Alvonl said dial for (wnnly jour* ngricol
liirl products have constituted three
<l uarlors of all the exports from the
t ailed States. This excess of soil pro
duets will no doubt continue for years
to come, but the soil is being gradually
exhausted, livery crop removed from
the land diminishes its store of plant
food and its productive power. Nitro
gen, potash and phosphoric acid, the
three chief constituents of plants, are
being rapidly exhausted. *'lty the waste
ful processes! prevailing," says Mr.
Alvord, ' we are expending our very suh
stance and daily adding to a burden
under which generations to come will
stagger."
Fortunately, mom attention has been
given of late (o agricultural studies, and
through the press and other agencies
the farmers of the country are being
made bi tter acquainted with (lie chemis
try of the soil and of vegetable life, and
wiser methods of farm management are
coming into vogue. Doubtless it is pos
sible to cultivate the same land for many
generations without exhausting or even
impairing its productive capacity, by the
proper attention to fertilizers, rotation
of crops, etc., and American farmers
should and in time will learn tiow to ac
complish this.
In describing new varieties of wheat
obtained in the United Kingdom from
crossing, the London correspondent of
llradslreefs, writes under date of August
1, that "a splendid new spring wheat lias
been obtained by crossing the Fnglish
April wheat about the only wheat which
ci*u safely be sown after February in this
country with the American golden grain,
a hardy and prolific, but coarse, wheat.
