ard a system which produces more per acre. This will follow
through the normal working of economic laws, as surely as water will flow
down hill."

[Illustration: _The Stockman-Farmer Pub. Co._

A modern Fruit and Truck Farm in high state of fertility.]

It is wonderful what can be accomplished by intensive cultivation. If the
old New England orchards were given as thorough care and treatment as the
scientifically tended and doctored apple trees of Oregon, the results
would surprise the oldest citizen! Conserving moisture and keeping the
soil clean from weeds is worth all the painstaking care it requires. The
renovation of the soil by regular fertilizing is a lesson the wasteful
West is slowly learning, coupled with scientific schemes of crop rotation
to conserve the soil's quality. Farmers are astonishingly slow to adopt
these methods, however, thinking that they know best the needs of their
own soil. The North Dakota experiment station is inducing farmers to adopt
their advice as to seed selection and crop rotation with the promise to
set aside five acres for experimentation in accordance with the advice
given. This is extremely wise policy. Doubtless, if directions are
faithfully followed, the contrast with the rest of the farm will be highly
favorable to the five-acre lot and agricultural progress will win out.

_Achievements in Scientific Breeding_

In the earlier pages of this chapter we have already alluded to this
fascinating subject as an illustration of modern efficiency in country
life. Four years ago Assistant Secretary Hays of the Department of
Agriculture asserted that scientific breeding of better stock and plant
life was netting this country a billion dollars a year, of the total
agricultural production of seven and a half billions in 1907.[22] In 1910
the total reached about nine billions and it is probable that scientific
agriculture was the main cause of the great increase rather than
additional acreage.

One of the wonders of modern science is this story of the development of
new plant species and improvement in the best of the old, by the skillful
processes of plant breeding. Notable also has been the improvement in
American horses, cattle, swine and poultry, developed by the same
scientific principles. Projected efficiency, or breeding power to beget
valuable progeny, is the central idea. Simple selection is the method. Out
of a large number of animals the phenomenal individual is selecte