to one hundred and sixty pounds per acre in two million pounds of the ignited soil.  The ten-inch plows of Maryland, the twelve-inch of Southern Illinois, the fourteen-inch of the corn belt, and the sixteen-inch of the newer regions of the Northwest, signify something as to the influence of organic matter upon the horsepower required in tillage; and the organic matter also has a value because it increases the power of the soil to absorb and retain moisture and to resist surface washing and “running together” to form the hard surface crust.

To think of applying two thousand pounds of nitrogen by plowing under two hundred tons of manure or forty tons of clover per acre at least requires a “big think,” as my Swede man would say.

Of course, with our western life and cosmopolitan population, where “a man’s a man for a’ that,” mother feels that it would not be easy for us to fit into your somewhat distinctly stratified society.  We would not be “colored” if we could, and perhaps we could not be aristocratic if we would; and the opportunity to become, or, perhaps I should say, to remain, “poor white trash,” though wide open, is not very alluring.  I realize, of course, that there are some whole-souled people like the West’s and Thornton’s, but I also found some of the tribe of Jones, and I have much doubt as to the social standing of one who would feel obliged to demonstrate that he could spread more manure in a day than his hired nigger.

My Swede and I are like brothers; we clean stables together and talk politics, science, and agriculture.  In fact he is as much interested as I am in the building up of Poorland Farm, and has already contributed some very practical suggestions.  I pay him moderate wages and a small percentage of the farm receipts after deducting certain expenses which he can help to keep as low as possible, such as for labor, repairs, and purchase of feed and new tools, but without deducting the taxes or interest on investment or the cost of any permanent improvements, such as the expense for limestone, phosphate, new fences and buildings, and breeding stock.

Referring again to the invoice of the soil, I may say that the percentage of the mineral plant foods increases with depth, the same as in your soil, but not to such an extent, and with one exception.  The phosphorus content of our surface soil is greater than that of the subsurface, but below the subsurface the phosphorus again increases.  This is probably due to the fact that the prairie grasses that grew here for centuries extracted some phosphorus from the subsurface in which their roots fed to some extent, and left it in the organic residues which accumulated in the surface soil.

Aside from the difference in organic matter, the physical character of our soil is distinctly inferior to the loam soils about Blairville and Leonardtown.  We have a very satisfactory silt loam surface, but the structure of our subsoil is quite objectionable.  It is a tight clay through which water passes very slowly, so slowly that the practicability of using tile-drainage is still questioned by the State University, although the experiments which the University soil investigators have already started in several counties here in “Egypt” will ultimately furnish us positive knowledge along this line.