_ ground”

E a recent article I pooh-
,poohed the value of worms
for improving the soil. Several
readers got angry. They want
to see the lowly worm defend,
ed. They have sent in reasons
why they believe worms do
more good to our crops than
fertilizers do.

Most of these ideas date back
to Sir Albert Howard, the Eng-
lish mycologist. He carried
Darwin’s worm-studies. forwatd.

In several famous books he at-

tacked chemical fertilizers and
praised the earthworm as a
creature that enriches the soil
with no cost to the farmer.

of farming. Briefly, he be-
lieved that humus (leaves, hay,
straw, manure and mixtures) is
the ideal fertilizer. Some call
it “compost.” Spread over the
soil, it is eaten by worms.
After digesting the humus, the
worms leave behind gq “cast”
that is rich in nitrogen, phos-
phorus and potash. Hence
worms, plus humus, act as
natural fertilizers.

Today we find thousands of
people supporting this idea.

of small-farmer’s religion. Men
who defend the humus-and-
worm doctrine have their own
magazines. They preach natur-
al fertilizing as the solution
of many of the farmer’s seri-
ous problems. Some go as far
as to say that “compost”
could end the food shortages
of the world, and cure many
human diseases.
_ The catch in this theory is
easy to see. Worms can pass
on to our crops only what
they get out of the humus.
Our farmers could not possibly
spread enough humus on their
land to supply what our mass-
production crops take out.
Humus and earth-worms do
a fine job on gardens and
small vegetable farms. But we
cannot ever use them to fer-
| tilize our huge crop-growing
| areas,
e

A Albert Howard also stud-

ied the use of human man-

| ure as humus: ‘This manure is
widely used in China and

SCIENCE FEATURE

Worms on the farm

Sir Albert may be called the
founder of the “humus school’:

The “humus school” is a sort _

India. It spreads terrible dis- ‘

eases like cholera and typhus.
But Sir Albert proposed to
treat this manure so it would
be germ-free. Is this a practi-
cal way to fertilize the land?
Clearly it. is- not.

A number of Soviet cities,
including Moscow, have for
years used all their sewage in
preparing special fertilizer. But
the quantity obtained, even
from great cities, is very
small. Moscow produces enough
compost to fertilize
few market-gardens near the
city. The vast farms of the
USSR are steadily raising
their production of crops by
using manufactured fertilizer.

A new Soviet development
should interest the compost
fans. About 50 years ago the
Russian biologist ‘Vinogradsky’
showed how to enrich the soil
without using worms or com-
post. He grew special bacteria
that multiply in the soil. These
tiny organisms, he found, take
nitrogen out of the air and
pass it on to the crops grow-
ing in the soil.

Vinogradsky’s “bacterial fer-
tilizer” was used in_ several
countries for a few years. But
it. did not work very well. In
the ‘thirties two other Soviet
scientists, Kostychev and Shel-
oumova, set out to improve
the method. Their discoveries
can be summed up this:

First, crops like wheat and
oats need a different soil bac-
teria. than do legumes like
peas and alfalfa. Second, the
bacteria work much better
when they are mixed with the
seed at planting-time, instead
of being spread on the soil
like regular fertilizers,

One fact tells us how useful
these discoveries are. Soviet
farmers now get bacterial fer-
lilizers from seven large fac-
tories. Two and a half million
acres were fertliized with bac- ,
teria. this year. Hight more
factories are being built. By
1950, 12,000,000 acres will. be
fertilized by two types of fer-
. tilizer called nitro-bacteria and
nitragin. Crops grown’ with
these fertilizers show a 10 to
20 percent increase in yield.
The cost is very low, because
the fertilizer is really taken

out of the air by the bacteria,

only a

“to all this.

tists

by DYSON CARTER |

UT. the fact remains that
' farmers of all countries. will
have to use more and more
mineral fertilizer to keep ex-
panding food production.

Some readers rightly. point
out that the fertilizer compan-
ies make huge profits. This is
true. But we cannot get
around the fact that fertilizer,
not worms, is what we must
use to restore the fertility of
our exhausted soils. Properly
used, fertilizer never harms
the soil. Hundreds of scientific
investigations, in our countries
and in the land of socialism,
prove conclusively that crops
and human food can be much
improved when we use pre-
pared fertilizers,

There is an cypaaert point
Our “worm fans”
argue that worms-and-compost
are “natural” fertilizers, and
So must be better. This: idea
is anti-scientific. Science stud-
ies nature. The Soviet scien-
mastered nature’s soil
bacteria. They produced new
bacteria, better than nature’s
germs. Soviet farmers are
using these bacteria in a scien-
tifie way.

Under capitalism, fertilizer
is sold at high prices. It is a
means of exploiting the mod-
ern farmer. But the farmer
cannot hope that worms and
compost will do away with
this exploitation! Only the
coming of socialism will do
that. Under socialism, our
farmers will not turn to na-
ture’s worms for assistance,
but to our highly advanced
soil science.

there were a dozen applications

for every job. Organization was ‘

— but little came of jit.

* Paradoxically, the first strike
in the fruit industry was the
famous “Cent a pound or on the
stand of the farmers
_ themselves in 1929. But right up
_ to 1940 the growers of the Okan-
_ @gan remained the most rugged-
ly individualistic of all primary
Aestecers,

: With the outbreak of war
_ those growers who still depend-
ed to any extent on money from
abroad found: their incomes cut
off indefinitely. Their orchards
became their only source of
earnings and they were forced
to regard their industry, its op-
_ €rations and markets in a new,
hard light.

.

rs necessity for seh
_* their outlook, linked with im-
Proved markets and higher |
prices, was undoubtedly a factor

bringing to many growers a
belated realization of their de-
pendence on box plant and pack-—
house” workers, causing the

FRIDA » OCTOBER 3, 1947

_*

more progressive of them to
over-ride the opposition of the
die-hards to trade union organ-
ization,

Packing house managers, many.
of whom were growers them-
selves, soon learned that pre-
cious time could be saved and
general efficiency improved when
the periodical visits of grievance
committees were substituted for
endless individual complaints.
Ask any honest official if he
would willingingly revert to pre-
union days and he will answer
with an emphatic “No” because
he ‘knows that fruit is now
handled more expeditiously and

efficiently. At the same time,

wages are higher, conditions are
better and a large proportion of
those benefiting are members of
the .growers’ own families.

Growers have come to see that
the future of labor is guaranteed

by its organization. If their crop
is light, or confined to “soft”
fruit or. apples, they themselves
can work in the packing house
to supplement uncertain returns.
Thus,

conscious of the workers’

“as members of a trade .

union, ‘ney inevitably become
néed
for security and sympathetic to
efforts to attain it. There are
no reasons against farmer-labor
unity in the fruit industry and

very many in its favor.
e
ALONS the dairy and poultry

farmers of the Lower Main-

land, aside from background,

many similar conditions exist,

The cooperation of labor at
batching time is vital. That the
hatcheries are aware of this is

shown by the high wages paid
to individual chick-sexers. Co-
operatives constitute a large part
of the marketing scheme and the
farmers in ‘both these fields are
not only employers of labor, but

, are laborers themselves,

For the past two years I have
been living in a community of
small mixed farmers occupied
mainly in the production of dairy
products. Their acreages range
from 50 to 160 acres. Herds from
six ee twelve cows are the aver-

_ however,
to their full participation in the

400,000
76,242

figures.

helping.

-

323,758

The figures let the cat out of
the bag. Top row gives Van-
couver’s population in round
Second row — 76,242
—shows the number of citizens
who contributed to our Com-
munity Chest appeal last year.
Allowing 200,000 for minors,
the sick, unemployed and indi-
gents, still leaves very many—
123,758 citizens who contribu-
ted nothing. Be a good citizen
—share with those who need

Community Chest Support
Is Sharing Not Giving.

ehThEe

x
Wea N

This advertisement for Wancouver Community Chest iS
sponsored by the Pacific were Ltd. ' ’

The farmers and labor

age, and part of the land is
utilized for the growing of sil-

age crops for hay. The balance >

is in logged-off land suitable for
sheep, of which there are small

. flocks, and land still in timber.

Their product is trucked to a
central cooperative depot; hence
marketing problems with small
herds are eliminated and ex-
cept for certain periods, such
as haying time, the farmers are
free to work by day at one of
the several logging operations
within reach. Over three-fourths
of them do so and are, in effect,
both farmers and loggers, the
latter occupation : bringing them
into the IWwa as members. °*

Their sympathy is with those

who work the year round in the
logging industry and they know
that the union’s gains are shown

in their own wages and condi-
tions when they work in the in-
dustry. They may not be active

in the union, but they can be
relied upon during a strike,

Their very self-sufficiency,
is often a drawback

7 §
1

fight for progress. Although —
rarely clearing a decent wage
for the time spent on their farm- —
ing operations, they seldom feel —
the full effects of depressed con-
ditions. They have their ow? —
milk, butter, eggs, potatoes and s
vegetables. There is the odd calf
to butcher, there are chickens
te roast and deer in the woods:
Whatever happens, they'll get. Whe ;

In these types of farming, at
least, farmer-labor unity, if the —
question is properly approa: ed
should not be hard to attain.
Two things are sorely needed—
education and _ leadership. ¢
hangover of reactionary pres
sure still blinds fruit growers
at times to the advantages Of
unity with labor. Among smal
farmers there is a natural diffi-
Gence born of lack of time for

study.

"These are obstacles. They ‘cont
be overcome by a constant cam
paign by a labor leadership we!
informed on farm problems tc
present labor’s views on all m:
portant issues directly to
farmers. st Hag ta rere,

PACIFIC TRIBUNE