"Oh, yes. I've heard all about that sort of talk. You know I'm a U. of I. man myself. I studied chemistry in the University under a man who knew more in a minute than all the 'tommy rot' you've been filled up with. I also lived on an Illinois farm, and I speak from practical experience. I know what I am talking about, and I don't care a rap for all the theories that can be stacked up by your modern college professor, who wouldn't know a pumpkin if he met one rolling down hill. I tell you God Almighty never made the black corn belt land to be worn out, and he doesn't create people on this earth to let 'em starve to death. Don't you understand that?" "I am afraid that I do not," replied Percy. "I have received no such direct communication; but I saw a letter written from China by a missionary describing the famine-stricken districts in which he was located. He wrote the letter in February and said that at that time the only practical thing to do in that district was to let four hundred thousand people starve and try to get seed grain for the remainder to plant the spring crops. I have a "Handbook of Indian Agriculture" written by a professor of agriculture and agricultural chemistry at one of the colleges in India. I got it from one of the Hindu students who attended the University when I was there. This book states that famine, local or general, has been the order of the day in India, and particularly within recent years. It also states that in one of the worst famines in India ten million people died of starvation within nine months. The average wage of the laboring man in India, according to the Governmental statistics, is fifty cents a month, and in famine years the price of wheat has risen to as high as $3.60 a bushel. This writer states that the most recent of all famines; namely, that prevailing in most parts of India from 1897 to 1900, was severer than the famine of 1874 to 1878. No, Sir, I am not sure that I understand just what God's intentions are concerning the corn belt, but it is recorded that the Lord helps him who helps himself, and that man should earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. If God made the common soil in America with a limited amount of phosphorus in it, He also stored great deposits of natural rock phosphate in the mines of several States, and perhaps intended that man should earn his bread by grinding that rock and applying it to the soil. Possibly the Almighty intended--" "Now, I'm very sorry, Mr. Johnston, but I have an engagement which I must keep, and you'll have to excuse me just now. I'm mighty glad to have met you and I'd like to talk with you for an hour more along this line; but you take my advice and stick to the corn belt land. Above all, don't begin to use phosphates or any sort of commercial fertilizer; they'll ruin any land in a few years; that's my opinion. But then, every man has a right to his own opinion. and perhaps you have a different notion. Eh?"