not produce one-half of the foodstuff
that it consumes and if the present condition of things continue for the
next fifty years, this section of the country will be on the verge of
starvation and famines will be a frequent occurrence. Of course, Negro
starvation will come first, but white man starvation will surely follow.
I believe, therefore, that I am justified in saying that there is even
more danger in Negro starvation than there is in Negro domination.

I have noticed in this country that the sins of the races are
contagious. If the Negro in a community be lazy, indifferent, and
careless about his farm, the white man in the community will soon fall
into the same habit. On the other hand, if the white man is smart,
industrious, energetic and persevering in his general makeup, the Negro
will soon fall into line; so after all, whatever helps one race in the
South will help the other and whatever degrades one race in the South,
sooner or later will degrade the other. But you may reply to this
assertion by saying that the Negro can go to the city and make an
independent living for himself and family, but you forget that all real
wealth must come from the soil and that the city cannot prosper unless
the country is prosperous. When the country fails, the city feels the
effect; when the country weeps, the city moans; when agriculture dies,
all die. Such are the conditions which face us today. Now for the
remedy.

It is worth while to remember that there are ten essential elements of
plant food. If the supply of any one of the elements fails, the crop
will fail. These ten elements are carbon and oxygen taken into the
leaves of the plant from the air as carbon dioxide, hydrogen, a
constituent of water absorbed through the plant roots; nitrogen, taken
from the soil by all plants also secured from the air by legumes. The
other elements are phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron and
sulphur, all of which are secured from the soil. The soil nitrogen is
contained in the organic matter or humus, and to maintain the supply of
nitrogen, we should keep the soil well stored with organic matter,
making liberal use of clover or other legumes which have power to secure
nitrogen from the inexhaustible supply in the air.

It is interesting to note that one of the ablest chemists in this
country, Prof. E. W. Clark of the U. S. Geological Survey, has said that
an acre of ground seven inches deep contains sufficient iron to produc