-hausted, and at no 'far distant duto Jhoy will not bo nblo to yiold a reasonable rea-sonable return for tho labor expendod on them. "Tho rosourcos of tho stato In n very largo moasuro aro In tho pro-ducts pro-ducts of tho soil, and I call your at- iontlon to this mntter because f be-lievo be-lievo that within tho lives of. most of tnoso who are hero we shall boo uo-veioped uo-veioped within our stato a new agriculture agri-culture which will domand that- the necessary plant food bo returned to cub sou. Tho oxporlonco cf the world teaches us that there Is no better way of maintaining soil fertility than by duping upon tno larms a certain nuhroer ot domestic animals. In their oxeretions aro found all ot tho ele-nionu ele-nionu which make plant growth pes-sloio. pes-sloio. And still not many yoars have passed since farmers wore willing to pay trom 25 to 60 cents per load to navo manure hauled Off their farms. loose who followed such a short-sightdd short-sightdd policy woro selling their uutnrlght. 4 . "Next in importanco to returning plant food to tho soil Is tho rotation of crops. We havo tho experience of thousands of years that this will do much toward maintaining tho fortuity of tho soil, and crop rotation is pos-Blblo pos-Blblo only whero dlversllled farming Is.tollowod. Dlvorslllod farming and dairying naturally go hand In hand. ".Not alono dooa tho dairy cow supply fertility but Bho domands of tho farmer an entirely dltforont Wnd of agriculture. Tho ono crop syBtem of agrlculturo does not load to tho dairy cow. To do b.or work successfully, success-fully, this animal must have alfalfa, gram, roots, silage and pasturngo, and thoso must bo raised on tho farm whero she Ib kept. "Tho dairy Industry will keep up soil fertility bettor than anything else,, nnd today the situation which wo rq fuclng is so critical that something some-thing must bo dono to lmprovo it. All that is best in our stato doponds aftor all upoa agrlculturo, and 1 do not hositato to say that our agriculture doponds upon tho dairy Industry." Dr. Widtsoo was reminded that a number of yeara ago ho mado tho statoment that if ho had boon cnllod to clvlllzo China ho would want to enter that country nt the head of an army of 100,000 dairy cows. Without lliom, In the speaker's opinion, China can novor bq civilized. China, India and Japan to a loasor extent, though Japan Is endoavorlng to remedy this defect, nro lacking In dairy cows and to tho sanio extent fall short of the established standard ot civilization. From these nations It may bo soon that not only does tho dairy Industry dovojop land but at tho samo tlmo it dovolops men ana women. "It Is natural for the boy brought Up on tho farm to look longingly toward to-ward the high buildings and bright lights of tho city. There is a sorlous question as to whero ho wants to go. Uut tho moment diversified' farming Is introduced, with Intelligent crop rotation and tho application ot fertility, fertil-ity, thoro Is something cstabllshd which holds tho average Intelligent person. Tho dlUlculty of holding tho intelligent boy on a dry farm has boon often experienced. Uo usually domands more variety and something must bo added to his life. Diversified Diversi-fied farming and livestock will do much In that direction, and among all the' things which we need to bring prosperity to our farmers and maintain main-tain a fertility which will bring ado-quato ado-quato returns for tho efforts expended expend-ed tho dairy cow in my opinion occupies tho great control place" Tho doctor spoke of a rocont visit to a beautiful little mountain village in, ono of our counties. Tho pooplo had worked hard and Intelligently and bad reaped "tho reward of such industry. in-dustry. But now their ensamery and tho choose factory aro closed down and they aro bringing In dairy products pro-ducts from tho outsldo. "And," said tho spoakor in concluslan "unless thoro is industrial repentance disaster disas-ter awaits a onco prosperous community." com-munity." o |