FRANX I. MANN, Farmer

FRANK MANN’'S
SOIL BOOK

HOW TO DOUBLE THE PRODUCTION
OF YOUR FARM EVERY YEAR

THIS BOOK GIVES THE SECRETS
OF SOIL BUILDING THAT HAVE
MADE FRANK MANN’S FIVE
HUNDRED ACRE FARM THE
MOST PRODUCTIVE PIECE OF
GROUND IN ILLINOIS

PenERTELES SOLE Is: THE BASIS OF
PROFITABLE FARMING

BY

FRANK I. MANN

FARMERS’ INSTITUTE DIRECTOR
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
PRAIRIE FARMER

PUBLISHED BY
PRAIRIE FARMER—CHICAGO
1912

PRICE. ONE DOLGAR

pie
CONTENTS
PARA I.
INTRODUCTORY

PAGE

Rood seroduction Must) Be wimerease dine) nee citer ersten e nar
he uParmers,s Stmplus:icicn sire cctttonoite dais see she ae atone Paavo cbeeats 8
Banlts? tncl1steibuttOniage weet et oot roe elke St cee aioe Peon elements 9
How, Canlncreased ViteldsaBeysecuned? eae coe eeere ee 11
What Is the Limitine Factor in Crop Production? :. 0... 72.--< eee 12
Wihatels) the Natunale Gapacitys omic S Oil teneerrre arena anette sete 13
Moistune:ansleimit tom Cropp Yields secre macrotis cen rire 13

PART iL
THE SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE
Crops Not Madevor Nothines cae seen ne oar erie hte aera 15
Commercial ertilizer Not Neededin-ccne sme cece hee eee ree 16
Netive .Oreanic = Mattern Necessatyicisn sts erie ae cies en cere ete 16
She Greatest. Problem of Soil: Fertility. ce ys hs oe teas oe 19
Sub-sotlMOrsanies Matters 4 bccn ie an moet ote Geena 21
Howe March Weeetabler Miattetricns, acerca ace ciate cinerea atte 22
ISLUNTIAUTS Phas sce ties ashe Sr ayonsen. suet ocotocet see eee eaak acne Pat ce ntc te SEES ohn PSE ee a 22
IN UGH BETA sa SEES RA acs peegip rt el cr SE TS CY RO Fe ches 23
Hows <Viichy dNiteOSen src len oe a hee che ea ee 25
Clover the Best: erties at een once eo ee eae 25
NOS PHO Gls sheets cater acest nd ea Sheek ie ee ne SG ere ee 26
The Function of Legesiale CS) Eesha ns SNM Seca gS pe anny Sot oe a On 29
Source;ore Phosphorus: eae sorceress ee eee 29
LlowetoeB tty: Pio spliate us ashtcs ctl eke niece eRe ecane ra oe ne 29
Bow Much: PhosphatestooApply:: 2. coc hace eee woe wee eee 30
How ands Wien sto cApply,.ckrsakiceeacteti otic ar eee eee 31
meshes O22. arseca beste ei nex dy Oe Le Motto tie GRE ee a ee ee 38
Burned Sime ecw ie ol OOO law A ae ee 33
Loss: of “leinrestanies pou’, at ec dae Ss de Oe ee ee eee Bo
How’ Much icintestomer <2), ois. 25. sas «ees <a eee eee eee eee 34
Howto Apply Lamestone.;.<: scean ond ooo seek ee 34
Other. Limestone, WiHectss joss Shs ak dace) Bone. ee ee 34
Permanent -Pertilityin<a/Nitshellos 244 ..g-cae oe oe oe ee eee oo
What: Does. Fertility (Cost 2... 262 5 iccom fat e.da 5% Se see a7
Expenence on Bots d Are: Farin. : Jost. oe beech ae ee 37
Some desulte: 2 o5 i oa wie We wet oye oe Cin os od ee 41
Effect of Soil Treatment. on Quality of ‘Grams. 4...e0-. eee 45
What Is Ieand Worth? s.), 5.0. 4 warn oe dice heels Gee eee 46
Relation of Landlord ‘and’ Tenant... 2.52.2... 22) 42.90 2 ee 46
VW ‘
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Cursos 9060

mw $2 J2-

CONTEN TS—Continued

PARE
THE ART OF AGRICULTURE

PAGE

“[itike [Deering vertex ot als oa ae eg eee a ARO ra ee a 49
IMME I A cen. he Seg ar id LU ee ng hale ALLE Oe Sulheeaiciod wee 51
TOES kei Oeste eA EN ect arom et NS Sth Chapala gk Rony PB a) ee 2 PRA beet ah oe RY)
oe Ma LISI PER tA SSI dah atts is AOA Chah'Sior Wonca, OW ae ghee A EE 54
ABTS” ohio Se a ea POR a ed ae ae a mea Cn Y ANCA 55
Brecditias ton PLOCICHVENESS(.. cop sb ols od fishin aodanesecswe es 5D
Miacnematiel aad tape wade see sca e eo i FR v4
Reritibe Mead stm biseetsinc) Sra cwh 25. etter O) ear aoa e has wees 58
ReedathersS duinels: ands Birds: << nesses bee wc kis edie en aoe 58
LOSEIES. * Lytle alt ede CR NSee oda Cone ok nari nip) lhe 59
Pucneasriey ner OY tele), bye haAdine.)..'2).2 wa bbw se. ses ook Av dhe ba Oe 59
LECemerir ewe trill leeecemegrea nearer cop lars Wee atee eases, «cote patotmconte ambieeser ucts 61
ire temreilistiGt e Suen oye ors fata Sa catia Sel onde kha 2s si Caele eee 61
(CHOWEP © rob Smitha epee ucla AIC Eka Coen A a 62
EaGartrscieen loner ROCCO a ats. sh Doe c-ab ad shea ie Sater ervaus rere ga ces 62
Psa ng Pia a OvlecMeMOVEM ed Pe etre i Leen ye, we an ah ndtae wes God shes ee eis dia MAS ae 63
WY QOS Sa5 BE Oe GRMN ar role ORE OC ceca CROMER CoE cece Cage CRE NCe- RT 66
Iimecroce aitia train Magia kee atwewe «cee ara babees 66
WiGdiatcwlo with tHerGerw Stalks: .../).. ast. cee tard cee eske swale saa oe 67
EMM eI AOC SINCE Most meme. Svein Nate dred ee Cots ah or Behe eg ween OS 69
PLEA UA ae MNOS RR os eR eee he ek ke Pee eels CaM k oval eee 69
Pecan eer AR amie eRe hy See he. ns wean vt na hnc eek Case 70
SEE EES RS Aw oe CO eR” AN tere ae Ign a A a 73
Menem ee ceaa ley Ga hU emer e ae ae kai eee Uh ten ceo, Gite we tars ba 74
ere AON OLE eae halt We tens TMs oe teee os ah eee Looe 74
MEINEM AON eclr Reca Re cet A tame MIN ver, SOF Pai ctot ale Seat c.c tne o aee wos es eee 75
Genimop inde ota Grasshoppers sce ec chore eran ae Be eee tie oe ees 77
lowatonViaker aslo pperdOZele rcs rs ouic se viele. felodels sce tee Gaeene 77
ic Gracsuoppers meine, History... verte. feds oe oe Rare neon beens 79
AwElomemnade iehosphate: Spieader. 2... sa... sees. occ sckva nese es 81
liiewViatettals@Niecessaty>. 4 oso ela cure ahaieetee eich teas meee 81
Se ows tom Mialeerties arts 260 52 Si-ce sev abe eee sie be eee ae 81
Ponmstuicitom Or shen bopmer. foi. a) Gules yn ds Mewes oe akin ces kek 82
Aes WOaG LOR tie Sart BOXEG.. co Las ol Scie a halid LOR wee Sens 82
CRI rely RtouCerha 9 4 Vee! 2 (5 <b oY op eae Oy A aes ae a be 83
Scenic Harmue on Krank Mann's Farnic.. ics, o6s dese. levee ce oe 85
Dra ras beled Fiver ltitaan SoS, 200 Sicce, Ss ahiaucds sw nates oboe obarnin SOO ee 85
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FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

Frank Mann’s Soil Book

Pare |

INTRODUCTORY

FOOD PRODUCTION MUST BE INCREASED.

It is said that history repeats itself; but we are approach-
ing a time in the world’s history that has had no parallel in
the past. With population rapidly increasing; areas of tillable
land practically stationary, with a slightly decreasing yield,
it is possible for us to reach a time when the evils of a con-
gested population may be greater than they ever were in
Europe. The European congestion was relieved by the dis-
covery of a new hemisphere; but all the world has now been
discovered, and the future can realize no such relief. Nor can
we depend on infant mortality, wars or pestilence to check
the increase in population, because the scientific developments
in our higher civilization tend toward less mortality and
greater longevity; also to avoid wars and prevent pestilence.
The remedy for us now to adopt is to grow more food on the
land we have, and in a way that its productiveness may not be
diminished for future use.

To grow better grain and more of it, is a worthy ambition
for any man, because it is increasing the food supply. If we
are to maintain our prosperity and preserve a higher civiliza-
tion for coming generations an increased production on a
permanent basis is necessary on the land now in use. With
only small areas yet to be settled, the greater needs of an
increasing population must be met through the use of land
that is not now profitably productive and by a better use of
the land that is now the most productive.

The question of agricultural production is of vital interest
to every one. The interest manifested by railroad officials,
bankers, manufacturers and merchants; the increasing appro-
priations by Congress and legislatures for agricultural inves-
tigation and study, is evidence that the importance of the
problems of agriculture is being generally understood.

7

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

THE FARMERS’ SURPLUS.

To a large extent the business prosperity of the country
is dependent on the farmers’ surplus crops. It is the farmers’
surplus that makes possible the great transportation industry.
The farmers’ surplus is the basis for the business of the bank-
ers, merchants and manufacturers. Were there no surplus
from the farms, there would be no large cities, no railroads
and no manufactures. Without a farm surplus even those
evidences of a better civilization—the school and church—
would disappear. If the farm surplus should be much de-
creased, such a condition would seriously affect all the great
business of the country, and compel a readjustment of busi-
ness methods. On the other hand, if agricultural production
can be made to keep pace with population, we shall realize a
business prosperity such as has not been known before.

The farmer himself is interested in the farm surplus. It
is from this means that the farmer and his family are able
to meet the requirements of a better intelligence, and to partici-
pate in those things which come with higher civilization.
Through his surplus he must acquire the comforts of a better
home, and there is no reason why the farm home should not
have as many of those things which come with the modern
heat, light and power as does the city home.

In a fertile area, where the surplus farm products are
abundant, and have been abundant for a long time, we are
liable to assume that such a condition is normal and perma-
nent, and congratulate ourselves that we do not live in a poor
country. But visit some of those areas that were once fertile
but are now sparsely inhabited by a depreciated population,
where the surplus products are almost limited to small sales
of tobacco or poultry. Would not such a visit stir a deep reso-
lution to avoid such systems of farming as had caused this soil
depletion?

When the writer “took to farming” it was with a firm
belicf that before many years the ratio between food produc-
tion and consumption would so widen that the law of supply
and demand would operate to establish such prices as would
make farming profitable. Some rather serious conditions have
been met during that time. There have been times when crops
were sold at a price that was less than the fertilizer value of
the crop; prices so low that fertilizer factories could have
worked grain crops into mixed fertilizers and sold them at a
profit at fertilizer prices. However, we have now reached a
time when the ratio between food production and population

,

8

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

causes prices that will justify profitable agricultural produc-
tion and permit of permanent soil treatment, notwithstanding
the numerous handicaps that have been placed on agriculture
by legislation and trust combinations.

The ratio now existing between farm products and popu-
lation, and the prices that prevail because of this, is probably
not far from the best ratio that could exist. Under this ratio,
the farm prices will justify a development of both the farm and
the farmer; and such prices are no great burden on those not
engaged in agriculture. Any further great widening of the
ratio would be out of balance, and would be reflected in the
general prosperity and happiness of the whole people. Like-
wise, if the ratio should be greatly diminished it would bring
back the period of agricultural poverty which would also be
reflected in the general prosperity of the whole people.

When we consider how easily the agricultural produc-
tion can be increased it looks as though the food production
might more than overtake the increasing population, but when
we consider the slight difficulties attending increased produc-
tion as well as realize the lethargy of so many land owners, we
must conclude, that, as a people, we will be fortunate if the
production merely keeps pace with the increasing popula-
tion.

While the agricultural interests are now in a fairly satis-
factory position, the same is not universally true regarding the
manufacturing interests, and the farmers can look with com-
placency, at least, at the squirmings, under popular wrath, of
many of the over-developed-in-capacity, so-called, business in-
terests, to adjust themselves to normal demand, by combina-
tions to limit production and fix arbitrary prices.

FAULTS IN DISTRIBUTION.

Much attention has been given for a few decades to the
development of railroads and other means of transportation,
except the country roads, and the problems of transportation
have been quite well settled; so that transportation is now
probably a minimum charge in the distribution of products.
There are, however, other factors of distribution that need
to be given consideration looking to a solution. These factors
in distribution relate chiefly to the “middleman,” his duties and
his compensation. It is outrageous that people in cities are
compelled to pay 100 or more per cent. over the country
price for country products, and much of the so-called high cost
of living is due to the crude and unsystematic methods used in

9

‘Nad SIH NI MYOM LV NNVW MNVAA—! Old

10

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

the general system of distribution. The country price for coun-
try products is an open book and can be readily ascertained,
so that buyers in the cities can know what advance they pay
over the country price. But when the farmer buys a manu-
factured article he frequently pays from 100 to 1,000 per cent.
over the cost, for he has no way of knowing the cost. One of
the next problems for the people to solve is that of economical
distribution of products.

As the increase in food production is necessary for busi-
ness prosperity and for the preservation of civilization, it is
the dominant universal problem.

HOW CAN INCREASED YIELDS BE SECURED.

The art of agriculture is old. Cain and Abel were the
first farmers; one being a grain and the other a livestock
farmer. From that time till now the art of agriculture has
been practiced in every country and in every climate. All the
different methods that could be developed by the art of agri-
culture have been practiced. Different methods of plowing:
deep, shallow, and subsoiling, and different ways of turning
the furrow. Different methods of seeding, and different depths
of planting, and different amounts of seed. Rotation of crops
in every possible combination, and for every possible purpose.
Selection and improvement of seed for specific purposes.
Adaptation of certain crops to certain kinds of soil. What
more can be included in the art of agriculture? The ancients
knew all of these; but the production was not maintained nor
the fertility of the soils preserved.

The general claim is frequently made that nothing more
can be done to produce large crops than good farming; that is,
to use the best methods in the art of agriculture. Much of
the advice that is now given for growing better crops is re-
lated to these practices known to the art of agriculture, and to
which not much science has been applied. It is frequently
held that certain methods relating to plowing, planting, seed-
ing and breeding were the most efficient means of growing the
largest crops. One man may claim that deep plowing is the
principal requirement for a large crop; while another may
hold the same view with reference to shallow cultivation.
There are still radical advocates of all these methods, each one
contending that his scheme is the essential thing.

In view of the hundreds of years of experience in the art
of agriculture, it would be remarkable if it were left to this day
to discover that increased production could come from any of

1]

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

these methods that have been so long practiced. These ques-
tions all relate to the art of farming, and the fact that they
have been in controversy ever since there was a history of
agriculture, is sufficient proof that no one of them nor all of
them can be considered as essential requirements for increased
production on a permanent basis; but that each contention
meets times and conditions when it is the greatest temporary
relief, and hence the variety of opinions concerning the dif-
ferent customs. The improvement of crops by breeding has
also been advocated as the means of securing higher produc-
tion; and another “new” method strongly advocated as being
the only requirement is the thorough testing and grading of
seed to insure the most perfect stand.

WHAT IS THE LIMITING FACTOR IN CROP
PRODUCTION?

lf the limiting factor in crop production is some fault in
the practice of farming, then when the fault is corrected the
crop should give response. If the fault was in the method
of plowing or cultivation, when the right method was prac-
ticed the maximum crop would be realized. If small crops
were due to a poor stand, then a good stand would be the
remedy ; if they were due to poorly bred seed, then well-bred
seed would be the remedy. But when all these faults are
corrected, and the best methods practiced throughout, we still
fail to obtain any large increase in yields.

If all known methods of soil tillage and crop manage-
ment fail to grow a maximum crop then the trouble must lie
in the soil itself. What is the need of having a perfect stand
of corn when half a stand is equal to the productive capacity of
the soil? What is the use of planting highly bred seed when
scrub seed will produce as much or more than the soil will
properly feed? What is the use of planting seed enough to
grow 100 bushel crops when the soil will furnish only food
enough for 50 bushels? What is the use of using the most ad-
vanced methods known in the art of agriculture when ordinary
methods will meet the maximum soil capacity?

Though no method of farming can secure yields above the
capacity of the soil to feed, it is easy to hold yields below this
capacity of the soil, by practicing radically wrong methods.
Where the yields are held low because of some error in the
methods used, such error should be ascertained and rectified.

The writer does not wish to discredit the art of farming,
nor decry the development of the best methods that can be

12

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

used, but it should be well understood that largely increased
production can not come through the adoption of any modifica-
tion of methods known to the art of agriculture. It is only
after the productive capacity of the soil has been increased
that the best practices in the art of farming will prove of their
full value. Then there will be need of well-bred seed, perfect
stands and more efficient methods.

WHAT IS THE NATURAL CAPACITY OF THE SOIL?

Has any reader of this book ever grown or known of being
grown on any normal, even virgin soil, except black clay loam,
a crop of more than 60 bushels of corn or an equivalent in
other crops, under any method that could be used, when plant
food had not been added in some form, either as clover, manure
or pasture, or fertilizers? Many farmers have done this when
plant food had been applied, but without some addition of
plant food it has rarely if ever been done. This indicates that
the problem of high production is in supplying plant food and
not in modifying methods of farming.

On Bois d’ Arc farm during the last 30 years there have
been tried many of the different practices that have been
recommended for increasing yields: deep, medium and shal-
low plowing; subsoiling over 20 inches in depth; various
methods and tools in cultivation; different methods in seeding;
early and late planting; thick and thin seeding; and no great
increase above the usual yields was ever secured because of
any of them. If the method employed was at any great vari-
ance from well established practices the yield has sometimes
fallen below the normal. Never until the soil was given intel-
ligent treatment with reference to feeding the crop were largely
increased yields secured.

MOISTURE A LIMIT TO CROP YIELDS.

It is frequently stated that the size of the crops 1s usually
limited by the amount of rainfall. This may be the case, but at
what yield does this limit operate? The season of 1911 was
the driest known for many years in many parts of eastern
Illinois, where the entire dust mulch made in May was not
moistened until about September 1, when the crop was prac-
tically mature. Wheat that yielded from 20 to 35 bushels had
the same rainfall as that yielding 52 bushels; oats that yielded
80 bushels had no more rainfall than those that yielded 40
bushels; corn that yielded 70 bushels had no more rain than
the corn that yielded 30 bushels. Moisture may limit the crops,
but where is the limit?

13

FIG. 2—FRANK MANN IN HIS
CORN FIELD.

ee

14

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

Part II

PME SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE

The art of agriculture is old, and consists of those practices
which long experience has considered worthy of adoption. The
science of agriculture is new, and consists in the application
of the sciences of mathematics, chemistry, physics and biology
to agriculture. When a load of corn is weighed the amount
of corn is computed by the science of mathematics. The
science of mathematics has been in general use a long time,
and no one questions its truth. The truth of the science of
chemistry is as well established as the truth of the science of
mathematics, and is entitled to the same confidence. Not
until the last few years has there been much science applied
to agriculture.

CROPS NOT MADE OF NOTHING.

One of the first fundamental truths established by chemi-
cal science when applied to agriculture was that “crops are
not made out of nothing,” but that certain chemical elements
are as necessary in the growth of crops as are heat and light,
and that some of these elements must be fed to the plants
through the soil. What they must be fed and the manner of
this feeding has now been well worked out, and is being ex-
emplified on many demonstration fields in different parts of
Illinois and on many types of soil.

Feeding crops involves two propositions; one, supplying
the needed chemical elements; the other, making these ele-
ments available to the plants.

Before plants can use the elements of plant food that may
be in the natural soil, or that may be applied in an inert form,
certain bio-chemical changes (chemical changes caused by
bacteria) must have taken place that will make these elements
available to the plant’s use.

There are different ways in which this availability can
be procured, but the one that should have our attention in
practical agriculture comes from the activities in the decompo-
sition of organic matter. A soil might contain large quantities
of all the elements of plant food, but without some process of

15

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

liberation by which this plant food could be made available,
it would not be a fertile soil. Active organic matter is the life
of a soil, literally, as besides the chemical changes necessary,
it provides the medium for the development of the necessary
bacterial life.

COMMERCIAL FERTILIZER NOT NEEDED.

A very common substitute for the liberating effect of de-
composing organic matter is the use of caustic substances,
either in mixed fertilizers or by themselves, such as landplaster
and burned lime. The use of such materials has no place in a
permanent system of maintaining soil fertility as their effect
is only one of stimulation, and tends to deplete the soil of its
fertility to a greater extent.

The most common use of these caustic materials comes
from using the mixed commercial fertilizers, which contain
small amounts of plant food to give the plant a start, and in-
clude also caustic substances to force enough plant food from
the soil to complete the growth of crops. It is fortunate, in-
deed, that the people of Illinois have been so fully instructed
in the principles of permanent fertility that very little of the
complete mixed commercial fertilizers have been used in the
state, and without a doubt they never will be used. The ob-
jection to such fertilizers is their use as substitutes for the
elements of plant food, and the excessive cost of the small
amounts of plant food contained.

ACTIVE ORGANIC MATTER NECESSARY.

Active organic matter is any form of vegetable or animal
matter that will decay in the soil: manure of all kinds, stubble,
stalks, weeds, clover, cowpeas, straw, etc. Crop residues
(cornstalks, straw, stubble, etc.) do not afford sufficient or-
ganic matter for high fertility, and it is essential that more
than this be supplied. As nitrogen is the most largely used
element of plant food, and as special crops must be grown to
supply nitrogen, these same crops may be depended upon to
supply organic matter. Then the maintenance of both nitrogen
and organic matter becomes almost a single problem, as
legumes serve both purposes.

To some extent organic matter can be used as a soil stimu-
lant, as the acids formed in the decomposition of vegetable mat-
ter have the same effect as those used in mixed fertilizers.
The intelligent use of such acids is legitimate when used for
their proper purpose. The fault comes from their excessive use
as substitutes for plant food. Crop residues or non-legumin-

16

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

ous crops that may be grown for their organic matter, do not
increase the nitrogen supply in the soil, as the nitrogen con-
tained in them was but recently taken from the soil. Growing
rye, rape, buckwheat or any other ordinary crop for the pur-
pose of plowing under is meritorious, but its true action as a
stimulant should be understood, and no dependence placed on
these crops as carriers of any new supply of plant food.

Manure has to some extent the same stimulating action,
especially where the nitrogen of the manure is not urgently
needed by the crop. Here some of the action of the manure is
its liberation of the mineral elements from the supply in the
soil, so that after a time heavily manured land becomes out of
balance in the plant food supply, and may give large growths
of straw and stalk, without a grain yield in proportion. ‘Manure
without bedding included with it is not a very good carrier of
vegetable matter, and the amount of manure required to main-
tain nitrogen enough for large crops, is not sufficient to furnish
enough organic matter, if the manure is made from highly
digested food. Nor does enough humus result from its ac-
tive decomposition to keep the soil in good physical condition.
This is indicated by a garden on Bois d’ Arc farm where high
fertility has been maintained in this way for over forty years,
but the soil is not in good physical condition.

Clover, also, has a similar stimulating action, and on the
rich prairie land of the corn belt, much of the increase in crops
after clover, comes from its ability to liberate minerals from
the soil. On Bois d’ Are farm clover was established as a crop
in rotation in 1879. For a few rotations the effect of clover was
realized in the crops, but the time came when the crops fell
below normal expectations. About the same growth of stalk
and straw was secured, but the effect of having forced the
minerals from the soil more rapidly with the clover, was finally
shown in reduced production of the grain itself. This liberat-
ing effect of clover is just what is desired, but it should be
remembered that if the minerals are not kept supplied the
effect of the clover is to wear out the soil more rapidly.

In some places there is a growing tendency to use potas-
sium salts on soils not at all deficient in potassium, because
they give increased yields. Here again, the effect is one from
stimulation and cannot be depended upon for permanency. On
soils that are deficient in organic matter it may be legitimate
to use some caustic salts as a temporary expedient until or-
ganic matter can be added to the soil. But it must be remem-
bered that the supply of nitrogen, vegetable matter and phos-
phorus will be depleted long before that of potassium.

17

FIG. 3—PLENTY OF NITROGEN BUT NO PHOSPHORUS SUPPLIED.
YIELD, 50 BU. PER ACRE

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

THE GREATEST PROBLEM OF SOIL FERTILITY.

The greatest problem in permanent fertility is to main-
tain the organic matter with its nitrogen, because of the large
losses from its decomposition, and from the fact that great
quantities cannot be supplied at any one time. Vast quantities
of mineral elements can be applied at any one time, if in an
inert form, and the only limit would be one of dollars and
cents. But to maintain organic matter and nitrogen requires
skillful use of rotations and constant attention to necessary
details. It requires money for the former, but it takes brains
for the latter. It is not profitable to apply excessive quantities
of organic matter at any one time, as some of the elements
of plant food may be liberated faster than they can be used
by the crops and become lost; or plant food may be liberated
at a time when there is no erowing crop, and some of it be
lost, though this loss is frequently prevented by the growth of
weeds which seem to adapt themselves to this purpose exceed-
ingly well.

There is also an interference with other soil functions
when excessive amounts of vegetable matter are applied at
one time, especially when dry conditions follow. When large
amounts of vegetable matter are to be plowed under, it is
beneficial to cut it up well with a disk and mix it with the soil
as much as possible before plowing. This largely prevents the
layer of vegetation at the bottom of the furrow, which will in-
terfere with the normal movement of moisture in the soil.

Because of the perishable nature of vegetable matter, it
is absolutely necessary to save to the utmost the annual crop
residues, and all straw and stalks removed should be con-
scientiously returned to the land. If straw is not used for
bedding or food return it to the land at once and do not wait
for it to rot down. The rotting action is needed in the field.

The raking and burning of corn stalks ought to be stopped
by public sentiment if not by public law. A heavy growth of
corn stalks can be returned to the soil without seriously affect-
ing any farming operation. They can be twice cut if necessary
with a stalk cutter at an expense of but a few cents per acre.
If cut when the stalks and ground are in right condition there
will be practically no annoyance from them afterwards. The
value of the plant food in corn stalks can be easily computed,
but this value may be small as compared to their value to
land much deficient in vegetable matter.

Expressions of regret are sometimes heard that the corn
stalks cannot be utilized, instead of permitting them to go to

19

‘AMOV UAd “NA OZ “T16T GTHIA

‘SUVaA IVAAAUS WO

20

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

waste. The western farmer has been severely scored by a cer-
tain class of critics because he permits the stalks to remain in
the field, and they figure a loss therefrom of immense propor-
tions. Various schemes have been advanced by which the
great loss could be prevented, and these schemes have varied
from making paper to the manufacture of gun boats out of the
stalks.

This belief that corn stalks are wasted when left in the
field does not take into consideration the effect of corn stalks
when added to the soil. The value of this is far greater than
could come from any of the commercial projects ever proposed.
It is hardly possible that there can ever be any commercial
proposition which can recover as much value from corn stalks
as is already realized by adding them to the soil. Were it
not for the stalks and weeds that have been returned to the
soil, the productive capacity of worn soils would be much less
than it is now.

While nitrogen is the measure of vegetable matter in the
soil it may not express the real value of such vegetable mat-
ter. The nitrogen may be contained in well-decayed vegeta-
tion that does not have the power to liberate much plant food.
It is active decomposition that is needed. In the case of clover
the decomposition is so rapid and complete that before a rota-
tion has passed the decomposition is so nearly completed as
to be inadequate for liberation purposes. On the other hand,
crop residues decay slowly and when used in connection with
clover make a valuable combination.

Sub-Soil Organic Matter.

A fact of considerable value that comes from growing
deep-rooting plants in the rotation, is the development of the
root-system in the subsoil, though this varies with different
subsoils. It is common on Bois d’ Arc farm, when laying tile,
to find the subsoil permeated with clover roots to a depth often
of five feet. These deep roots contain more or less plant food
that may be used by succeeding crops; they increase the
porosity of the soil; they improve the efficiency of drainage;
their decomposition furnishes humus which increases the mois-
ture-holding capacity of the sub-soil, and they tend to equalize
capillarity within the soil. To secure this deep growth of the
root system it is necessary that the clover be growing thickly
on the ground. When the clover is thin the roots spread out at
shallow depths, but when thick will grow with erect tops and
deep roots. The favorite rotation crop on Bois d’ Arc farm is

21

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

a mixture of red clover, alsike clover and timothy, with the
red clover largely predominating. In this combination more
growth can be secured than with any of them alone, and there
is a greater development of root systems, with the red clover
roots occupying the deeper root zone, the alsike roots in a
shallower zone, and the timothy roots in the surface. As
timothy decays more slowly than clover, decomposition goes
on for a longer time, and being more woody than clover it
adds more humus when decayed,

The difficulty of increasing the supply of vegetable mat-
ter in worn soils makes it of great importance to maintain the
supply in lands that now have a fair amount. It is much easier
to produce vegetable matter where there is a good supply al-
ready, than to build it up after the vegetable matter is de-
pleted. The vegetable matter in the soil of Bois d’ Are farm
and many other farms in the corn belt could not be duplicated
in forty years if four tons of clover were grown and plowed
under every year, and there was no loss during the period.
This shows how great is the task of building up a soil in vege-
table matter, and should prompt every land owner to do all
that is possible towards maintaining the supply by frequent
additions.

How Much Vegetable Matter?

Apply all the crop residues that is possible, and in addi-
tion, grow enough clover or some legume to supply as much
or more nitrogen than is removed by the crops.

Remember that plants, like animals, must be fed; that
animals might starve within sight of a crib of corn and a mow
full of hay, provided they were locked up; that plants can
starve in the presence of great quantities of plant food, pro-
vided they are locked up; and that the function of active or-
ganic matter is to unlock the elements of plant food.

HUMUS.

Though the term humus is frequently applied to all vege-
table matter in the soil, the better use of the term is to denote
only the well decayed vegetable matter. After a time, any
vegetable matter becomes so thoroughly decomposed as to be
without definite form, or suggestion as to its original source,
and becomes also practically inert, or inactive. This is humus.
The value of humus comes largely from its physical effects on
the soil. It renders the soil dark in color, thereby making it
warmer. It makes it more porous, which permits better aera-
tion and nitrification. It increases the ability of the soil to

22

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

accumulate and retain water at a time of rainfall, thereby
helping to overcome the effects of drouth. It tends to increase
capillarity when low, and decrease it when too high, thereby
acting as a regulator of the moisture supply. It makes plow-
ing and all operations of tillage easier and more efficient and
it makes the soil pulverize more readily and helps in the forma-
tion of a good seed bed.

Humus, drainage and plant-food are the principal factors
necessary to overcome adverse weather conditions. Crops on
well drained land supplied with plenty of plant food and
humus, can laugh at almost any local weather conditions. Corn
stalks and other crop residues are a valuable source of humus,
and they should be carefully saved for this purpose, aside from
their plant food value.

NITROGEN.

No method of soil stimulation or plant food liberation can
maintain permanent fertility unless a supply of the elements
of plant food is maintained. Of all the chemical elements
that are necessary for plant growth, only three require consid-
eration on normal soils. These are nitrogen, phosphorus and
calcium, though limestone might be considered as a necessary
amendment to neutralize the surplus acids formed in vege-
table decomposition. It also furnishes calcium as plant food.

Nitrogen is the element most largely used by plants, and
it exists in the greatest abundance; the greatest supply is ina
free state in the air, however, and it is hard to capture and
difficult to hold. Most of the common commercial explosives
are combinations of nitrogen, which under certain provoca-
tions will return to a free state with a “bang.” While nitro-
gen does not leave the soil so suddenly, its loss is sure and
steady and requires frequent additions to maintain a supply.

The soil nitrogen exists only in the organic matter, and
the problem of maintaining nitrogen and organic matter is
much simplified by this fact. It was held by some agricul-
tural writers until recent years that the time limit of life on
the earth was the amount of nitrogen contained in combination
with organic matter, and when that became exhausted all life
must cease to exist. The discovery that nitrogen could be
acquired from the air through the bacteria that live on the
roots of clover and other leguminous plants was probably the
most important application of science to agriculture that has
ever been made. It provides an intelligent method of main-
taining nitrogen, and one to which the science of mathematics
can be applied as a measure.

23

24

5—ROCK PHOSPHATE IS HAULED DIRECT TO THE FIELD AND SPREAD AT ONCE.

FI¢

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

How Much Nitrogen?

By knowing the crop requirements of nitrogen, and also
knowing how much nitrogen can be added with legumes, it
can be estimated how much legume growth is necessary to
provide sufficient nitrogen. It requires one and one-half
pounds of nitrogen to grow one bushel of corn, two pounds to
grow one bushel of wheat, and one pound to grow one bushel
of oats, though practically one-third of these amounts may be
returned to the soil in the crop residues.

One ton of clover hay contains 40 pounds of nitrogen; one
ton of cowpea hay, 43 pounds; one ton of alfalfa, 50 pounds.
This is not taking into consideration the nitrogen that may be
in the roots of these crops. These amounts must not be con-
sidered as the amounts of nitrogen that are sure to be added
by growing these crops, because a part of it may come from
the supply already in the ground. Any legume crop should be
considered as having used the available soil nitrogen before re-
sorting to bacterial nitrogen.

Soil that will supply nitrogen for a 50 bushel corn crop
will supply the same amount to a legume crop, which is
enough for more than one ton of hay. Where not more than
a ton to a ton and one-half of legumes are grown, but little
nitrogen, if any, is being added, and any beneficial results that
may come from such a crop is the action from its decomposi-
tion. This is a very common condition, and some of those
who are growing such small crops of clover will insist that
they are keeping up fertility by growing clover. Even in acid
soils legumes will grow up to the capacity of the soil to fur-
nish nitrogen, and because small crops of clover will grow is
no sure indication that the soil is not acid.

Clover the Best Legume.

Of all the legumes for supplying nitrogen, the best are the
clovers, where they can be depended upon. ‘They fit in the
rotation the best, have a better root development, are easiest
cared for as hay, and are the easiest seeded. It is a sorry
day for any farm when conditions become such that clover
usually fails.

Nature left such a vast quantity of vegetable matter in
the dark prairie soils that nitrogen is not usually the first
limiting factor in crop production on these soils. The vege-
table matter is, however, getting so much decayed that such
soils respond quickly to the action of fresh organic matter.
Nitrogen is becoming deficient on the high spots on the best

25

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

farms, and these high thin spots are enlarging rapidly and
becoming more numerous. On Bois d’Are farm clover has
been grown in a four-year rotation for about thirty years, but
this has failed to maintain enough nitrogen on these thin spots,
and on the rest of the land the crops are still drawing to some
extent on the original natural supply. The attempt now is
being made to increase or at least to maintain the nitrogen,
where deficient, by applying manure and by plowing under
the total hay crop. It may be maintained in this way for a
time, but the time is not far away when so much of the land
will be deficient in nitrogen as to require the growth of more
clover and the adoption of a different rotation.

The mere growing of clover or other legumes does not
add nitrogen to a moderately productive soil. It is only by
returning the growth to the soil that any nitrogen can be
added to it. Where the crop is sold, or fed and the manure
not returned, but little, if any, nitrogen is added, and when
very small crops of legumes are grown the nitrogen may be
diminished. Even when fed and the manure returned, there
is considerable loss of the nitrogen, both from what is retained
by the animals and from natural losses from the manure before
returning it to the ground. Because of these losses legumes
must be grown in any live stock system as well as in a grain
system, if the nitrogen is to be maintained. The permanent
and ever-present problem of soil fertility will be to maintain
a supply of nitrogen in the soil for large crops.

PHOSPHORUS.

Phosphorus is the mineral element of plant food to which
we need to give direct attention in soil fertility, on normal
prairie soils. Though there may be other elements needed,
they will be cared for incidentally in other operations. Of
all the factors that enter into permanent productiveness, that
of phosphorus is the most easily applied. It has but to
be bought and applied, and enough for many years can be
applied at one time, without danger of any appreciable loss,
except by the removal of crops. In the dark prairie soils
where large amounts of nitrogen and vegetable matter were
placed in the ground while still in a state of nature, phos-
phorus has usually been the limiting factor in crop production
ever since the land was tilled. In fact, it is probable that
phosphorus was the factor which limited the growth of
grasses in the wild prairie. The writer, when a boy, while
herding sheep and cattle on the wild prairie of McLean
county, often wondered why the growth of wild grasses on

26

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

the low ground was waist to shoulder high, and on the high
ground was but shoe top to knee high. And not until some
analyses were made of these soils and several years’ expe-
rience was obtained in applying phosphorus on these same
soils, was any satisfactory solution reached. As the lack of
phosphorus limits the growth of legume crops now, it is fair
to suppose that there was the same limit to the legume growth
in the wild prairies, and it was the wild legumes that supplied
the nitrogen to make our virgin soil. Hon. Joseph Carter,
of Champaign, identified 56 species of wild legumes on the
prairies of McLean county when he studied botany at the
Normal University.

Notwithstanding a large amount of nitrogen in a soil, if
the supply of phosphorus is small, the crop yields will be lim-
ited to the supply of phosphorus liberated. A soil may con-
tain enough nitrogen for 100 bushel crops, but if the phos-
phorus content is sufficient for only 50 bushel crops, the yields
would stop at 50 bushels, and much of the nitrogen not used
would be lost. The nitrogen that has been lost from the
prairies of the corn belt, because it was not balanced by phos-
phorus, is fabulous in amount. The process is still going on
wherever the soil is richer in nitrogen than it is in phosphorus,
compared to crop requirements.

There is still a most wonderful opportunity to increase
crop production by balancing an excess of nitrogen, which
is still contained in much of the rich land of the corn belt, by
supplying phosphorus. Because of being better supplied with
phosphorus the plants are enabled to use a large part of the
nitrogen that would otherwise be lost, and there is a gain in
production from this use of nitrogen as well as from the phos-
phorus itself. There is yet land in the corn belt that contains
nitrogen enough for 100 bushel crops, but that is yielding
but about 50 bushels, because of the phosphorus hmit. No
other reasonable investment can make such large returns as
does this kind of soil treatment.

t is still believed by some that the best corn lands do
not decline in fertility, and this idea can be explained to some
extent in this way: An excessive amount of nitrogen can not
produce crops above the phosphorus limit. Some of the prai-
rie soil, in its virgin state, contained nitrogen enough for
probably 150 bushel crops, but the phosphorus lmit was
about 60 bushel crops. The nitrogen could be decreased, by
natural losses, to a 100 bushel capacity without materially
affecting the yields, as the phosphorus content declines very
slowly. The nitrogen loss can be carried down to only a

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HHL ONILNAIALSIG WOH SNVAW LSA AHL SI WAaCVAAdS AACVW ANOH V—9 DI

(o“@)

FRANK MANN’S.SOIL BOOK

50 bushel capacity, or the phosphorus capacity, before there
comes any great decline in yields. When the nitrogen
capacity becomes less than the phosphorus capacity, the
decline in productiveness will be sudden and rapid. This
condition will soon be reached by the rich lands of the corn
belt.

The Function of Phosphorus.

The function of nitrogen lies in the growth of leaf and stalks
of plants; that of phosphorus is in the growth of the grain,
and especially in the vital parts of the grain. The color and
rankness in the growth of plants is some indication of the
nitrogen supply, but only when phosphorus is very deficient
will its addition be particularly noticeable in color and
growth, except in legume crops. As the principal effect from
phosphorus additions is in the grain, it takes the scales to
determine its efficiency. Measure the ground and weigh the
grain.

Sources of Phosphorus.

When dependence is placed on organic matter for the
liberation of plant food, phosphorus can be used in the cheap-
est form in which it can be procured. This is the ground rock
phosphate. In this phosphate the phosphorus is contained in
varying amounts and in combination with other substances.
The phosphate is inert; that is, it has no power to decompose
itself, so as to liberate the element phosphorus. Phosphate
has no caustic action on the soil, and a person may get his
eyes, nose and ears full of it without any injurious effect,
which is proof that any amount of it cannot harm a soil.
Another source of phosphorus is bone meal, which contains
about the same percentage of phosphorus as does a good
grade of rock phosphate. In the bone meal the phosphorus
is more easily liberated, and on soils quite deficient in organic
matter it may sometimes be preferable to use bone meal,
though it is a much more expensive source than rock phos-
phate.

How to Buy Phosphate.

The phosphate rock contains varying quantities of the
element phosphorus. A good grade for domestic use con-
tains irom 12:to 13 per cent of phosphorus. This grade
seems to have been adopted for domestic use, and the higher
grades used for export because of the heavier transporta-
tion charges. The phosphate should be finely ground. The
experience in Europe with slag phosphate has caused a gen-
eral requirement that the grinding be so fine that 90 per cent
of the material will pass through a sieve having one hun-

Zo

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

dred meshes to the linear inch. The fine grinding permits
the material to be better distributed throughout the soil, and
increases the rapidity with which the phosphorus is made
available. There is much low grade phosphate in the mining
regions, and this is being hawked about the country by irre-
sponsible men who get any price they can for low grade
and coarsely ground stuff.

Avoid any agent or salesman who tries to sell some
particular brand of phosphate that is represented to contain
phosphorus in a soluble or available form, or in which the
phosphorus is contained in some peculiar chemical combina-
tion, the terms of which neither you nor he has any definite
understanding. Such “fancy” material is usually sold at an
increased price. Set the dogs on such agents. The only
basis for you to consider is the phosphorus content and the
fineness of grinding.

It is best to order direct from a reputable miner, with
the definite understanding that the material is to contain
from 12 to 13 per cent of phosphorus, and that it will be
ground fine enough that 90 per cent will pass through a 100-
mesh sieve. Have it clearly understood that settlement will
be made on the basis of the guarantee as determined by a
reliable chemist. When the car is unloaded, take a handful
or more from each wagon load, and mix it thoroughly, and
from this mixture take a sample to be sent to a good com-
mercial chemist. If the phosphate is in bulk some idea of its
fineness can be obtained from the weight of a full wagon
box, as the finer it is ground the more bulky it becomes.
When coarsely ground, or so that 60 per cent will pass
through a 100-mesh sieve, a common wagon box will hold
about two tons. When ground fine enough for 90 per cent to
pass through a 100-mesh sieve, the same wagon box will hold
but about 2,800 to 3,000 pounds.

How Much Phosphate to Apply.

Just how much phosphate to apply for the greatest profit
has not been determined. Experience on Bois d’ Are farm
shows a profit in applying 1,000 pounds per acre once in four
years; and it also shows a profit in applying four to five tons
at one time. If the other factors are sufficient to produce
100-bushel crops, it would be profitable to apply phosphate
enough to balance the other factors. If we assume, as is
usually considered, that the equivalent of one per cent of the
phosphorus in the plowed soil can be used by one crop; then
since it requires 23 pounds of phosphorus to grow 100 bushels

30

pel

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

of corn, five tons of 12% per cent phosphate will give a total
amount of phosphorus that is not likely to limit the crop below
the 100 bushel mark. On land where the other factors, or any
of them, that enter into crop production are low, such heavy
applications of phosphate would not prove so profitable as
smaller applications.

Experience has shown that the application of 1,000 pounds
of phosphate once in a four-year rotation is highly profitable.
This amount supplies sufficient phosphorus for a good growth
of clover and causes a good increase in grain crops. It is
adding phosphorus faster than it is removed in ordinary
crops, and proves a good application to adopt in a permanent
system. One ton per acre once in four years has more effi-
ciency, and builds up the phosphorus content faster, and this
amount is now the usual treatment on Bois d’ Arc farm.

How and When to Apply.

No machine not made for the purpose will spread phos-
phate satisfactorily. As good a machine as any, is the one
described in Circular 110 of the Illinois Experiment station,
or the similar one described in the Prairie Farmer of Sept.
1, 1911. Even these machines require some experience to
operate so as to spread the desired amount evenly. It is
easier work and more economical to handle the phosphate
in bulk, though in bags it may be handled somewhat faster.
It is cheaper to spread as hauled from the car, and shifting
wagons at the field requires but one extra wagon. An 8-foot
machine can spread from 16 to 20 acres ina day. As spread-
ing and hauling are the principal features in applying the
phosphate, it can be more easily done during late summer or
early fall when the roads are most likely to be good and the
field solid. So far as the phosphate is concerned, it can be
applied any time of the year without injury or loss except
from erosion, when the soil itself washes away. As vegetable
matter is to be depended upon to make the phosphorus avail-
able, the phosphate should be spread in close connection
with the manure, clover or other legume crop that is to be
plowed under. If it is intended to use phosphate principally
for the coming legume crop, it should be spread and plowed
under. Plant roots do not feed at the top of the ground,
and phosphate applied as a top dressing or merely harrowed
or disked in will produce little or no effect. A thorough
disking to incorporate it with the surface soil before plowing
will be a great advantage. Phosphate used for this purpose
of aiding the legume crop is usually profitable, and frequently
is the means of getting a stand of clover when otherwise there
would have been a failure.

31

e Widen alos
De al Raw ORAS :
, : 4 ~ ?

FIG. 7—VIEWS ON DR. HOPKINS’ FARM IN SSUTHERN ILLINOIS.

NO TREATMENT AND NO CLOVER.

GROWTH OF CLOVER AS THE RESULT OF LIMESTONE
TREATMENT

32

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

LIMESTONE.

The principal function of limestone is to correct soil
acidity. The necessity of correcting an acid condition and of
maintaining a sweet soil, is because the legume bacteria do
not thrive in an acid medium, and without bacteria the
legumes cannot secure nitrogen from the air. The use of
limestone is a preliminary step to the growing legumes on
acid soils. The first step in systematic soil treatment is to
determine whether the soil is acid, and the amount of lime-
stone necessary for its correction. To determine whether the
soil is acid is a simple proposition. Get a nickel’s worth of
blue litmus paper at any drug store; make a ball of the soil,
supplying moisture if necessary, though care must be taken
that the water used is not acid, and that the soil is not handled
with sweaty hands; crack open the ball and insert a small
strip of the litmus paper, allowing a protruding end, and then
close the ball. If the soil contains acid the blue color of the
paper will be changed to red, and the time required to change
color is an indication of the amount of acid present. If it
does not change for several hours not much acid is present.
It is very important that the subsoil also be tested for acidity,
and if both soil and subsoil are acid then at least two tons
per acre of limestone should be applied every four years.

Burned Lime.

In many of the older states large quantities of burned
lime are applied to the soil. Burned lime, when fresh, is
caustic, and has an effect of burning out the organic matter
in the soil, just as it burns the flesh of the body. The use
of burned lime has no place in a permanent system of agricul-
ture.

Fresh burned lime does have the power to correct soil
acidity ; but not till it has lost its caustic properties by again
being converted into carbonates through natural processes,
will it supply calcium, and become desirable for use on the
land. The usual deposits of limestone are composed princi-
pally of either calcium carbonate or a mixture of calcium
carbonate and magnesium carbonate, called dolomitic lme-
stone. There is little choice, if any, between these different
forms. The dolomite is as good if not better than the high
calcium limestone.

Losses of Limestone.

There is a constant loss of limestone from the soil through
drainage waters, and to a less extent through the crops grown.

33

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

The information from the Rothamsted experiment fields, in-
dicates a loss of about 800 pounds per acre annually. The
writer has observed the gradual loss of limestone and lime
concretions from the surface soil during thirty years, till
now there is but little left on the surface of the higher land,
though an abundance in the subsoil. This means that on
the prairie corn belt soil we are practically face to face with the
limestone problem.

How Much Limestone?

The amount of the initial application of limestone will
depend largely on the amount of acid in the soil and subsoil.
On highly acid soils the initial application may well be five
tons per acre. On soils slightly acid, or where there are
traces of a natural supply of limestone, the basis for “com-
puting the amount to be used is that of future losses. In
either case it is worth while to apply enough to last for sev-
eral years. It will require about two tons applied once in
four years to insure a sweet soil.

On highly acid soils, where effects from limestone are
desired immediately, the finely ground will prove the most
efficient, but when applied as a future prevention of acidity,
the coarser ground will prove more satisfactory, as it costs
less and the future loss will be less. Some mills have a by-
product in their regular grinding, that is removed by a quar-
ter-inch mesh sieve. This material contains some that is
very fine as well as the coarse, and is a desirable product
when large applications are made, for both immediate and
future effects, and can usually be bought at a less price than
when ground fine specially for soils.

How to Apply Limestone.

When small amounts of limestone are to be spread, the
machines referred to for spreading phosphate can be used
with satisfaction. For spreading larger amounts, a slow
geared manure spreader gives better satisfaction. An old
binder canvas, or similar material, can be tacked on the plat-
form, and the oiled bearings should be protected from the dust
as much as possible.

Other Limestone Effects.
Another effect of limestone when used in large quantities
is its peculiar power of flocculating clay particles, causing a
granular condition, and thereby improving the physical con-

34

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

dition of the soil. The effects are similar to the action of
large amounts of humus, and are noticeable from the ease
with which such soil can be pulverized. In very heavy soils,
where there is considerable clay, this action is followed by a
deeper zone of aeration and bacterial action. A noticeable
instance of such action has been observed in a garden spot
at the home of Mr. H. A. McKeene, in Springfield, Ill., where
the garden had been covered with subsoil from a cellar exca-
vation, on top of which a quantity of limestone was applied.
On Bois d’ Arc farm quarter-inch ground limestone was ap-
plied at the rate of 20 tons per acre, to one half of a depres-
sion in the surface or old pond, where the soil contained con-
siderable clay, and was quite impervious to water. The ac-
tion of the limestone here has been apparent in increasing
the porosity, and rending the soil more easily pulverized.
An examination shows that the pervious layer of soil is deeper
on the treated than on the untreated parts. This physical
condition was probably reflected in the crop, as the corn
yield that followed was &4 bushels on the untreated, and 112
bushels per acre, on the treated. For the oats that followed
the corn, the treated ground was probably too loose, as they
went down so badly none were secured. Both the stand and
growth of clover that followed the oats seem to be benefited
by the treatment.

Several carloads of limestone have been used on Bois d’
Arc farm, that have been applied at the rate of about three
tons per acre. But as the soil is not much acid, no great
gains have come from its use, though there have been reason-
able returns on the investment. The use of limestone will
be continued, however, to prevent soil acidity.

PERMANENT FERTILITY IN A NUTSHELL.

To create and maintain a high fertility requires only
three things: to grow and add to the soil enough legume
crops to supply sufficient nitrogen, active organic matter
and humus; to add more phosphorus than is removed in the
crops; and to supply calcium and prevent soil acidity by the
use of limestone. Nothing else need ever be done for per-
manent high productive power on normal soils.

38

36

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

WHAT DOES FERTILITY COST?

To apply phosphorus as fast as it is removed in crops,
and to provide a reasonable amount for an increase in fer-
tility, will require the application of about 1,000 pounds of
phosphate once in a three or four-year rotation. At average
points of shipment, this will cost about $4 for each treat-
ment, or approximately $1 an acre per year. The cost of lime-
stone, considering the average loss, will approximate 50 cents
an acre per year. It will never be possible to avoid such ex-
penditures under any permanent system. The cost of these
materials may be somewhat modified in the future, and it
is logical that limestone may decline at some points, through
a greater development of the industry. It is quite possible
that phosphate users have an opportunity now that may not
be realized after a few more years. It is the man who gets
in this game early, that will probably realize the greatest

ain.

If $1.50 an acre annually was levied on land as a tax
with its present productive capacity, it would have a serious
effect on many landowners, and would spell disaster to some.
But this expenditure should be considered as an investment.
It is an investment that gives good direct returns, and more
than this, it protects the value of the investment heretofore
made in the land itself. Nothing but soil treatment will pre-
vent a decline in the productive power of the land, sooner or
later. If large investments of this kind are not possible, a
start can be made ‘with a small investment. If the increase
in crops the first year, or the first rotation, returns a value
of $2 or $5, or $10, for each dollar invested, let these returns
be established into a trust fund, to be used only for further
soil improvement. Do as the stock jobbers advise—pyramid
the operations. If this trust fund is kept inviolate and all
returns from previous soil treatments be added to it, soil
building in a permanent way will not be burdensome, but
will give new interest and zeal to life. And do not violate
this trust fund in a few years to buy an automobile or an-
other farm.

EXPERIENCE ON BOIS d@’ ARC FARM.

Bois d’ Are farm is composed of nearly 500 acres of the
corn belt dark prairie land, better described as the brown
silt loam of the early Wisconsin glaciation. A _ half-section
is divided into 80-acre fields, which have been cropped in a
four-year rotation for about 30 years. The remainder of the
farm is divided into smaller fields, on which pasture is in-

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410 SNOILVOIIddV GNNOd 000'T OML GVH

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38

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

cluded in a longer rotation. The half-section is mostly gently
rolling to flat, and all surplus water is carried away in tile
systems. On part of the remainder is a moraine formation of
about 80 acres, having a rise of 30 to 40 feet. From 30 to 40
milk cows have been kept for many years, and about 20 head
of work horses and colts. Manure is hauled to the field and
spread while fresh when it is possible to do so. One 80-acre
field has been kept as a check against the value of manure,
and this field has never had any manure or pasture. On this
half-section clover has been grown every fourth year, with
but one or two exceptions. After several rotations had passed
it was realized that clover was losing its efficiency in the
production of grain crops. Shortly after the Illinois Ex-
periment station discovered that phosphorus was needed on
some of the Illinois soils, applications were made to small
plots on these fields in order to ask the soil what it did want.
Applications were made of bone meal, rock phosphate, dried
blood, potassium salts, and limestone. Several cars of manure
from the stockyards were used in one field about the same
time.

Where the manure was used there was an increase in the
yield of corn of 10 bushels per acre. Where the phosphate was
used, either in bone meal or rock, the increase was 17 bushels
of corn. Where the blood or limestone was applied, the in-
crease was less than one bushel per acre. Potassium produced
no apparent effect. It was concluded that, as nitrogen in the
blood gave no increase, it was likely that the nitrogen in the
manure had given no increase; and as there seemed to be
enough decomposition going on to liberate phosphorus from
raw phosphate, it was also likely that the organic matter of
the manure had caused no increase. This indicated that the
increase from the manure was caused by the phosphorus it
had supplied.

The cost of the manure was 55 cents per ton, making the
cost of the application $5.50 per acre, with practically three-
fourths of it used, leaving enough in the soil to produce only
about 35 bushels more corn. The phosphate cost $4 for the
application, and only about 10 per cent of its value had been
used the first year, leaving enough in the soil to produce nearly
500 bushels more corn.

After similar trials, and the analysis of samples of soil by
a son in college as a part of his student work, a systematic
treatment with phosphate was commenced. The plan estab-
lished was to apply 1,000 pounds of ground raw rock phosphate
per acre once for each four-year rotation; the application to be

39

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40

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

made to the clover field before it was plowed in the fall. The
trust fund has justified better investments, so that some extra
treatments have been made, and the plan has been changed to
apply one ton each rotation instead of one-half ton. Check
strips were left in most of the fields, to which no phosphate
has been applied, but in every other respect are treated the
Same. Phese were left.in order-to get a measure on the
value of the treatment. In addition to the regular treatment,
strips of heavy treatment have been given in most of the fields,
and some small fields covered with the heavy treatment except
the checks. On these heavy treated portions enough phos-
phate is applied to make five tons as a total of all that has been
applied, estimating what has been removed in the crops. The
rotations have now been twice around since the plan of treat-
ment was adopted, so that every field has had at least two ap-
plications, with the minimum of one ton per acre, though some
have had more than this.
Some Results.

The average increase of crop yields for the first treatment
was 15 bushels of corn per acre; 20 bushels of oats; one ton of
clover hay, and 15 bushels of wheat. As the cost of treatment
averaged $1 an acre per year, there was realized either 15
bushels of corn, or 20 bushels of oats, or one ton of clover,
or 15 bushels of wheat for each dollar invested. There was
also left in the soil about one-half the value of the treatment
for the use of future crops.

No part of these fields has been kept as a check to measure
the effect of growing clover in rotation, and to get some esti-
mate of this value, yields are taken from some of the adjoin-
ing land, which has been farmed in a two-year rotation of
corn and oats without clover, for many years, and in which the
soil formation, natural drainage, etc., are strictly comparable.
The following table gives comparative yields for the first five
year period after treatment was commenced, of the three sys-
tems: a two-year rotation; a four-year rotation, with clover;
and a four-year rotation with clover and phosphate:

Corn, Oats, Clover,
Bushels. Bushels. Tons.

iwo—viedt fotation, CORN and Oatsic.» ..% 2s... see's + 34 32 er.
Domr-vear rotation, with clover’. . o2. 663 ean. 54 47 ly
Four-year rotation, with clover and phosphate...70 70 214

This shows a gain of 20 bushels of corn per acre each
year from the use of clover in the rotation, and a further in-
crease of 16 bushels for the phosphate over the clover increase.
In the oat crops the gain for clover alone was 15 bushels, with

41

42

YIELD, 88% BU. PER ACRE.

FIG. 11—ALFALFA 7 YEARS, CORN 2 YEARS, ONE TON ROCK PHOSPHATE.

ae

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

a further increase for phosphate of 23 bushels. The increase
in the clover comes largely from the better stand and growth
on the thinner parts of the fields, where there is an increas-
ing difficulty in getting a stand on the untreated soil.

The following table shows the relative yields from dif-
ferent soil treatments the first year after heavy treatment:

Corn, Oats,
Bushels. Bushels.

CAMILA OLL a ras ai se osc bowtie tas Hetelee cme Sheree Raia es 25 SL
hoi vedm rotation, witht clover... i...) 0. ca) teas ace en oe ens 67 55
Four-year rotation, with clover and regular phosphate
RTE IME ERs, sac ea sche ad eters ee She ba gk le 84 78
Four-year rotation, with clover, four tons phosphate...... 92 89

The comparison here was modified somewhat because of
a destructive hail storm that came before the maturity of the
corn. The figures show to some extent the influence of the
treatment on the earlier development and maturity of the
crop. Because of the treatment, the corn was further advanced
in its growth, and contained more substance within the stalk
with which to complete the crop, while the corn in the two-
year rotation was abnormally low in the yield because of the
injury from the hail.

The value of phosphate treatments in the season of 1911
was modified to some extent by the extremely dry condi-
tions. In small grains, the increased yields from phosphate
applications were up to the average, if not above. A field of
oats where one ton of phosphate has been applied yielded
80 bushels per acre, while the average yield of untreated
land was about 40 bushels. In wheat, the increase was from
35 bushels, the untreated yield, to 50 bushels where the treat-
ment had been one ton of phosphate, and 52 1-3 bushels where
the treatment had been 1% tons. In corn the average in-
crease was 10 bushels per acre, which is less than the average.
This smaller increase was no doubt due to the inability of
the corn roots to feed as freely as usual in that part of the
soil which contained the applied phosphate, because of the
continued dry conditions. More than usual of the surface
soil was too dry for root development, and the root zone was
considerably narrowed in the zone of treatment.

Cases have been reported where phosphate was applied
in the spring to fall plowed fields, and worked in with a
disk when preparing the ground for planting corn. This
method has usually resulted in disappointing returns. The
disk could not incorporate the phosphate with more than 2
or 3 inches of the surface soil; and later, this same 2 or 3
inches was used to make a dust mulch, thereby preventing

43

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“LNAWLVAUL ON ‘NOILVLOW UVAA OML NOWWOO “GyOU SSONOV LISAl GWaIa —Z1 DIa

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

any root development that could come into contact with the
phosphate. If the mulch was occasionally saturated by rain
there might have been some benefit from the treatment, but
when the mulch was not wet through during the growing
season no benefit could possibly be realized. It should be
well understood that the phosphate must be where the roots
develop and feed; otherwise there can be no benefit from the
application, at least for that year.

Effect of Soil Treatment on Quality of Grain.

Another value from the treatment is its effect on the
quality of grains. This probably comes under the theory of
a balanced ration for plants the same as for animals, as this
same effect has been observed from a nitrogen treatment
when nitrogen was quite deficient. One factor in quality is
maturity. Much of the complaint from commercial interests
of the poor quality of grain is due to its lack of maturity.
This can not be altogether remedied by growing smaller or
earlier varieties of corn, as even the earlier varieties of field
corn and the small varieties of pop corn contain many ears
that are not fully matured. There is a difference between
mature grain and grain that merely stops in its growth at the
proper season, and then dries out. Maturity is a completion
of the process of growth, and not simply a cessation of growth,
and the completed growth or full maturity can not take place
unless there is a sufficient supply of every element of plant
food. When crops do not fully mature the grain is light in
weight and chaffy, or it may contain an excessive amount
of moisture, much of which might have been utilized if prop-
erly fed, and a fully ripened condition reached.

Some comparisons have been made between treated and
untreated portions of fields as to the difference in the maturity
of the crops. One test showed 35 per cent of the corn on
untreated ground was well matured and solid, while the treated
part of the same field, with the same variety of corn and
other conditions comparable, the percentage of equally ma-
tured and solid corn was 84. In the season of 1911, when
there was no frost till late in October, several weeks after
corn fields were ripe; a year when maturity was not inter-
rupted by weather conditions, corn on untreated ground
showed 60 per cent solid ears, and on the treated there was
85 per cent of solid corn. The effect of treatment on oats
is usually noticeable. In one case, oats weighed 26 pounds
per bushel on untreated land, and 35 pounds on treated land,
and there is usually a difference in weight. There is also

45

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

a marked difference in the appearance of wheat from the
treated and untreated ground, and the treated wheat is supe-
rior for milling purposes.

WHAT IS LAND WORTH?

There have always been believers that land was too high
in price. The original government price of $1.25 an acre was
thought by the pessimist to be too high. When it sold for
$10 an acre he though the price was too high; when it reached
$50 he thought it was too high; and when it reached $100 he
knew that was too high; but since that he has held his
breath.

What is land worth? It is worth any value on which it
will bring reasonable returns. Land with a productive capa-
city of 20 bushels of corn or oats per acre is not worth much
to the owner. It is worth such a crop in labor to grow the
crop, and if the land owner gets anything from it, it is at
the expense of the land worker’s labor. If the land owner
and land worker should be the same person, whatever he re-
ceives is as a land worker and not as a land owner. If the
land will produce 50-bushel crops, there is enough for a
division; enough for reasonable compensation for the labor
of the land worker, and enough for small returns for the land
owner, on the usual present valuation.

If the land can be made to produce 80-bushel crops, there
will be enough for good compensation for the labor of grow-
ing the crop, and enough left for the land owner as returns on
a valuation that is more than twice as much as the present
selling price of good land.

What is land worth that for seven years produced 5 tons
alfalfa per acre, each year the crop being worth as feed for
growing stock as much as 200 bushels of corn; that the next
year produced 20 tons of silage per acre; the next year pro-
duced 115 bushels of corn per acre; the next year produced
8814 bushels of oats per acre; the next year produced 52
bushels of wheat per acre?

Whether land values in the future will be increased or
decreased will depend on what the landowner may have done
for the land; whether he has kept up its productive powers,
or whether he has permitted the usual decline in fertility.

RELATION OF LANDLORD AND TENANT.

Baron von Liebig said: “It is not the land itself that
constitutes the farmers’ wealth, but it is in the constituents
of the soil, which serve for the nutrition of plants, that this

46

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

wealth truly consists.” A farm, then, is similar to a retail
store—its value is mostly in the stock of goods. The land
renter is like the clerk in the store, and as it is the clerk’s
business to get all that he can out of the stock of goods, so it
is the renters’ legitimate business to get all he can out of the
land. If the clerk does not know his business, then comes a
new clerk; and if the tenant does not know his business, or
enough to get good crops, then there is generally a new
tenant. It is the storekeeper’s business to keep up the stock of
goods, and in a well-balanced supply; so it is the land owner’s
business to keep up a well balanced supply of the constituents
of the soil. If the store keeper fails to keep up the stock of
goods, the time comes when he has no store; if the land
owner fails to keep up the land, the time comes when he has
no farm of much value.

FIG. 13—IT PAYS TO RAISE POUND EARS.

47

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48

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

Part III -

Met OF AGRICULTURE

Any discussion of the methods used in the art of agricul-
ture is made difficult by the large number of combinations
that can be made when the weather, the climate, the soil,
the crops, and the farmer himself are factors, and nothing said
here is intended to be absolutely “fool-proof.” It is intended
to offer a few suggestions that may call the attention of the
busy farmer to some of those things in every day affairs,
which in his haste and hurry, he may have overlooked, and
which should be considered only when in harmony with com-
mon and normal combinations of the various factors.

TILE DRAINAGE.

On the so-called level land and on the gently undulating
land, having a reasonably pervious subsoil, the first essential
for good crop production is a good system of tile drainage.
Definite information as to what would make an adequate
system for a given piece of land, would be impossible, with-
out knowing the character of the subsoil, the amount of grade
that could:be secured, and the contour. The size of the
main strings will depend on the amount of grade that can be
given, the amount of land to be drained in them, and the “lay
of the land’”—the size of the depressions where the water
gathers in ponds, and the extent of the watershed into these
ponds. Capacity should be given the main system so as to
remove all standing water within 12 to 24 hours after a
“flood.” The sub-mains that follow the natural depressions
other than the mains, should be large enough to carry all the
water furnished by the lateral strings to the main string
within twelve hours. The size will depend on the grade and
the area drained by the sub-mains and its laterals, and usually
nothing smaller than six inch tile is used for this purpose, and
generally eight inch tile are used. The lateral strings should
run parallel with each other, and branch off from the sub-
mains.

The distance apart between laterals will be modified by
the character of the subsoil, but consideration should be
given to the changing tendency of the subsoil to drain less

49

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

readily. Land that many years ago would drain fairly well
with the laterals 150 feet apart, will not now drain so well
with laterals 100 feet apart. As the humus becomes more and
more depleted the distance required between lateral strings
will be affected. Even where the humus has been fairly well
maintained a distance of four or five rods between laterals
has been found to be desirable. The size of the tile for the
lateral strings is not controlled by the amount of water to be
carried by them, usually, but by the “crack space’—the cracks
between tile—to let water enter, and by the ability to over-
come the accumulations of sediment. Five inch tile are most
desirable for laterals, though four-inch are more largely used,
and prove satisfactory for at least 40 years, as long as experi-
ence goes on Bois d’ Arc farm. A system of this kind, where
both the low and high ground is included, will provide thor-
ough drainage, and will cost not far from $20 an acre.

While tile drains laid deep in the ground will drain a
greater distance on each side, and this plan is frequently
recommended by drainage engineers, it is found that the soil
near tile not laid so deep is as well drained, stands drouth
better, and keeps in better physical condition. From 30 to
36 inches in depth has given the best satisfaction, one year
with another, though it requires that there be less distance
between strings, and consequently more tile.

Some advantages of thorough drainage are: a deeper
porosity of the soil, thereby extending more deeply the zone
of liberation of plant food; an encouragement of the bacterial
actions in the soil; more efficient results in all soil operations,
as plowing, disking and cultivating; the ability to work such
a soil at the right season, without being delayed by wet
places; a lack of germination of weed seeds; and economy of
labor.

Where water stands on a crop for any length of time,
there seems to be a deadening of the soil activities, and a
standstill in the growth of the crop for some time thereafter,
which is probably caused by the destruction of the soil bac-
teria, and the washing away of available plant food, certainly
of nitrates, so that the crop practically stands still in its
growth until more plant food becomes liberated. Such a loss
in the growth of a crop may mean the difference between a
poor crop and a good one.

Having to wait a few days longer after a heavy rain for
some wet spot in the field to dry up, may mean not only a
loss of time with the farm help, but it means several days’
start for the weeds or a loss of several days’ growth of the

50

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

crop. The seeds of some of the most common weeds require
excessive moisture conditions for their germination. Drain-
age is one of the greatest aids in overcoming weed injuries,
because of this lack of germination of the seeds, and because of
the greater ease with which they are destroyed in the process
of cultivation.

It is only on well drained fields that we can depend on
being able to do the early disking that is so efficient in pre-
venting certain insect injuries.

PLOWING.

No definite rules can be established as to the depth which
ground should be plowed, because it is affected by so many
different conditions. Probably the most valuable result of
plowing is to give aeration, which increases the bio-chemical
actions in the soil. A plowed and well pulverized soil gives
better opportunities for these activities, that are essential.

Another effect from plowing comes from the fact that a
loose, porus soil has a greater moisture holding capacity.
These facts are the foundation of the arguments of the advo-
cates of deep and subsoil plowing. Another fact that must be
taken into consideration in the same connection, is that the
root development does not take place so well in a soil that is
too porous and too loose. While the arguments for deep and
subsoil plowing are attractive, the results are frequently dis-
appointing. The conditions or combination of factors that
exist, may, however, greatly modify the results.

Another purpose of plowing is to get vegetable matter
into the soil, and again the depth to plow is modified by the
conditions. The conditions most liable to modify the results
from deep plowing are: the kind of season following, whether
wet or dry; the amount of humus in the soil, and especially
the humus in the subsoil; the character of the subsoil; and
the methods of tillage that follow. On land where clover has
been grown in rotation, and the subsurface and the subsoil kept
reasonably porous and loose from clover roots; and where
considerable vegetable matter is usually plowed under, the
experience on Bois d’ Arc farm has favored shallow plowing.

A number of years ago a subsoil plow was tried. A special
plow was made with a subsoil attachment, which would merely
lift and loosen from four to six inches below the turned furrow.
With this plow the soil was loosened to a depth of twelve to
fourteen inches. Twenty acres were also plowed with two
plows. One plow turned a furrow from nine to ten inches
deep, and the other plow, which had but a share and no mould-

51

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FRANK MANN’S ‘SOIL BOOK

board, followed in the furrow and lifted another ten to twelve
inches in depth. With these plows the soil was loosened to
a depth of from 18 to 20 inches. The crop results from all
this deep plowing was a disappointment, and it was several
years before this land got back to its normal productiveness.
Where no clover or deep rooting crop is grown, and there be
more or less of a “plow pan” formed; and on some kinds
of soil deep and subsoil plowing may be very desirable. It is
well to be conservative, however, and not change a method of
plowing except under a complete demonstration with compar-
able conditions.

The time of plowing is greatly modified by different con-
ditions. Where the soil contains much clay, and is not easily
pulverized when plowed in the spring, it is desirable to plow
in the fall, and let the freezing weather do the pulverizing.
Soils that run together again during the winter into a mass
as compact as before plowing will give better results when
plowed in the spring.

Early fall plowing, or plowing done in the late summer,
is to be commended only under certain conditions. When the
weather conditions are such that a growth of weeds or a
volunteer grain growth may develop, this may utilize the
plant food as it may become available, and through its decay,
turn it over to the following crop. When no such growth is
made during the time of fallow, much of the available plant
food is carried away in the drainage waters. When plowing
is done late in the fall the soil activities are at a minimum
thereafter, and the loss of plant food is less during the winter.
Another advantage of plowing late in the fall, is the effect on
certain insects. Those insects which establish themselves for
the winter above the plow line, are not likely to recover from
the disturbance and exposure to the elements.

DISKING.

The disk is the best tool on the farm, and if farming
had to be all done with one tool, that tool would be the disk.
It is the best tool ever invented to compact and pulverize soils,
and the main fault is that it is not used enough. There is a
constant tendency from disking to form a “plow pan,” which
should occasionally be broken up by deep rooting crops or
deeper plowing. In the hands of a careless man it is easy
to form ridges in loose ground with a disk, but ground can-be
disked as often as desired and kept level, if the disking is al-
ways done in the same directions, and “splitting the middles”

53

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

each time. A man who can drive a disk straight is worth more
wages than one who “runs amuck”’ in the field.

A disk on dry ground is valuable, but on wet ground is
an abomination. A rusty disk 1s not much good where soils
do not scour easily. A great aid in keeping disks and other
tools bright is to have handy a small pail of common black
lubricating oil and a paint brush.

CULTIVATION.

There are many different ideas and customs regarding
methods of cultivation; and before one departs far from es-
tablished customs it might be well to wait for positive demon-
strations. An understanding of certain conditions in the
growth of crops is essential in applying the best methods.
In the growth of a grain crop there is an enlargement of the
stalk, leaves and root systems until about the time the grain
commences to form, after which the enlargement ceases and
the growth is one of transference of plant food from the stalk
and leaves to the forming grain, and the formation of the
starchy portions of the grain. The ability to form the grain is
dependent somewhat on the extent to which the stalk has
been supercharged with the plant food, and at which time
the demand on the soil for plant food has been practically
completed. This indicates the importance of securing a strong
growth of plants during the early stages of development; and
this requires the largest possible root development. The best
development of a root system will occur when the full zone
of aerated soil is accessible to the roots, and the root system
will be diminished when too much of the root zone is kept too
dry and loose for root development. There is no question as
to the conservation of moisture by a dust mulch, but when the
mulch is to be made from that part of the soil that has re-
ceived the most aeration, and consequently has the greatest
amount of available plant food, it becomes a proposition of
whether the surface is worth the most for the plant food in
it, or to use as a mulch for the conservation of moisture.
Opinions and practices differ greatly, but the results at the
Illinois Experiment Station for 11 years, indicate that the
surface soil has more value when used for the plant food, than
when used as a mulch. Series of plots have been conducted
for 11 years. On one series, the surface has been scraped only
sufficiently to prevent the growth of weeds, and another series
has been given ordinarily thorough cultivation. The total
yield for 11 years on the scraped plots has been slightly larger
than on the cultivated plots for the same time.

54

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

Neither does it seem that deep early and shallow late
cultivation is the best, as the time when the crop needs most
what is in the soil, is in its early stages of growth, and any-
thing that tends to check or divert the root system does not
meet compensation later in the season.

Though results may be modified by conditions, experience
indicates that on ordinary land, the best results will be ob-
tained when only that part of the surface is used as a mulch
which would not be otherwise used by the roots because of
natural conditions.

; CORN.

After provision has been made for feeding a good crop,
then the details of the art of agriculture need skillful and intel-
ligent application. One of the most essential things is a proper
stand of corn. What constitutes a good stand of corn? It
depends. Corn should be planted with reference to the habits
it has formed. If corn has the habit of small stalks and a
large number of small ears, it should be planted with reference
to that habit. If it is some variety of sweet corn that has the
habit of heavy stooling, there may be a different standard for
a stand. If it is highly bred field corn, the amount required for
a stand should be adjusted to those habits which have been
more or less fixed by the breeder.

Breeding for Productiveness.

By selection certain habits can be developed in corn,
which can be used to advantage in increasing yields. There
are now many corn breeders who are growing corn with sys-
tematic reference to fixing certain characteristics or habits.
Some are using the ear-row method, where a large number of
ears are planted, each ear being given a row, and a few rows
selected each year that meet more nearly the conditions re-
quired by the standard established. Where this selection is
based on a certain type of ear, that type of ear is likely to be
approximated, and other characteristics lable to be lost. When
the basis of selection is only that of productiveness, uniformity
of type is lost, but productiveness is increased. That there
has been an increase in general field yields from selection for
productiveness, there isno doubt. The difference in field yields
when one part was planted with the mixed seed from high
yielding rows, and another part with seed from the low yield-
ing rows, has usually varied from one to five bushels per
acre, in favor of the high yielding seed. What total increase
may be accomplished from breeding for productiveness is
impossible to estimate, as there is no satisfactory basis for
long comparisons.

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rRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

Must of the corn breeders in the central corn belt are
breeding corn for productiveness, and the standard adopted
and the results secured indicate that planting corn with refer-
ence to the production of the largest number of one-pound
ears is the most satisfactory. In the northern part of the
corn belt a different standard may be required. Most of the
corn grown in the central belt has been bred with reference
to the production of pound ears, and for best results it should
be planted with reference to this fact. Corn should be grown
with reference to the latitude to which it has been adjusted,
and there should never be any violent changes made in the
latitude.

One-pound ears are none too large as a standard for
Central Illinois, and on well treated soil larger ears are safely
matured. One pound of corn for every hill, in ordinary plant-
ing, makes over 50 bushels per acre, and two one-pound ears
per hill makes over one hundred bushels per acre—a standard
high enough for the best soil. It might be noted here that in
the dry year of 1911, an acre of corn planted with just one
kernel to the hill. yielded 51 bushels, while the adjoining corn
planted two kernels to the hill yielded 57 bushels.

Testing and Grading.

If but two kernels per hill are to be planted it must be
with a strong assurance that they will grow. To test every
ear for germination is a good plan, but do not plant every
ear because it has germinated. Shell every ear by itself; give
it close examination, and unless it shows that bright lustre of
high life; or if it shows a poorly developed heart, throw it
out. Do not plant any ear that shows space at the:cob.

Give the corn planter a chance—grade the corn. If there
is much variation in size of kernels, grade the ears before
shelling, and look over the ears before shelling and throw out
the bad kernels with a knife. Take off the tip kernels down
to the normal grains. It is best to remove the butt kernels,
also, but it is not so material, as the grader will take out the
worst. Grade with any good grader, feeding it slowly enough
to do good work. It will not spoil the corn if it is graded more
than once. Fit the plates of the planter to the corn, and give
a test. Do not depend on a few drops in a drop test. Try
a thousand drops, and do not stop until you approximate 90
per cent perfect in a long drop test. When you commence
planting, again give the planter a chance. Drive steady, take
a gait that the team can keep. Lengthen the tugs—it will help
some to overcome the “horse motion” which gives an uneven

57

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

depth in the hills. Do not be in a hurry, take time to do it
right. If the ground was well plowed and disked properly
afterwards, the ground will be comparatively level, and every
hill may be planted at proper depth. If it has been ridged
when disking, or laid off in squares by disking both ways, or
holes left in plowing, some hills may be planted so deep they
will not grow, and other hills may be so shallow the corn can
not germinate.
Getting Ahead of the Insects.

To maintain a stand of corn against insects requires that
the ground be disked several times before planting time. If
the ground is disked in the spring often enough to keep all
weed growth down before it gets much above the surface,
those insects which require fresh vegetable growth for their
feed are practically all destroyed, either by starvation or from
the disturbance and exposure. This method has proven very
efficient against root aphis, cut worms, web worms and per-
haps others. In 1911 a strip used as a check against frequent
disking was damaged about one-half by web worms, while a
count of 10,000 hills of corn in the field that had been disked
four times at regular intervals showed not a single insect in-
jury. This frequent disking may not be possible on land that
is not thoroughly drained, or during a wet spring.

Feed the Squirrels and Birds.

To maintain a stand of corn against the enemies that live
above ground, it is best to feed them. Boil some shelled corn
and scatter on the surface of the field as soon as the corn is
planted, especially along the edges and sides next to grass
lands. A bushel will protect from 10 to 20 acres, and is much
cheaper feed for birds, squirrels, mice, etc., than seed corn.
As you do not want any of this scattered corn to grow, it is
necessary to give it considerable heat to kill the germ. If this
corn is mostly picked up or eaten before the planted corn
is out of their reach it is necessary to scatter some more.

When the early disking has been done, and a good disk
and smoothing harrow has been used immediately before the
planter, it is advisable to keep out of the corn field after plant-
ing until the corn is large enough to do a good job of cultivat-
ing. It is under these conditions, unnecessary, and to some
extent harmful, to run a weeder or harrow over corn when
sprouting or after it is up. The weeder may kill some weeds,
but there are enough left to require a good cultivation, and
some plants may~-be injured in the process so as to cause
freaks and malformations.

58

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

OATS.

While the soil is the most important factor in securing
good oat yields, there are other factors that need attention.
These are the quality of seed, the right amount of seed, and
the even distribution of the seed.

From the breeder’s standpoint ordinary oats are a badly
mixed lot of strains and characteristics, and cannot be con-
sidered as purebred. It is probable that some varieties, at
least, have within them an inferior strain, that develops as a
small oat, with inferior growth and yield, and that this inferior
strain can be, to some extent, removed by the fanning mill
method, or a screening out of the small oats. It cannot be
contended that oats can be bred into a pure strain through
any fanning mill selection, nor can any variety be modified
in its characteristics, except where such modification comes
from the elimination of some quality accompanying size.

Increasing Yields by Grading.

The first year that Silvermine oats were graded over a
sieve having about ten rectangular meshes per linear inch,
the loss through the sieve was about 60 per cent. The next
year, the loss was 50 per cent; the next year 40 per cent;
then 30 per cent; since which the loss varies from 20 to 25
per cent. Before. any grading of oats was done, a bushel con-
tained about 800,000 kernels. After five years of grading a
bushel of the same oats ungraded contained about 550,000
kernels, showing that there had been a gradual elimination of
some of the small oats. As the number of oats in a bushel had
been decreased, it was logical that more bushels of seed would
be required for a proper seeding. Some tests were made by
sowing different amounts of oraded seed in comparison with
the small rejected oats, with the following results:

SmallOats. * Karge Oats “Large Oats.

Seed, bushels per acre. ee 2y% 2%
Number of kernels per ene bate 1 625,000 1,000,000 1,500,000
Yield per acre, bushels.......... 35 65 80

The conclusion was drawn, and it has been confirmed by
later experience, that on good land, the best seeding is about
one and one-half million kernels of good oraded oats per
acre. This number may not be the best for all varieties and
for other conditions, but it is well worth a farmer’s time to
grade well his seed oats and ascertain by count what amount
of seed is best for his conditions. If there is no compensation
from the decrease in the number of kernels per bushel from
grading, by using more bushels for seed, the gain from grading

59

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FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

may be lost. It is not uncommon for some careless farmer
to use four bushels of seed oats per acre, of oats that will run
one million to the bushel, thus sowing about four million ker-
nels per acre. From any such seeding no reasonable growth
nor satisfactory yield is realized.

Use the Drill.
It is possible to secure rather even distribution both in
_ broadcasting and drilling, but it is easier and safer to depend
on the drill. Usually in broadcasted fields may be found
many small areas where the oats are much too thick, and
other areas where they are much too thin, and therefrom the
yield reduced in both cases. The drill, however, in the hands
of a careful man, measures out the grain uniformly, and it is
placed in the ground systematically, and at regular depth,
giving an even stand and a more uniform growth. It occa-
sionally happens that drilled oats yield less than broadcasted.
This is likely to be the case when too much seed is used in
both cases, and probably comes from the fact that more of
the oats grow when drilled, and they are thereby thicker than
the broadcasted.

Treatment for Smut.

A necessary requirement for good oat crops with most
varieties is that the seed be treated to destroy smut germs.
An investigation of a large number of oat fields showed that
from 5 per cent to 50 per cent of the stalks were blasted by
smut, while in fields where the seed had been treated, prac-
tically no smut was found. Though some varieties seem quite
resistant to this injury, there is probably no variety which it
will not pay to treat.

There are two methods of treatment of smut—the hot-
water method, and the formalin method. The hot-water
method has been found to be somewhat the most efficient,
but the difficulties attending its use makes the formalin
method the most desirable to use. Use one pound of 40 per
cent solution of formalin to about 40 gallons of water, and
with this water wet the oats quite thoroughly, constantly
mixing the oats with a shovel, so that all the oats receive
some of the water. When well wetted, pile up the oats and
cover with wet horse blankets, bags, or anything to prevent
the escape of the fumes from the solution. Leave covered
from 12 to 24 hours, when they may be spread out to dry, or
they may be sown at once, making allowance for any increase
in amount from swelling, if there be any. A thorough treat-
ment once in three or four years is usually sufficient.

61

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

The custom of growing very early oats or of seeding very
thin are different methods of adapting the oat crop to the
changing soil conditions, and the extreme of either method
will not yield the largest crop.

CLOVER.

For many years red clover has been grown on Bois d’ Arc
farm with but two failures, and these were due to grasshop-
pers. For a few years before the use of phosphate was com-
menced, it was becoming more difficult to get a good stand on
the higher and thinner parts of the fields, and some years
there was a partial failure in these places. The phosphate has
apparently ended the difficulty, unless the soil should become
acid. Heavy seedings have been the custom. When clover
was used alone the usual seeding was one bushel of seed to
four or five acres of ground. Later years, because the inocula-
tion was so thorough and the volunteer clover so abundant,
slightly smaller seedings have been the rule, though a bushel
of red clover, alsike clover and timothy mixed is usually
used for about six acres. Clover seeding is made with oats
or wheat. On the wheat it is sown early in the spring when
the soil is in that checkered condition it seems likely the seed
will become covered with the first rain. If this condition does
not obtain, then the wheat ground is harrowed or rolled after
seeding clover. When seeded with oats the seed is scattered
on the surface and harrowed in.

Producing Clover Seed.

The problems connected with the clover seed crop do
not seem to be well understood, and crops of only one or two
bushels are the rule. On.the higher land seed is produced in
fair yields, but on the lower and heavier ground, the yield is
very light. Clover tends more to being a perennial on such
soil, but whether from this reason it does not produce more
seed needs further study. Whether clover tends towards be-
ing a perennial because it does not produce seed, or whether it
does not produce seed because of the tendency toward becom-
ing a perennial is open to proof.

Some common causes of failure to secure clover seed crops
are insect injuries and lack of pollination. The midge, chal-
cid, and caterpillar are usually in most clover fields in great
abundance and are very destructive to the seed. The life
habits of these insects are well adapted to the life habits of
the clover, but depend on a good degree of maturity of the
clover. If the first crop of clover be cut before its maturity is

62

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

too far advanced and before the maturity of the first genera-
tion of insects that are within the heads or seeds, they are
largely destroyed, and the second generation, which does the
most damage, is reduced to a minimum.

On the other hand, those insects, especially the bumble
bee, which aid in the pollination of clover, also have life habits
which are adapted to the life history of the clover. Under
natural conditions, then, the insect pests will develop the first

generation in the mature first clover crop, and complete their

life history in time to deposit eggs for a largely increased gen-
eration in the second clover growth, at which time the bumble
bees are ready for work in the process of pollination. If
clover be forced too far from its regular life habits, it may be
made to avoid both the injurious and beneficial insects. If
the first crop be cut too early, this may avoid the insect pests,
but the second blooming period will come too early for bumble
bee work. No absolute date can be given when the first crop
should be cut to meet most favorable conditions in both propo-
sitions, but in the latitude of Central Illinois, this average
date is about June 15, though it varies with different seasons.

It is notable that better yields of clover seed are secured
from rather small fields than from large ones. This is prob-
ably accounted for from the reason that practically the same
number of pollinating insects are confined to the smaller areas
in their operations.

There are many species of bumble bees and with different
habits as to maturity, nesting, etc. Those that nest in trees,
and similar places, above ground, mature earlier than those
species which nest in the ground. This may partly account
for better yields of clover seed in timbered areas. Honey
bees also work on clover to some extent, more especially on
the lighter soils where the clover is not so rank and the
flowers not so large as on the richer land. Whether bumble
bees are necessary for clover pollination is frequently ques-
tioned, but observation will indicate a correlation between the
two.

CROP ROTATION.

A crop rotation is desirable for many reasons, and is
essential for some of these reasons. A rotation permits the
growth of legume crops by which nitrogen and vegetable mat-
ter are added to the soil; it utilizes different root zones of the
soil; it may include gleaning or cultivated crops; it tends to
avoid insect pests; it provides for a better distribution of labor
in growing, harvesting and marketing crops.

63

64

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The most imperative of all the results that can be accom-
plished by a rotation, is that of the addition of nitrogen and
vegetable matter from legume crops, and this also meets to a
large extent those cther things that are accomplished by rota-
tion. Any rotation used should be adopted with the dominant
idea of the legume crop.

The period cf the rotation will depend on the soil require-
ments. Where nitrogen and vegetable matter are very defi-
cient a short rotation is necessary. Mr. A. P. Schroeder has
had excellent results on the poor unglaciated hill land of
Pulaski county, in a four-year rotation of corn, cowpeas,
wheat and clover, with both legume crops left on the land
and plowed under with mineral treatments. Though this ro-
tation has not been run many years, his average yields of grain
are exceeding the average yields of the dark prairie corn belt.

Where the soil is not extremely deficient in nitrogen or
vegetable matter, a three-year rotation is a good one, consist-
ing of a cultivated grain crop, a small grain crop and the
legume crop—corn, oats (or wheat) and clover. On the bet-
ter corn belt land where nitrogen is not much deficient, but
where the vegetable matter in the soil is so far decayed as to
have insufficient activity of decomposition, and where the
principal effort is to maintain and not largely increase the
nitrogen, a four-year rotation will serve quite well until too
much further depletion has taken place. On drained land,
where the danger of heaving is not too great, a rotation of corn,
oats, wheat and clover is a good one. A less desirable rotation
is one of corn, corn, oats and clover, but nitrogen cannot be
maintained by these rotations. On land which is not too rich
in nitrogen the modified Norfolk rotation of wheat, corn, oats
ane clover will be better, clover being seeded with the wheat
and plowed under for corn.

Whether the nitrogen is maintained or increased in any
rotation will dernend somewhat on the size of the legume crops,
and the yield c che grain crops; and it should be the effort to
adopt such rotation as will adjust the amount of nitrogen
added by the legume crops to the amount of nitrogen taken
out in the grain crops.

It should be well understood that no rotation in itself can
maintain fertility because it cannot provide for any addition
to the supply of mineral elements. If larger crops are grown
under a rotation, greater drafts are made on the supply of
minerals ard soil depletion may go on faster because of the
rotation.

65

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

WEEDS.

While weeds may serve a good purpose in conserving
available plant food at a time when the ground would be other-
wise idle, no effort should be spared to fight the pests. Weeds
vary in their habits, so that some species become much more
noxious than other, but they are all weeds. Those that propa-
gate by means of the underground rootstocks are the most
difficult to control, but a general principle can be applied to
all, regardless of any special habit. It is this, that if no
growth is permitted above ground, the root system must
perish. The application of this principle permits of various
methods, though in large areas it may be difficult of applica-
tion. If a patch of Canada thistles can be deprived of all leaf
growth, with a hoe or otherwise, once a week for two years,
it will be practically destroyed.

One of the best aids in successfully fighting some of the
perennials, and many of the annuals, is good underdrainage,
as this interferes somewhat with seed germination and growth,
and helps in the destruction by cultivation.

Weeds have wonderful powers of reproduction. A good
crop of oats will yield about 25 to one; wheat 20 to one; corn
may give 1,000 to one; but a single plant of Jimson weed has
been known to produce 151,000 to one; button weed, 1,500 to
one; wild lettuce 15,000 to one; purslane 1,250,000 to one;
pigweed 2,359,000 to one.

There is no better place for a good sharp hoe than in the
corn field after the last cultivation, and before weeds ripen.
Keep the hoe sharp, and let some of the latent savage instincts
of destruction have full sway. It will be a big undertaking for
a few years on fields where weeds have had nearly full posses-
sion for many years, even where good cultivation has been
given, and it will take years to accomplish very much towards
their permanent elimination.

LIVESTOCK AND GRAIN FARMING.

No doubt in the near future there will be need for the
production of more livestock. Whether that need will be
met by increasing the production on that land which for one
reason or another is not favorable for the production of grain;
or whether it be met by using good grain lands for the pur-
pose, is a problem that will be settled by experience. Whether
a farm composed of good grain land should be used as a live-
stock farm, which means the breeding, rearing and feeding of
animals, or whether it should be used for the production of

66

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

grain, should be determined by all the factors that enter into
it, the chief factor being the man himself.

From the standpoint of soil fertility, any decision should
consider certain facts that pertain to the problem. As a gen-
eral average, animals appropriate one-fourth of the nitrogen
in the feed for body uses, and as generally handled, another
fourth is lost in the manure.

The organic matter in manure is the complement of the
digestibility of the feed. Average digestibility of feed is about
two-thirds, leaving one-third of the organic matter in the
manure. Bedding used with manure is just as valuable to be
returned to the soil in the form of straw, so far as the straw is
concerned, as it is with manure. The manure has added noth-
ing to it but manure. Notwithstanding these losses, where all
the grain produced is also fed, the nitrogen and organic mat-
ter can be fairly well maintained or increased. Phosphorus
must be supplied to compensate for that taken away in the
bones of animals or their other products. In mixed farming
where the legumes are all fed with only a small proportion of
the grain, even where the manure is quite carefully saved, it
seems that fully twice as many legume crops must be grown,
than where the legume crops are plowed under, and nothing
removed but the seed, in order to maintain nitrogen and
organic matter, and it also requires that more phosphorus be
applied.

Land may be so poor in nitrogen and organic matter that
it is more profitable to grow frequent legume crops and turn
them under than to feed stock, when the desire is to rapidly
build up such a soil. In fact, it would seem that the richest
land is the land that can best be used for the purpose of a
stock farm, except such land as can not be used for any other
purpose.

WHAT TO DO WITH THE CORN STALKS.

The use of corn stalks for feeding purposes involves more
hard, disagreeable and less profitable work than any other
method of feeding. Where the whole crop is fed in a natural
condition for the primary purpose of the grain, with stalks for
incidental roughage, and the crop harvested and handled in
some economical manner, it may prove a fairly satisfactory
method of feeding. Where the corn is husked and the stover
is fed in a natural condition as a substitute for hay, it involves
much disagreeable and hard work, in husking the corn, haul-
ing the fodder and returning the manure to the field. There is
probably no job that is more disagreeable than handling

67

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FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

manure made from long corn fodder. The use of machinery
to‘husk the corn and shred the fodder is not likely to lessen
the expense very materially. Shredded fodder has a high
tendency to heat and spoil, and usually it is not safe to pile
up much of it before late in November, and even after that
time it rarely keeps well in large quantities. By the time it
is usually safe to shred corn the days are short, and it is likely
the shocks are either frozen in the ground and covered with
snow, or the fields are wet and soft, and the operations are
slow and expensive; and the shredded fodder is dirty and
gritty.

When we consider that the feeding value of two to three
acres of average corn stover is less than one ton of alfalfa hay,
and not considering the loss that comes from the shrinkage in
the corn, nor the value of the undigested fodder as humus; it
would seem that alfalfa would entirely supersede corn fodder
for stock feeding. Especially so since more feeding value can
be produced on one acre of alfalfa than on 10 acres of corn
stover, and the labor and expense involved is much less.

Advantages of Silage.

The use of the corn crop in the form of silage meets every
objection that has been used against the feeding of fodder.
The work is done at a time when economical work can be
done; the bio-chemical changes that take place in the silo in-
crease the palatability and digestibility ot the feed); the feed: 1s
easily accessible at all times, and is easy to handle both as a
feed and in the manure. One great value of silage is as a
supplement to summer pasture, and when there is not enough
to feed the whole year it usually pays to feed less in the winter
in order to have some for summer feeding. Cows trained to
it will never get so full of anything else that they will not eat
ensilage.

The Pearl pop corn has been used for silage for a number
oi years on Bois d* Arc farm, and is a favorite. It yields
nearly as much silage as field corn, with about the same pro-
portion of grain, and is more easily handled both in the field
and by the machinery, and there is somewhat less waste in
feeding, as compared to large stalks of field corn.

ALFALFA.
Alfalfa has been grown on Bois d’ Arc farm for 11 years,
with an average annual yield of 5 tons per acre. It has been

demonstrated-in that time that successful growing depends
on soil inoculation; a sweet soil, or the soil sweetened with

69

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

limestone; and good natural drainage. Alfalfa may grow
without inoculation and on an acid soil, but the growth will
only be so much as the soil nitrogen will produce, and when
more nitrogen is required for growth, if it cannot be secured
through the action of the nitrogen-gathering bacteria, the
alfalfa plants will perish.

Alfalfa is a heavy user of phosphorus, and before the
alfalfa field is plowed up for other crops, it should be given a
heavy application of phosphate. Alfalfa does not injure the
soil for other crops, as can be seen from results given in an-
other place.

The day has gone by when the dairyman and stock grower
can realize much profits from the old methods of feeding prin-
cipally the corn crop, supplemented by some high priced
protein mill feed. He has at hand a system that will prove
far more profitable by growing protein in alfalfa and using
the corn crop as silage.

ROTTEN CORN.

Because of the great amount of corn grown and the length
of time it has been grown, it is remarkable that there has not
been some insect pest developed that would be as disastrous
to the corn crop as are some of the pests to other crops. Most
of the insect pests of corn that we have are quite readily con-
trolled by easily applied methods, due to the diligent study of
the problems by the entomologists. A disastrous enemy to
corn which has existed for many years, and which is becoming
more prevalent and injurious as the years go on, is the dry rot
of corn. It is possible that this trouble may in the future
prove a much greater handicap to both the yield and quality
of corn. It is well understood that the disease is caused by
fungi of the Diplodia and Fusarium species, with occasionally
some bacterial injury. When the disease attacks the ear
early in its period of growth, there is likely to be an unde-
veloped ear, and sometimes but little more than a cob. At
husking time ears are found that were arrested in growth at
all stages of development. Some ears show but slight progress
of the disease and that the ear almost reached full maturity.
Some ears show but a slight infection, as shown by the dis-
colored cob at either the butt or tip end, according as to
whether the infection came from the shank or silks. Though
there may be many ears where the mould has apparently de-
stroyed the whole ear, and its appearance is only a bunch of
mould, probably the greatest loss comes from the shrinkage in
weight and quality of those ears which do not show much
mould.

70

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

The habit of the fungus is to extend the mycelium (roots)
throughout the growth, especially the grain, and abstract there-
from the nitrogenous matter, leaving the starch. Thus in
consuming the most vital parts of the kernel, any ear that has
the slightest infection, as shown by a discolored cob, is unfit
for seed purposes. An infected ear is rarely a mature ear.
It may have the general appearance of perfect maturity, but
the soft and spongy cob will show otherwise. Whether the
disease is the cause of immaturity; or whether the lack of
maturity is the cause of the disease, is open to proof for either
contention. It is a fact that the diseased ears are not mature,
and that very few immature ears are free from some degree of
infection.

It is generally considered that the dry rotten corn was
due to some condition of the weather: that a humid atmos-
phere and high temperature were responsible for the trouble.
But the season of 1911 was the driest for many years; when
there were but few humid days, and no heavy rainfall through-
out the growing season, and there is more rot in corn than
ever before. While the nature and technical causes of the
disease responsible for rotten corn have been studied, not
much effort has been made towards learning the measures of
resistance. It does not seem to be due to constitutional
reasons, as several years breeding seems to have but little
effect against it. Observation and definite information secured
for several years show that the disease is influenced by a bet-
ter balance in the supply of the elements of plant food. It
has been noticed that the rotten corn is more abundant when
corn is grown on clover sod, where nitrogen was likely to be
in excessive amounts as compared to other elements. This
does not, however, conform to the belief that the corn stalks,
etc., of the previous year are necessary sources of infec-
tion.

When a high nitrogen soil content is even partially bal-
anced with phosphorus the effect on the disease is material.
Several hundred hills from clover sod where no phosphorus
had been applied, were examined with reference to infected
ears, and all ears showing any infection, even to a stained
cob, were counted; an equal number of hills was examined
from a nearby part of the same field, to which one ton of phos-
phate had been added. No corn had been grown in this field
for four years previous. From the untreated ground the corn
that showed more or less of the disease was 40 per cent of
the crop; from the treated ground the infected corn was but
15 per cent of the crop.

71

FIG. 20—WHEAT ON UNTREATED LAND, 35 BU. PER ACRE.
TREATED WITH ONE TON ROCK PHOSPHATE,, 50 BU.
TREATED WITH 1% TON PHOSPHATE, 521% BU.

72

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

Corn having the dry rot has been fed more or less for
years without any apparent injury to any kind of stock, but
it has always been fed in connection with some highly nutri-
tious and nitrogenous food. When the fungus has quite fully
developed there remains but little of anything but the starch,
and such corn makes a ration so far out of balance for animals,
as to be a probable cause for numerous ailments. Such ail-
ments should not be confused with the regular corn stalk dis-
ease, which probably is bacterial, and is not caused by the
grain.

SUGAR BEETS.

Good crops of sugar beets have been grown on Bois d’ Are
farm, and there is no question as to the ability of the soil to
produce good crops of beets having a high sugar content.
Growing sugar beets is essentially a labor proposition. Much
of the labor required is due to the pernicious activity of that
most abundant weed of the corn belt—the crab-grass. In
regions where this weed abounds and where labor is also
scarce, there is nothing in sugar-beet culture that commends
itself to corn belt farmers.

Extravagant claims are sometimes made as to the effect
of beets on soil fertility; that as sugar is only “wind and
water” no draft is made on soil elements in its production.
It is true that sugar contains no fertilizing elements, and
where only the sugar is marketed and all residues left on the
farm, as is the case on some of the German estates, no fertility
leaves the farm, though there may be losses of fertilizing ele-
ments from feeding and handling. The case is different, how-
ever, when the beets are shipped to a factory and the residues
not returned to the land, as an average crop of sugar beets
will remove as much of the elements of fertility from the soil
as an average crop of corn.

_ It is also claimed that part of the compensation of grow-
ing sugar beets is realized in other crops that follow the beets.
No doubt sugar beet ground is in fine physical condition for
other crops. Probably most of this is due to the late fall
plowing that is necessary in digging the beets, as well as to
that part of the deep root system that remains in the ground.
The beets themselves have no power to add any elements of
fertility. It does not seem that any benefit that could accrue
from a sugar beet crop to succeeding crops, would not also
more largely accrue from a clover crop; and the clover crop
would also have a further advantage of supplying nitrogen.

73

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN.

There is nothing from which so much might be gained in
the way of health and economy, that is so much neglected as
the farmer’s vegetable garden. Much of this neglect is prob-
ably because the soil of the garden is in bad physical condition
and works up soggy and cloddy; and it is also often the
weediest spot on the farm. Such a condition requires so
much hard work to grow a little poor garden stuff that it is
easier to let most of the garden go by default.

If the garden be divided into two or three parts, and one
part be used for the garden and the other parts be seeded to
clover, and thereafter the garden portion be rotated with the
clover portion, more and better garden stuff could be grown
with very much less work. On most soils, if the clover por-
tion be plowed late in the fall it would provide the proverbial
“ash heap” for a garden by spring. While in clover, as much
manure may be applied as is desired and the trash will not
be a nuisance by the time that portion becomes the garden
part.

Concentrate the garden by planting the rows close to-
gether, say, an average of 12 inches apaft, sandwiching the
rows of small early stuff between rows of larger and later
articles. When the garden is planted, sharpen the hoe well
and hang it up, and get the hand wheel cultivator, with which
nearly every weed can be kept down. An hour or so every
week on clover sod will keep every weed out of a garden large
enough for a large family. It is best to plant those things
grown in larger quantities, as potatoes, or that occupy much
ground, as pumpkins, in some other place where they can be
cared for with horse tools.

BOIS d@’ ARC WOOD.

No one knows the durability of the osage or Bois d@’ Arc
wood. Hedge stakes that measured less than one and one-
half inches in diameter, set in the ground in 1868 for grape
stakes, have stood in a blue grass sod for many years, and are
now apparently as sound as ever. Wagon wheels made of osage
in 1866 are still in use, though having worn out two sets of
tires, nor did the tires need resetting until worn thin. As
posts, it is not possible to speculate as to the durability of this
wood.

Where no conditions would tend to prevent it there may
be some profit in permitting the old hedge rows to grow for
posts. If the roots are quite well established ten years’ growth
will make very satisfactory posts. If the cutting should give

74

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

1,600 posts from an eighty rod row, at a price of 20 cents each,
and calculating the hedge row to occupy two rods wide, the
returns, exclusive of labor, would be $320 for one acre for ten
years, or $32 per acre annually. These figures may be ad-
justed to different conditions, and there will remain fair pros-
pective profits. Osage posts have no competitor for dura-
bility except the cement post.

To grow good posts in a hedge row, the hedge should be
permitted to grow for several years without any trimming,
or until the posts have grown straight and are strong enough
not to bend over under the weight of the top. After this, the
row should be kept trimmed on the sides, and the crooked and
undesirable stakes cut out. When the row is made up into
posts it is a good plan to throw the posts into a pond of
water and leave them there for a few months to let them water
cure. If so cured they are not eaten by borers, nor injured by
check cracking, and the staples hold better.

A wonderful demonstration in post growing is being con-
ducted by Hon. A. N. Abbott, on his farm in Whiteside Co.,
Ill. He is growing large areas of black locust trees on some
dune sand that is too poor to grow anything but legumes.
The locust being a legume secures its own nitrogen, and is
proving a valuable crop on the poor sand.

FARM LABOR.

This is not intended to be any solution for the scarcity of
competent farm labor, which is due to some wide economi:
conditions that cannot be solved so easily. There is need
of competent labor to be transferred from the cities to the
country, and only such as can be termed good is wanted, nor
will any other succeed. But this class of workers in the city
have been accustomed to business hours and business habits,
and can see nothing attractive in farm life, where during the
hired man season, every thing is hurried from sun up till sun-
down, as it once was. To work from dark to dark is not busi-
ness, nor does it pay. Neither men nor horses can stand it
if good work is to be done all the time. In a day of nine
or ten hours in the field, with but few chores to do before and
after, men and teams will accomplish more good work, and
the men can feel like human beings, and the horses can feel
their oats. If more brains were put in the business there
would be less need for muscle and such long hours.

75

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GETTING RID OF GRASSHOPPERS.

Reprinted From Prairie Farmer, September 1, 1911.

What would you consider a good yield of grasshoppers
per acre?

Most central western farmers are getting a good deal
larger yield this year than they would like, but few have taken
the trouble to harvest them. Frank I. Mann of Gilman, IIL,
believing that there is no good grasshopper but a dead grass-
hopper, recently harvested and buried a large share of his
hopper crop. In fact, things had about come to the point
where it was necessary to harvest the grasshoppers or have
nothing else to harvest. A 55-acre clover field that was being
saved for seed looked as if it would all have to go for grass-
hopper pasture. In the alfalfa field the hoppers did not even
give the buds a chance to unfold, but ate them off as fast as
they appeared. Another week would have finished the alfalfa
plants entirely.

This was the condition when Mr. Mann started his grass-
hopper harvest. The result of that harvest was 50 bushels of
hoppers from the 55-acre clover field, and 10 bushels from the
20-acre alfalfa field. The total yield of hoppers was nearly
a bushel to the acre on the clover field and half a bushel on
the alfalfa.

How to Make a Hopperdozer.

Mr. Mann’s grasshopper harvester, or hopperdozer, is
built as follows: The front of the machine is a pole about
18 feet long. Extending back from this at each end and in
the middle is a runner about three feet long. A platform is
built on these runners. Just behind the front pole are placed
a number of galvanized iron pans, about four inches deep.
The pans altogether are 16 feet long and about 2 feet wide.
Behind these pans, and at each end, is a four-foot backstop of
galvanized iron. This backstop slopes forward somewhat.
Two or three inches of water is placed in the pans, with a
thin film of kerosene on top. The object of having small
pans instead of one large one is to keep the liquid from run-
ning to one end or splashing out. A horse or team is hitched
to each end of the pole and the grasshopper harvester drawn
through the clover or alfalfa field.

The best time to harvest hoppers is on a warm sunshiny
day, as they will not hop well in cold or damp weather.
When the hoppers are disturbed by the approach of the
machine they hop in whichever direction they happen to be
headed. About half of them will jump backward, hit the

77

WUVA SNNVW MNVUYT NO SYAddOHSSVAD

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FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

backstop, and fall into the pans. A few of them will hop out
again, but they never survive their kerosene bath. Those
that hop ahead are caught later.

In some cases one trip over the field will reduce the hop-
pers enough so that they will do little further damage.
Sometimes it may be necessary to go over parts of the field
again. The hoppers congregate where the clover is thickest,
so that often this is the only part of the field that needs to
be gone over. With a team on each end of the machine 20
acres of hoppers can be harvested in a day. Aside from the
labor the only expense will be the cost of about five gallons
of kerosene.

Within two weeks after the grasshopper harvest Mr.
Mann’s alfalfa grew eight inches, and his clover recovered
enough to make considerable seed. It is only occasionally
that grasshoppers are plentiful enough to do any great amount
of damage. The common red-legged grasshopper is subject
to fungus diseases and insect parasites that usually keep it in
check, but occasionally they get the start of these enemies,
with disastrous results to crops.

The Grasshopper’s Life History.

A word in regard to the life history of the grasshopper
may be of interest. The female hoppers lay their eggs in
September, always choosing hard ground, such as meadows,
pastures or fence rows. They bore round holes in the eround
with their abdomen, laying a mass of eggs in the hole. The
eggs are encased in a layer of mucus, which protects them.
It takes the female hopper three or four hours to deposit a
single mass of eggs. Ordinarily each female will deposit from
two to four such masses. None of the adult hoppers live
through the winter. The eggs hatch in early midsummer.
The small hopper, or nymph, is much like the adult insect in
form. The skin or outer covering of the little hopper is hard
and cannot expand. The little fellow grows until he cannot
pack himself any more tightly into his skin. Then the skin
splits open, and the hopper grows to almost double his former
size ina few moments. His skin soon hardens again, and the
growing and molting process is repeated. The hopper passes
through five successive molts before it is full grown and
develops its wings. The red-legged grasshopper is not migra-
tory like the Rocky Mountain locust that sometimes does so
much damage in the west.

Disking alfalfa or pasture ground in the fall will break
up the egg masses and expose them to birds and other ene-

79

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OI

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

mies. Grasshoppers are so seldom troublesome, however,
that the best method of handling them is to harvest them with
a hopperdozer when they become so thick as to do much dam-
age.

A HOME-MADE PHOSPHATE SPREADER.

By Frank I. Mann.
Reprinted From Prairie Farmer, September 1, 1911.

The following is a bill of material and details of different
parts for a machine for distributing fertilizers. By having
the different iron parts made at a blacksmith shop, any one
with a few tools can make the wood parts and assemble all
the parts into a machine. This is for a machine that will
spread eight feet wide, and is taken from a machine that has
been used quite successfully for several years. A wider
machine can be made on the same general plan, but the swing
on wider machines makes the extra width of doubtful value.

The Materials Necessary.

Bill of material—2 1-in.x10-in.x10-ft. boards; 2 1-in.x12-in.
x10-ft. boards; 3 4x4x8-ft. 8-in.; 2 4x4x44-in.; 1 4x4x3-ft. 6-in.,
hardwood ; 2 2x4x4-ft. 2-in.; 114-1n. square shaft 7 ft. 2 in. long;
4 yxl-in. iron 7 ft. 10 in.; 20 ft. 4x1 in. strap iron; heavy
sheet iron 7 in.x8 ft.; heavy sheet iron 3 in.x8 ft. 6 in.; 24%4x34x
Sit. 6 in. strap iron; 1 piece wagon tire 4 ft; 1 5-16 in.xé@ ft.
round iron; mower wheels with ratchet and shaft; disc trucks.

Iron work—Weld piece of round mower shaft to each end
of square 1¥% in. shaft, so that no more than 7 ft. 10 in. is left
square; put on mower wheels so that the hub containing hole
to rivet to shaft is on the outside or next to end of shaft; set
wheels so the distance between inside hubs is 8 ft. 9 in.; drill
hole in shaft to match hole in hub of wheel, having each
wheel equally distant from square part of shaft.

Just How to Make the Parts.

Make 16 pieces out of %4xl-in. iron; each piece 4 in. long,
distance between centers of holes 3!% in., with holes 5-16-in. ;
shoulders to be 114 in. apart and 3-8 in. deep to fit on square
shaft in pairs with % in. strap between. Drill 5-16-in. holes
in two 4x7 ft. 9 in. straps 3 in. from each end, and two holes
equally distant between.

In the other pair of 4x7 ft. 9-in. straps drill holes 4% in.
from each end, with two holes equally distant between. Put
clamps on shaft and bolt on straps with 5-16 in. bolts, 1% in.
long.

81

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

Make hopper box 22 in. high, 5 in. inside at bottom and
2 ft. wide on top. In each end bore hole for shaft to center
2% in. from bottom of hopper. One end of hopper should be
bolted into place or temporarily nailed, as shaft with reel must
be put in place before end is fastened permanently.

Construction of the Hopper.

The bottom of hopper and slide make of the sheet iron
pieces. The sheet iron 7 in.x8 ft. should be heavy, even up to
3-16 in. thick, but the 3-in. piece need not be so heavy.

For temporary purposes rivet the two pieces together,
the narrow piece in the middle of the wider, and even at one
end. Mark out for holes about 8 in. between centers, with end
holes 4 in. from each end of hopper box.

With a 1-in. drill drill two holes as close together as pos-
sible, then chisel and rasp out till there is a smooth hole 1 in.x2
in., the length of the hole being with the length of the hopper.
Separate the two pieces of sheet iron and drill a few screw
holes in the edge of the wider piece, and fasten to the bottom
of the hopper box with screws.

On each side of the bottom is fastened a strip of wood
7% in.x34 in., fastening with nails through the screw holes
into the side of the hopper box. These two pieces should be
just far enough apart to leave room for the cut-off slide.
Four pair of straps similar to wagon box straps 2 ft. long,
rounded and threaded about 2 in. at one end, should be bent
to fit the hopper, extending an inch below the bottom piece.

Four pieces made from old wagon tire, with 2'%-in. holes
7 in. apart, with a piece % in.x3 in. riveted to the middle. This
piece should fit on the box straps, and will be the support of
the cut-off slide.

The cut-off slide should be reinforced by riveting on each
edge 14x34 in. iron strap; 3 ft. 4 in. from left end is riveted
a piece of iron that will project forward past the box about
2 in.

Hard Wood for the Shaft Boxes.

A partial partition can be placed about the middle of the
box, and rods made of 5-16 in. iron can be put at each end
and in the middle to hold box well together and SO make more
substantial.

Boxing for shaft can be made of any hardwood, but osage
is the best. Make boxes about 4x4x1 ft. Bore hole to fit
shaft and fasten the boxing temporarily to each end of hopper
box, having hole in boxing match hole in hopper. Bolt 4x4x
44-in. on boxing to extend 4 in. to rear of hopper, and bolt
hopper box to this 4x4.

82

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

Fit and bolt 4x4 on rear of hopper, and also on front, but
first cut a place for lever 42 inches from left end about 6 in.
wide and 1 in. deep. Complete frame by bolting 4x4 on front
end of the side 4x4’s and bolt hardwood stub tongue in middle
of frame, and using the 2x4’s for braces to each end of box.
Attach common disc truck to stub tongue. Make hand lever
from wagon tire, 3 ft. long with rounded handle at one end
and fork at other end to fit gudgeon on cut-off slide; drill hole
13 in. from fork end and fasten lever with bolt through 4x4
frame at notch in same.

A 10-in. board nailed on front side of top of hopper can be
used by driver. A piece of sheet iron can be notched and
fastened on top as a guide to the lever.

Capacity of the Machine.

When wide open this machine will spread one ton per
acre, and when half open will spread 1,000 pounds phosphate
per acre. However, the amount spread varies somewhat with
fineness of orinding, speed of horses, manner of handling ma-
terial, etc.

Enough material should be kept in the machine all the
time to keep reel covered. It 1s necessary sometimes to re-
move the cut-off slide and clean out the material that works
mabetween. the slide and bottom of box. If it is desired to
spread more than one ton per acre, the holes can be increased
in length. Four in. holes will spread about three tons per
acre.

After reading the foregoing directions, Dr. Cyril G. Hop-
kins of the University of Illinois makes two suggestions. One
of these is that the machine should be made to cover a strip
8 feet 3 inches wide, which is exactly one-half a rod, so that
one round on a half-mile land, or two rounds on an 80-rod land
covers exactly one acre. It may be that Mr. Mann counts
that his machine, although made only 8 feet in length, will
really spread phosphate over 8 feet 3 inches. It is a minor
point, but it is very satisfactory to the farmer to have every-
thing made so it helps him to measure the acres as he covers
them. ;
The other point is to make the directions such that the
machine will be made with the holes large enough so that it
can be set to sow three tons instead of only one ton. There
would be no disadvantage in having the machine made to have
a large capacity and adjustable, as it is, for any smaller capa-
city.

83

ON BOIS d’ARC FARM.

24—A CORN HUSKING PARTY

FIG.

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

SCIENTIFIC FARMING ON FRANK MANN’S FARM.

‘ Reprinted from Prairie Farmer, August 1, 1911.

Frank J. Mann’s farm at Gilman, Illinois, is no place for a
pessimist. The sight of the crops that are growing there
would be too much for him. Like the pessimist in the story,
he would have to fall back on the argument that such crops
are “powerful hard on the soil.” That is just what Mr. Mann
has foreseen and provided for, however, and therein lies the
secret of his success.

Thirty-two years ago Mr. Mann started farming on 500
acres of what was then almost virgin prairie. Two years later
he began a regular four-year rotation of corn, oats and clover,
which he has followed as closely as possible ever since.

Mann has Tried Everything.

To use his own words, he “has tried everything in the art
of farming—deep plowing and shallow plowing, double discing
and late cultivation and every other method of soil handling
that might have an effect on the yields.” Still he was unable
to get the yields up to a point that satished him, for like Julius
Cesar, he was ambitious. Even the manure from his dairy
herd did not bring the desired results, although it helped in
that direction.

Something was lacking, and Mr. Mann, who by the way,
is a graduate of the University of Illinois, and goes at his
problems as scientifically as a skilled physician or a railway
president, began to inquire what it was. As a result of these
inquiries he began to apply ground rock phosphate and his
yields have been going up ever since. Where they will stop it
is impossible to predict.

One Limiting Factor.

There is always at least one factor that is limiting the
yield of farm crops. Mr. Mann makes it his business to dis-
cover and eliminate that factor so far as possible. At first the
limiting factor was phosphorus. He plans to treat each field
with four tons of phosphate rock to the acre just as fast as he
can make the rounds. He figures that this will take care of
the phosphorus supply for many years to come with ocasional
slight additions. This treatment will cost about $30 per acre—
add that much to the cost of his farm, in other words. To
return 5 per cent interest on this additional value will require
no more than 4 bushels of corn or two of wheat per acre per
year. This year a part of the wheat field that had been left
untreated yielded 17 bushels less than the treated part. As

85

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FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

time goes on the difference will become greater, as the phos-
phorus supply of the untreated acre grows less.

Cost of Fertility Small.

After the four tons of phosphate rock per acre are added,
one cent for each bushel of wheat sold and half a cent for each
bushel of corn will maintain the phosphorus supply. Clover
and manure, and to some extent alfalfa, supply the nitrogen
and organic matter. A little ground limestone ocasionally
will keep the soil sweet. The best of cultivation is used to
make this fertility available. This cultivation, which begins
early in the spring, and lasts, in the case of corn, until late in
August, when conditions demand it, also helps a great deal to
conserve moisture. Moisture is the limiting factor in a great
many fields this year. On July 8, when many neighboring
fields were firing badly, Mr. Mann’s corn showed very little
damage. This notwithstanding the fact that it was almost
twice as big as much of the surrounding corn, and hence had
used twice as much moisture. The corn ground is often disced
half a dozen times before planting time. After the corn is
too big to straddle, one-horse cultivators are kept going be-
tween the rows until after the corn is eared out. Any weeds
that escape this severe treatment are chased down by men
with hoes, as Mr. Mann does not believing in sharing his plant
food and moisture with weeds.

Corn Breeding Plots.

With an abundance of readily available plant food the
limiting factor often becomes the yielding ability of the par-
ticular variety of seed that is used. The remedy for this is
scientific breeding. Mr. Mann maintains 96 ear-rows by which
to select high yielding varieties of corn. “I do not consider
anything but the yield,” he says. “If nature can produce more
corn on a tall stalk than on a short one, or more with a broad
kernel than with a deep one, I’m going to let her do it.”

Mr. Mann is modest when it comes to speaking of yields.
The phosphate treatment has increased his corn yields 15
bushels per acre, his oat yields 20 bushels and his clover one
ton. Last year his best treated corn field yielded 87 bushels
per acre, and this season he obtained an average wheat yield
of over 52 bushels from 7% acres.

The Result of Science.
But, after all, it is not large yields that make Mr. Mann’s
work remarkable. Other men by one means or another have

87

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now and then obtained yields as large. The results which Mr.
Mann has achieved are remarkable because they come as the
result of scientific study. “I am satisfied that I could take
almost any farm in the state and by studying the soil and
giving it the proper treatment build it up to the same point,”
he says.

This is the new idea in agriculture—the Illinois idea, we
might say, for nowhere else has it been promoted so persist-
ently as in Illinois, and nowhere else are the farmers taking
hold of it so enthusiastically. Vo prepare and handle soil and
seed so as to produce three or four times average yields, to do
it continually year after year, and to make the soil more
fertile in the process—this 1s an agricultural ideal worth work-
ing toward, an ideal that agricultural nations all through his-
tory have been struggling to reach. This is the significance
of the work of Mr. Mann and of the other farmers in the state
who are working along similar lines.

89

AW Ol ble

FRANK MANN’S SOIL BOOK

THE PRAIRIE FARMER’S CREED.

I believe in red clover, | believe in cow peas, I believe in
soy beans, and above all, I believe in alfalfa, the queen of for-
age plants.

I believe in a permanent agriculture, a soil that shall
grow richer rather than poorer from year to year.

I believe in hundred bushel corn and in fifty bushel wheat,
and I shall not be satisfied with anything less.

I believe that the only good weed is a dead weed, and that
a clean farm is as important as a clean conscience.

I believe in the farm boy and in the farm girl, the farmer’s
best crops and the future’s best hope.

I believe in the farm woman, and will do all in my power
to make her life easier and happier.

I believe in a country school that prepares for country
life, and a country church that teaches its people to love deeply
and live honorably.

I believe in community spirit, a pride in home and neigh-
bors, and I will do my part to make my own community the
best in the state.

I believe in better roads. I will use the road drag con-
scientiously whenever opportunity offers, and I will not “sol-
dier” when working out my road tax.

I believe in happiness, I believe in the power of a smile,
and I will use mine on every possible occasion.

I believe in the farmer, I believe in farm life, I believe in
the inspiration of the open country.

I am proud to be a farmer, and | will try earnestly to be
worthy of the name.

90

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ao ne we
ae

tae

“The Story of the Soil”

THE SCIENCE OF
SOIL FERTILITY
TOLD IN STORY

F you haven’t been giving
I your soil a square deal—if

it is beginning to retaliate
with lower yields—you should
read Dr. Cyril Hopkins’ great
book: ** The Story of the
Soi).”’ It is a story that will
hold your interest from cover to
cover. It will tell you why your
yields are low, and how to make
them higher.

DR. HOPKINS

@ = While you are eagerly following the fortunes of Percy Johnston,
and his adventures in soil building and love making, you will gain a
store of soil facts that will double the profits of your farm. This book
is Dr. Hopkins’ masterpiece, containing the cream of the knowledge
he has gained by years of experience and research.

@ = Don’t you want to be a better and more prosperous farmer ?

**The Story of the Soil” will tell you how.

By special arrangement with the publisher, we are able to offer this

great book at $1.50 postpaid, with a year’s subscription to
Prairie Farmer included. Send your check to

PRAIRIE FARMER PUBLISHING CO.
BROOKS’ BUILDING—CHICAGO

int

[6730223
&

FOUNDED
IS41

ILLINOIS
FARM PAPER