J. v. Liebig, the
cultivation of the soil has become a science, indeed, one of the
foremost and most important of all, a science that since then has
attained a vastness and significance unique in the domain of activity in
material production. And yet, if we compare the fullness of the progress
made in this direction with the actual conditions prevailing in
agriculture to-day, _it must be admitted that, until now, only a small
fraction of the private owners have been able to turn the progress to
advantage_, and among these there naturally is none who did not proceed
from the view point of his own private interests, acted accordingly,
kept only that in mind, and gave no thought to the public weal. The
large majority of our farmers and gardeners, we may say 98 per cent. of
them, are in no wise in condition to utilize all the advances made and
advantages that are possible: they lack either the means or the
knowledge thereto, if not both: as to the others, they simply do as they
please. Socialist society finds herein a theoretically and practically
well prepared field of activity. It need but to fall to and organize in
order to attain wonderful results.

The highest possible concentration of productions affords, of itself,
mighty advantages. Hedges, making boundary lines, wagon roads and
footpaths between the broken-up holdings are removed, and yield some
more available soil. The application of machinery is possible only on
large fields: agricultural machinery of fullest development, backed by
chemistry and physics could to-day transform unprofitable lands, of
which there are not a few, into fertile ones. The application of
accumulated electric power to agricultural machinery--plows, harrows,
rollers, sowers, mowers, threshers, seed-assorters, chaff-cutters,
etc.--is only a question of time. Likewise will the day come when
electricity will move from the fields the wagons laden with the crops:
draught cattle can be spared. A scientific system of fertilizing the
fields, hand in hand with thorough management, irrigation and draining
will materially increase the productivity of the land. A careful
selection of seeds, proper protection against weeds--in itself a head
much sinned against to-day--sends up the yield still higher.

According to Ruhland, a successful war upon cereal diseases would of
itself suffice to render superfluous the present importation of grain
into Germany.[197] Seeding, planting and rotation of crops, being