Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1918 — INTENSIVE FARMING [ARTICLE]

INTENSIVE FARMING

It is now up to the farmer to save the world—if his part is just as important as. the ammunition maker or the shipbuilder—if “food will win the war"—then every rightthinking farmer will agree that it is really his most important business just now to make every inch of his ground produce the utmost in other words, that he must put into practice every known device that will aid him in the furtherance of this project. People, generally. know that there has been waste everywhere in the past, and this does not mean in the city alone, but on the farm as well—acres and acres of uncultivated land, or land that could bo made to produce at least a little more than it has. In cities, municipal gardens are being planted on every ‘available plot of ground, and this will help, but it is on the farms, where men really understand the soil, its needs and its possibilities—that the most good can really be done. Every good farmer should know

his soil and of course he should not abuse it or make it barren for succeeding' generations. He wouldn’t think of taking his best racing horse out and making it do work that would disable it for the track —nor should he take all the best elements Out of the soil without replacing them. Patriotic farmers and most farmers are patriotic—can help their government immeasurably at this time by studying and planting so that they will get the most out of the soil, without destroying its soil value—by planting intensely, by growing two ears of corn, or two blades of wheat where one grew before—by taking liis place in the forefront of this great war as being “the man behind the guns’’—furnishing food to Uncle Sam’s vast army across the seas. What will he receive in return? First, the consciousness that he has bravely supported the nation —that he lias as truly given of his substance as the man who comes home crippled for life, or the man who does not come home at all—that he will have no feeling of having shirked his duty or deseited his government—the best government on earth—in the time of her trial. Second, he has not robbed his children by taking everythin gN from the soil and giving nothing, but has rattier taken the necessary steps to build for the future. Third, he will have nobly played liis part in making the world safe for democracy. The farmer can be depended upon to do his duty in this matter, and no political bias can turn him aside from the one straight and narrow path of duty', for farmers ARE patriotic. J