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Making Soil and 
 Crops Pay More 
 
 V-C 
 
 By a 
 FARMER 
 
 Who Has Made a Life's Study of How to Get Most Out of Soils 
 and Crops in Various Sections of this Country 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FROM PHOTOGRAPHS OF V-C CROPS and PHOTOS USED 
 BY COURTESY OF 
 
 United States Department of Agriculture; 
 North Carolina, Illinois, Purdue, Wisconsin and 
 Ohio Agricultural Experiment Stations; 
 Dunham Co., S. L. Allen Co., Ginn and 
 Co., Macmillan Co., Orange, Judd Co. 
 Harris and Ewing, Underwood & Underwood. 
 
 PUBLISHED AND COPYRIGHTED. 1918 
 
 By CROP BOOK DEPARTMENT oj 
 
 V-G Sales Offices 
 
 Winston-Salem, N. C 
 Norfolk, Va. 
 Alexandria, Va. 
 Durham, N. C. 
 Charleston, S. C. 
 Savannah, Ga. 
 Columbus, Ga. 
 Memphis, Tenn. 
 Montgomery, Ala 
 
 VI RGINI A 
 CAROLINA 
 
 V-C Fertilizers 
 
 CHEMICAL 
 CO. 
 
 Richmond, Va. 
 
 V-C Sales Offices 
 
 New York City 
 
 Baltimore, Md. 
 
 Atlanta, Ga. 
 
 Columbia, S. C. 
 
 Jacksonville, Fla. 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio 
 
 Shreveport, La. 
 
 Fort Wayne, Ind. 
 
 Mt. Pleasant, Tenn. 
 
 m ' • 
 
 1\V1 
 
e 
 
 o 
 
 6 
 
 1^ 
 
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MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 Contents of Subjects 
 Part One 
 
 Agriculture the Foundation of Our Industrial Existence: 
 
 The Soil is the Farmer's Workshop 2 
 
 Our Land Should Yield More Per Acre. — President Woodrow Wilson . 3 
 
 What Luther Burbank Sees in Plant Life. — Luther Burbank 4 
 
 Very Foundation of our Industrial Existence Overlooked. — Hon. 
 
 D. F. Houston, Sec. of Agriculture 4 
 
 The Man Who Discovered How Plants Feed. — Baron Justus von 
 
 Liebig 5 
 
 Henry Ward Beecher's Farmer's Creed. — Rev. Henry Ward Beechcr. 6 
 
 He Doubled the Yield of His Crops in One Season. — James J . Hill. 6 
 
 A Great and Necessary Institution. — Prof. C. L. Neivman 7 
 
 Productiveness With Permanency 8 
 
 Farming Is a Business Demanding the Best Men and Women. — 
 
 Prof. G. I. Christie 8 
 
 Washington Preached the Value of Fertilization. — George Washington 10 
 
 One of the Foundation Industries of the World 10 
 
 Do Fertilizers Injure the Land. — E.r-Director Arthur Goss 11 
 
 Will Fertilizers Wash Out of the Soil?— Ex- Director Goss 13 
 
 Marvelous Possibilities of Soil Building. — Pres. Andrew M. Soule. 13 
 The System of Agriculture Which Will Be Most Permanently Profit- 
 able. — Dr. Bradford Knapp 14 
 
 The Need of Greater Agricultural Efficiency: 
 
 With Increased Production. Profits Not Wanting 14 
 
 Why the United States Is Not at the Top 14 
 
 Belgium 243 Pounds, United States 31 Pounds 15 
 
 Good Reason for Greater Farm Production 16 
 
 Food Production Not Keeping Pace With Population 16 
 
 30,000 New Mouths to Feed Every Week 16 
 
 Business of Farming Bound to Increase 16 
 
 Small But Great Is the United States 17 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 Contents of Subjects — Continued 
 The Power and Profit of Soil Fertility: 
 
 No Surer Profit Than Fertile Land 18 
 
 American Farmer Produces Most Wealth 18 
 
 Soils Originally Had Plenty of Plant-Food 19 
 
 Bigger Crops at Less Cost by FertiUzation 19 
 
 What Happens When Crops Were Underfed 19 
 
 Larger and More Thrifty Crops 20 
 
 Manure Not a Balanced Fertilizer 20 
 
 FertiUzer Experiences of Successful Corn Growers 21 
 
 Richest Agricultural County in the ITnited States 21 
 
 The Nation's Greatest Asset Must be Conserved: 
 
 An Investment for a Definite and Profitable Return 22 
 
 Enormous Soil Fertility Depletion 22 
 
 Multiplying Productive Capacity Pays 22 
 
 The Stimulus of High Prices 23 
 
 A Sound Agricultural Policy Needed 23 
 
 Crops Increased Over Two Billion Dollars 24 
 
 $1.30 or 4 Cents Worth of Fertihzer to the Acre 25 
 
 Over $1,700 Net Profit Annually on One Acre for 18 Years 28 
 
 Making the Farm an Efficient and Profitable Workshop 28 
 
 A Few Interesting Facts for Farmers: 
 
 A Millionaire Farmer's Views 29 
 
 Why $140 an Acre Profit When Others Make $1,600 29 
 
 Greatest Grin Producers in the World 29 
 
 How a 50 Cent an Acre Farm Made Good 30 
 
 Farmers Must Make Good Profits 30 
 
 How Much Is a Billion Dollars? 31 
 
 125 Years to Count a Billion Bushels 31 
 
 How Plants Add to the Wealth of the World 32 
 
 How Plants Supply Food, Clothing, Building Material, Medicines, 
 
 etc 33 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 Contents of Subjects — Continued 
 Miles of Roots and Millions of Mouths: 
 
 Roots by the Mile 33 
 
 A Few Great Drinkers 33 
 
 Leaves With Milhons of Mouths 34 
 
 What Agricultural Educators and Experiment Stations have 
 Found : 
 
 General Tendency Is to Use Fertilizer in Too Small Amounts. ... 35 
 
 Three Hundred Trillion Cells in One Day 35 
 
 Great Waste on the Farm 36 
 
 Eight Billion on Pinhead 36 
 
 What Constitutes Good Farming? 36 
 
 The Rehability of Commercial Fertilizers 36 
 
 Profits Within Farmers Control 37 
 
 Fertile Soil and Bumper Crops for 4200 Years 37 
 
 Feeding Apple Trees Pays 38 
 
 Increased Yields Per Acre Did It 38 
 
 Two Interesting Comparisons 39 
 
 Why Home Mixing Is Not Best 39 
 
 Indiana Farmers Found It Profitable 40 
 
 $5.00 Worth of Commercial Fertilizer Gave Greater Increase Than 
 
 Ten Tons of Manure 40 
 
 Indiana Shows 187 Per Cent Increase 40 
 
 What 30 Years Experiments Proved 40 
 
 Fertilized Wheat 94 Per Cent Plump. Unfertilized Wheat 51 Per 
 
 Cent Plump 41 
 
 The Value of a Knowledge of Farm Management Principles. — Dr. 
 
 W. J. Spillman 41 
 
 2,000 Boys Produce Over 200,000 Bushels of Corn.— Dc. Seaman 
 
 A . Knapp 42 
 
 The Business of Farming a Banking Proposition: 
 
 Why Are Your Soil and Crops Like a Bank Account?— ilfr. Oliver 
 
 J. Sands 44 
 
 Soil and Crop Improvement Are More Important to the People of 
 the United States Than Our Gold Production.— il//-. F. C. 
 
 Schwedtniann 45 
 
 S1,000 for Fertilizers But Not for a Barn.— Mr. William Ingle. . . 47 
 
 The Banker and the Farmer.— Jo/i« K. Ottley 48 
 
 The Greatness of Our Country and Its Farming Industry 50 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 List of Questions and Answers 
 Part Two 
 
 PLANTS: 
 
 What Are PLants? 55 
 
 How Do Plants Live? 55 
 
 How Do Plants Reproduce? 56 
 
 How Do Seeds Germinate? 56 
 
 How Do Plants Grow? 57 
 
 What Must a Plant Have in Order to Live? 58 
 
 Why Are There One-Seed-Leaf and Two-Seed-Leaf Plants? 60 
 
 PLANT NUTRITION: 
 
 What Are Organic and Inorganic Substances? 61 
 
 What Is Plant-food? 61 
 
 Where Do Plants Get Their Food? 62 
 
 Should the Home of Plants Be a Congenial One? 63 
 
 SOIL: 
 
 What Is Soil? 63 
 
 What Is Subsoil? 64 
 
 Are There Many Kinds of Soils? 64 
 
 How Are Soils Formed? 65 
 
 Do Crops Find Enough Plant-food in the Soil? 66 
 
 What Is a Fertile Soil? 66 
 
 What Is a Poor Soil? 67 
 
 FERTILITY: 
 
 How May Soils Be Made Fertile? 68 
 
 How Are Soils Depleted? 68 
 
 How Does Tillage Deplete Soils? 68 
 
 How Does Continuous Cropping Deplete Soils? 69 
 
 How Does the Removal of Crops from the Soil Deplete It? 69 
 
 How Are Depleted Soils Restored? 70 
 
 How Does Good Tillage Conserve and Restore Fertility? 71 
 
 How Does Adding Plant-food to the Soil Conserve and Restore 
 
 Fertility? 71 
 
 Why Is It More Profitable to Own and Cultivate Fertile Fields? . . 73 
 
 DRAINAGE: 
 
 Is Good Drainage Essential to Good Crops? 73 
 
 What Are the Indications of the Need of Drainage? 74 
 
 How May Wet Lands Be Drained? 75 
 
 How Does Soil Wash Deplete Soils? 76 
 
 How Does Leaching Deplete Soils? 78 
 
 How Does the Checking of Leaching and Soil Wash Conserve and 
 
 Restore Fertihty? 78 
 
 WATER, AIR AND SUN: 
 
 How Does the Sun Benefit Soils and Crops? 80 
 
 How Does Air Benefit Soils and Crops? 81 
 
 How Does Water Move in the Soil? 81 
 
 How Does Water Carry Plant-food? 82 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 List of Questions and Answers — Continued 
 
 TREATING THE SOIL: 
 
 Are All Soils in Good Physical Conditions for Plant Growth? .... 83 
 
 When Should Land be Plowed? 84 
 
 How Should Land Be Plowed? 85 
 
 How Does Turning the Land Help It? 86 
 
 How Deep Should Land Be Plowed? 87 
 
 How Does Humus Conserve and Restore Fertility? 88 
 
 How vShould Organic Matter Be Plowed into the Soil? 89 
 
 When and How Should Land Be Subsoiled? 90 
 
 When Is Subsoiling Beneficial? 91 
 
 When Is Subsoiling Harmful? 91 
 
 Why Are Deep, Mellow Soils Best? 91 
 
 Why Should Soil Be Pulverized? 92 
 
 How May Soils Be Treated to Take Up and Hold More Water?. . 93 
 
 How Does Harrowing, Disking, Rolling, Etc., Help the Land? ... 93 
 
 How Does the Chemical Composition of Soils Affect Crop Growth? 93 
 
 How Does the Physical Condition of Soils Affect Plant Growth?. 94 
 
 How Does the Organic Content of Soils Affect Plant Growth? . . 95 
 
 PLANT FOOD: 
 
 What Does the Plant Do if It Does Not Get Enough Food? 95 
 
 How Shall It Be Determined What Plant Food to Use? '95 
 
 What Must the Farmer Do if There Is Not Enough Food in the 
 
 Soil? 96 
 
 W^hat Is Commercial Fertilizer? 97 
 
 What Is a Complete Fertilizer? 97 
 
 Are "Fillers" and "Carriers" the Same? 97 
 
 Do High Grade Fertilizers Contain Filler? 99 
 
 What Is Rock Phosphate? 100 
 
 What Is Acid Phosphate? 100 
 
 How Does Phosphoric Acid Help the Plant? 101 
 
 How Does Nitrogen or Ammonia Help the Plant? 101 
 
 How Does Potash Help the Plant? 101 
 
 FERTILIZERS AND FERTILIZING, OR FEEDING CROPS: 
 
 When Should Fertilizers Be Added to the Soil? 101 
 
 How Should Fertilizers Be Applied to the Soil? 102 
 
 Is the Manner of Applying Fertilizers Important? 102 
 
 May Fertilizers Be Applied Profitably to Growing Crops? 104 
 
 Is There More Than One Way to Apply Fertilizer? 105 
 
 How Is Fertilizer Applied Broadcast? 105 
 
 How Is Fertilizer Applied in the Drill? 106 
 
 How Is Fertilizer Applied in the Hill? 108 
 
 When Should Fertilizer Be Applied in the Drill or Row? 108 
 
 When Should Fertilizer Be Applied Broadcast? 108 
 
 How Is Fertilizer Applied Interculturally? 109 
 
 How Is Fertilizer Applied as a Top Dresser? 110 
 
 What Advantage Has Top Dressing to Crops? Ill 
 
 Do Fertihzers Make the Soil Rich? Ill 
 
 Do Fertilizers Save Labor? 112 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 List of Questions and Answers — Continued 
 
 Do Fertilizers Improve the Quality and Increase the Market Value 
 of Crops? 113 
 
 SOIL CONDITIONS: 
 
 What Soil Conditions Must Be Present If Fertilizers Are to Be 
 
 Effective? 114 
 
 How Shall Acid Soils Be Corrected? 115 
 
 Does the Color of Soil Affect Crop Growth? 115 
 
 What Effects Have Manures on Crops? 116 
 
 Is It Important to Have a Good Seed Bed? 116 
 
 GOOD SEEDS: 
 
 Are Good Seeds Necessary to Produce Good Crops? 117 
 
 Is It Important to Plant Only Good Varieties? 118 
 
 How May Crops Be Improved by Seed Selection? 119 
 
 Do Fertilizers Improve the Quality, Vitality and High Repro- 
 ductive Power of Seeds? 120 
 
 How Do Crops Cross and Become Mixed? 120 
 
 PLANTING AND CULTIVATING: 
 
 What Distances Should Crops Be Given in the Row? 122 
 
 Does Good Soil Preparation Make Cultivation More Effective? . . 123 
 
 What Benefits Are Derived from Cultivation? 123 
 
 When and How Should a Crop Be Cultivated? 124 
 
 With What Implements Should a Crop Be Cultivated? 125 
 
 Why Do Plants Have Roots ? 126 
 
 Why Is Cultivation So Important in Dry Seasons? 127 
 
 How Late Should Cultivation Be Continued? 127 
 
 ROTATION OF CROPS: 
 
 What Is Rotation of Crops? 128 
 
 What Are the Benefits of Rotation? 129 
 
 How Does Rotation Benefit and Rest the Land at the Same Time? 131 
 
 How Does Rotation Benefit the Crop? 131 
 
 How Does Rotation Conserve and Restore Fertilitj-? 131 
 
 What Crops Should Be Grown in Different Sections and on Dif- 
 ferent Farms? 132 
 
 Wh y Are Some Soils Adapted to Some Crops and Not to Others? 133 
 
 CROP ENEMIES: 
 
 Are Plants Attacked, Injured and Killed by Diseases?. 133 
 
 Are Insects Injurious to Crops? 134 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The author of this book has endeavored to lay out a ground- 
 work of facts sufficiently complete to indicate the nature and 
 needs of soil and crops, hoping thereb}^ to serve the farmer as 
 well as the student of Agriculture for thoroughly preparing 
 themselves to comprehend the subject of plant nutrition, and to 
 form some accurate idea of how and to what extent crops depend 
 upon the soil for the elements of their growth. 
 
 For the sake of comprising within a reasonable space that 
 information which may most immediately and practically serve 
 the agriculturist, some interesting details have necessarily been 
 omitted, which, however, we feel will not render this book less 
 practical or less valuable. 
 
 The object of this little book is to more than instruct, it is 
 to teach the subject of plant-food and its relation to soil and 
 crops so thoroughly that the reader may readily and practically 
 comprehend and apply the information contained herein to his 
 lasting benefit and profit. 
 
 Every practical man knows that we earn more only as we 
 learn more. May this information contained herein act as a 
 guide to those who desire to learn how to increase and improve 
 the productiveness of their soil and crops by supplying the soil 
 with the lacking elements of fertility, and growing thrifty fields 
 of crops economically and profitably. 
 
 The more the farmer knows the more he can do. The pro- 
 gressive Agriculturist now sees that Chemistry has opened a 
 splendid future for the Art that has always been and always 
 will be the prime support of all Nations — Agriculture. 
 
 The pubhshers of this book have spent large sums in ac- 
 quiring beneficial and practical Agricultural information for the 
 purpose of placing it at the disposal of those interested in better 
 crops and greater prosperity on our farms. It is certain 
 if this information is applied practically, a revolution could be 
 brought about on the farms of this country, which would result 
 in an era of prosperity such as has never been known. 
 
 Richmond, Va. The Publishers. 
 
»i!iiiiat A* 
 
 1ft ,(11111' if' 
 
 Many thousands of Samples are analyzed each year in these Laboratories, representing many 
 millions of tons of V-C Fertilizers which have been used in improving and increasing the 
 crops of thousands of farms throughout the United States, Porto Rico, and Cuba. 
 
makinXt soil and crops pay more 
 
 Agriculture the Foundation of Our 
 Industrial Existence 
 
 Farming is the biggest Ijusiness of America, the biggest 
 business of the Earth. Without farming, the trusts, the rail- 
 roads, the banks, all business, all industries would crumble. 
 
 It will take j'ears, a decade probably, possibly more than a 
 decade, for the Agriculture of Europe to be restored to the 
 condition in which it was before the war. The world must 
 look to America, the nearest and largest depot of supply, for 
 food. America must not alone feed itself, it must feed Europe 
 now and for years to come. 
 
 The Rig Business of America is directly Jependent upon Agriculture for her existence. 
 Although the farm and the city are sometimes separated by miles; their interests are identical 
 and without Agriculture our Commerce would crumble. 
 
 ]\Ir. George E. Roberts, of the National City Bank of New 
 York, a wise and conservative observer, said: "The prosperity 
 of the farmer is best secured by an increase in the yield of his 
 fields. How to accomplish this is not alone the farmer's problem ; 
 it is everybody's problem. Agriculture must find increasing 
 prosperity, as other industries do, in a larger output at a lower 
 unit of cost. We will have a Peace prosperity greater and more 
 satisfactory than the prosperity based on War." 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 America's opportunity lies in mobilizing her Agricultural 
 energies and pushing production to the maximum. We should 
 all assist in adding to the material welfare of our country by 
 encouraging more abundant crops, for Agriculture is the foun- 
 dation of our industrial existence. 
 
 The Soil Is the Farmer's Workshop 
 
 The soil is really the farmer's factory, for it is the workshop 
 of his crops. Through the soil alone can the farmer influence 
 the amount of vegetable production, for the atmosphere, light 
 and heat of the sun are beyond his control. Hence, the product 
 and value of the farmer's fields lie principally in the quality of 
 the soil. As the soil is really a crop factory, this factory re- 
 quires the same sound, business-like management as any other 
 successful factory. 
 
 The manufacturer whose factory is well equipped with 
 machinery, can not successfully operate this machinery without 
 the necessary power. No more can the farmer operate his crop 
 factory successfully and profitably unless he has the necessary 
 power, and that power is the proper amount of the right kind of 
 plant-food. His soil must l^e full of this crop-growing power if 
 he wants an abundant and profitable output from his factory. 
 
 Since the soil is the source of wealth, it remains for the farmer 
 to co-operate with Nature in order to secure from the soil the 
 full benefit of its fertility, and at the same time prevent depletion. 
 A well cultivated and fertile soil is a storehouse of unlimited 
 wealth. This wealth is only olitainable through the crops 
 grown in the soil. As these crops grow they take from the soil 
 some of its fertility, hence, the soil must be supplied with fresh 
 stores of nourishment or plant-food after its supply has been 
 tapped, so that succeeding crops will find the necessary nourish- 
 ment for their proper growth and maturity. 
 
 The maintaining of the productiveness of the soil means that 
 there shall be preserved or stored within the soil sufficient quan- 
 tities of soluble plant-food to produce maximum crops. In 
 other words, the soil must be kept in good phj^sical condition, 
 and the total supplies of the various elements must be main- 
 tained if the soil is to remain permanently fertile. A system 
 by which the available plant-food is indefinitely maintained is 
 the permanent system of Agriculture. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 WOODROW WILSON 
 President of the United States 
 
 Our Land Should Yield More Per Acre 
 
 President Wilson, that great disciple of conservation, has 
 always been a keen observer, and though not a farmer like 
 Washington and Jefferson were, he fully recognizes the needs of 
 the farm and the farmer. That in order to supply food to our 
 increasing population of the future we must see to it that we 
 increase the productiveness of our farms, and how this can be 
 done he tells us in very few words, as evidenced by the following: 
 
 "It is necessary that our land should yield more per acre than 
 it does now. Production per acre, with its coincident valuation, 
 increases in direct proportion to the plant-food furnished it. 
 
 "We have got to increase the product at every point where 
 it is susceptible of being increased. We have got to study how 
 to assist nature by making the most suitable use of our several 
 and various soils. The pine barrens of our Southern coast need 
 not be barren at all, that if we add a single additional chemical 
 element we can make the sand blossom and produce crops, and 
 that if Nature is only questioned closely she will yield us her 
 richest products for our own assistance and for the assistance 
 of the rest of the World." 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 What Luther Burbank Sees 
 In Plant Life 
 
 Ex-Governor Pardee of California said: 
 "Burbank, like Columbus, has shown us the 
 way to new continents, new forms of life, 
 new sources of wealth, and we, following in 
 his footsteps, will profit by and from his 
 genius." Let us now see if we, too, can not 
 profit by what Burbank has done. This is 
 what he sees: 
 
 "We have in our own hands the power 
 of making literal 'New Creations' in plant 
 life. What has been already accomplished 
 is but the beginning of horticultural achieve- 
 ments that will surpass the most sanguine 
 expectations of even a decade ago. In the 
 hands of the plant breeder rests the future 
 destiny of all mankind." 
 
 "Abundant, w^ell balanced nourishment and thorough culture 
 of plants will alwaj'S produce good results." 
 
 Luther Burbank — Plant Breeder 
 
 Hon. D. F. Houston, Secretary 
 
 U. S. Department of 
 
 Agriculture 
 
 Very Foundation of Our Industrial 
 Existence Overlooked 
 
 Secretary Houston, head of the U. S. 
 Department of Agriculture, in one of his 
 recent Reports to the President of the 
 United States, among other things, said: 
 
 "Agriculture has made marked progress 
 in a number of directions, but as an Industry 
 it has not kept pace with the other activi- 
 ties of the country. 
 
 "We have been so bent on building up 
 great industrial centers; on rivaling the 
 nations of the world in manufacturing and 
 commerce that we have over- 
 looked the very foundation of our industrial 
 existence 
 
 "The aim of Agriculture must be 
 
 to establish supremacy in the production 
 for each acre. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 "The profits of agriculture ultimately depend on the intel- 
 ligent cultivation of the soil and the preservation of its fertility." 
 
 At the present rate of progress now being made by our 
 Department of Agriculture and the various State Agricultural 
 Institutions, it will not be a long time before there will also be 
 a marked improvement in our Agricultural Industry. 
 
 Under the terms of the Smith-Lever Bill there will be ample 
 funds provided to make this possible. The funds thus available 
 increase from year to year until the States appropriate annually 
 a total of $4,500,000 and the Government a like sum. By 1923 
 this fund will have accumulated to the sum of $9,000,000. 
 
 The Man Who Discovered How 
 Plants Feed 
 
 Baron Justus von Liebig surprised the 
 world with the statement that crops or 
 plants do not derive their nourishment 
 from humus alone. It was this noted 
 scientist and chemist who established a 
 laboratory in Germany for the researches 
 in organic chemistry and the application of 
 chemistry to Agriculture, and in 1840 he 
 announced his first scientific discovery, in 
 which he applied the principles of chemistry 
 to Agriculture by a scientific method of 
 feeding plants. 
 
 He showed wherein crops and plants 
 feed from the chemicals in the soil, and if 
 these chemicals were not present in the soil, 
 available to the growing crops or plants, 
 that there could be no crops or plants. 
 
 He clearly demonstrated and proved where and how crops 
 and plants get their food; how crops depleted the soil, and 
 how wornout soils could be restored to fertilit}' and productive- 
 ness by the application of artificial or chemical fertilizers. This 
 great and wonderful discovery of von Liebig's was indeed an 
 epoch-making discovery by which all mankind has benefited. 
 To what extent von Liebig's discovery is today being applied by 
 farmers throughout the civilized world is evidence of its practi- 
 cability and necessity, though too many farmers in our own land 
 have not as yet learned the great value of same, but those who 
 have appreciate and value the use of Commercial Fertilizers on 
 their soils and crops. 
 
 Baron Justus von Liebig 
 Scientist and Chemist 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. 
 
 Henry Ward Beecher's Farmer's 
 Creed 
 
 It was Beecher who said: "He that 
 would look with contempt on the pursuits 
 of the farmer is not worthy of the name of 
 man." Beecher's Farmer's Creed of many 
 years ago is as appropriate today as it was 
 then. Though Beecher was not a farmer, 
 the following indicates that he knew what 
 was good for the farm and the farmers: 
 
 "I believe that the soil likes to eat as 
 well as its owner, and ought, therefore, to 
 be liberally fed. 
 
 "7 believe in large crops wdiich leave the 
 land better than they found them — making 
 the farmer and the farm both glad at once. 
 
 "7 believe that every farm should own a 
 good farmer. 
 
 "7 believe in going to the bottom of 
 things and, therefore, in deep plowing and 
 enough of it." 
 
 "He Doubled the Yield of His Crops in One Season" 
 
 The late James J. Hill was indeed one of 
 the most progressive men of the day. Be- 
 sides being a builder of railroads he was 
 also a most successful builder of prosperous 
 farms and farmers. 
 
 As a boy he labored on his father's farm. 
 In later years, by his unlimited and sincere 
 confidence in the future of farming, he 
 brought prosperity to many thousands of 
 farmers. 
 
 His belief in the possibilities of greater 
 farm development was expressed in his ex- 
 tensive work in promoting more profitable 
 methods of farming, to meet changing con- 
 ditions of soil depletion. 
 
 He proved by practical demonstration 
 to thousands of farmers, that there is no 
 surer profit than that which comes from 
 the development of fertile land. 
 
 James J. Hill — Farm Build( r 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 He builded wisely and strongly, and his works remain to bear 
 witness that he turned a wilderness and barren lands into pro- 
 ductive and prosperous farms. To what extent his methods 
 proved of value may be gathered from the following account of 
 his practical demonstrations conducted by him on some of his 
 own farms: 
 
 "On 150 farms Mr. Hill demonstrated that by the use of 
 fertilizers he could double the yield of his crops in one season. 
 His average production of wheat, barley, and oats was more 
 than double the average production of the states in which his 
 farms were located. « 
 
 "His wheat showed an average gain of 11.41 bushels per 
 acre; barley a gain of 16.38 bushels per acre, and the crop gain 
 in oats was 22.17 bushels per acre." 
 
 Indeed, James J. Hill did much to make his great country 
 greater, and those in it happier, more contented and more 
 prosperous. 
 
 A Great and Necessary Institution 
 
 There are few men who have made a 
 more careful and persistent study of soils 
 and crops than C. L. Newman, Professor 
 of Agriculture at the North Carolina State 
 College of Agriculture and Engineering, 
 Raleigh, N. C. Prof. Newman is a practical 
 farmer who has made a life's study of soils 
 and crops. He sums up the needs of plant- 
 food for soils and crops as follows: 
 
 "The ideal fertilizer for a crop growing 
 in a soil is that fertilizer which contains 
 plant-food elements in appropriate propor- 
 tions and in forms that are available to the 
 crop grown. Not only must the contents 
 of a fertilizer represent plant demands and 
 soil deficiencies, but be available in quan- 
 tities and proportions to suit the needs of 
 the crop as the needs develop, 
 
 "Fertilizers must fit the soil and fit the 
 crop, such fertilizers are the best, and no 
 ^a°/\^"/-^n Newman of N. c. others are as good. Fertilizers are not only 
 
 state C ollege of Agriculture i • i-F , ■ i ■ i» 
 
 and Engineering a great mstitutiou Dut a uccessary one. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 Productiveness With Permanency 
 
 A prominent member of a Western State Advisory Com- 
 mittee on Soil Investigations most admirably points out the 
 future greatness of Agricultural development in these words: 
 
 "The only way to supply an abundance of good to the in- 
 creasing population of the future is by increasing the productive- 
 ness of the land; and the only way to increase the productiveness 
 of the land is the application of scientific principles to the art of 
 Agriculture. The problem of the past was production; our 
 problem today is productiveness with permanency. 
 
 "Plants will not properly mature when insufficiently fed any 
 more than will animals when not properly nourished. 
 
 "It is a duty to ourselves that we get as much out of the soil 
 as possible, that we may be better able to reach the physical 
 comforts and enjoyments which belong to a higher develop- 
 ment. But it is a greater duty to posterity that we leave these 
 lands richer than we found them. 
 
 "The productive power of our normal well drained and well 
 cultivated land depends almost wholly upon the power of the 
 soil to feed the crops." 
 
 Farming Is a Business Demanding 
 the Best Men and Women 
 
 Prof. G. I. Christie formerly of Purdue 
 University, LaFayette, Ind., now an assist- 
 ant to the Secretary of the U. S. Dept. of 
 Agriculture, is one of the foremost Agricul- 
 tural Educators in the United States. In 
 a recent address, entitled: "The New 
 Agriculture," he took for his text these 
 words of Garfield's: 
 
 "At the head of all the Sciences and 
 Arts, at the head of civilization and pro- 
 gress, stands — not Militarism, the Science 
 that kills; not Commerce, the Art that 
 accumulates wealth — but Agriculture, the 
 mother of all Industry and the maintainer 
 of human life." 
 
 The following statements made by 
 Prof. Christie are decidedly instructive, as v> r n t r^i, ..■ 
 
 , . . , ^ 4-1 Prof. G. I. Christie 
 
 tney point the way to better Agriculture asst. to Secretary 
 
 and greater prosperity: Agricuifur?*"^*" °^ 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 "Agriculture stands as the basis of the prosperity of this 
 country. The development of all other resources and the big 
 business of our cities depend upon the food stuffs which must 
 come from the soil. Lessons from older countries teach us that 
 it is impossible to remove plant-food continually from year to 
 year without returning part at least. 
 
 "I believe, as the Agricultural work develops, more and more 
 attention will be paid to commercial plant-food. The better 
 farmers of the country today are the largest users of commercial 
 plant-food. 
 
 "Why are we turning such unanimous and universal attention 
 to the subject of Agriculture? When you come to study the 
 problem a little and when you come to see it in its several phases, 
 it is readily understood. The population of this country has 
 been doubling practically every twenty-five years. It is in- 
 creasing now at the rate of about two milhon souls annually. To 
 feed these two million hungry mouths requires about seventy-five 
 million bushels of cereal producing food-stuffs. 
 
 "We are told by government officials that if we take in all the 
 land that may be irrigated, all the land in the South that some 
 day may be drained, we have less than 750,000 square miles of 
 additional land for Agricultural purposes. Last year alone, 
 35,000 square miles of that land was taken up, so it will be only 
 a short time until all the land is brought under the plow. One 
 of our statesmen, who has given considerable thought to the 
 subject, predicts that if our present rate of increase in population 
 continues, we will have 150,000,000 people by the year 1950. 
 The great question in the minds of our people today is, how are 
 we going to feed them? 
 
 "Production and consumption are beginning now to equalize 
 with the result that high prices are here and here to stay. The 
 day has come when we have to work to get the increase in food 
 supply to meet the increased demand of an increasing population. 
 
 "Up in northern Lidiana there is a tract of land known as the 
 muck area. Our experiment station was appealed to for aid 
 
 In an experiment the station men put on about 300 
 
 pounds of muriate of potash per acre, and in the four years that 
 the experiment was running they harvested 96 bushels?/?ore of corn 
 where the land had been treated than where it had not been treated. 
 
 "In the soils of the southern part of Indiana it was found that 
 another element was lacking — phosphorus. When an applica- 
 tion of phosphoric acid was made it was found that the yield of 
 wheat, was running along 6, 7, and 8 bushels per acre, was soon 
 turned into a yield of 14, 16, 18 and 20 bushels per acre. 
 
10 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 "The importance of securing an increased yield is readily 
 recognized. An increase of five bushels per acre on the 60,000,000 
 acres of wheat now grown in the United States would result at 
 one dollar per bushel in an increased wealth of $300,000,000. 
 
 "Farming is not mere drudgery, but a business demanding 
 and paying for the best brains and efforts of the best men 
 and women." 
 
 Washington Preached the Value of 
 Fertilization 
 
 When Washington died, besides his 
 wife's estate and the Mount Vernon pro- 
 perty, he possessed 51,300 acres, exclusive 
 of town property. He was one of the 
 wealthiest Americans of his time, and it is 
 a question if a fortune was ever more 
 honestly acquired or more thoroughly 
 deserved. 
 
 Washington's greatest pride was to be 
 thought the first farmer in America. Early 
 and late he preached to his overseers the 
 value of fertilization. During the career 
 of George Washington, the first President 
 of the United States, he acted several im- 
 portant parts, but in none did he find such 
 pleasure as in farming, as evidenced l)y 
 his statement: 
 
 "I think that the life of a husbandman of all others is the 
 most delectable. It is honorable, it is amusing, and, with 
 judicious management, it is profitable. Agriculture has ever 
 been the most favorite amusement of my life. I shall begrudge 
 no reasonable expense that will contribute to the improvement 
 and neatness of my farms; for nothing pleases me better than to 
 see them in good order, and everything trim, handsome, and 
 thriving about them. I am lead to reflect how much more 
 valuable to the undebauched mind is the task of making im- 
 provements on the earth than all the vain glory which can be 
 acquired by ravaging it." 
 
 One of the Foundation Industries of the World : 
 
 The editor of the "Manufacturers Record" points out clearly 
 the necessity of proper fertilization of the soil in the following: 
 
 George Washington 
 
 The First President of the 
 
 United States 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 11 
 
 "One of the foundation industries of the world is the manu- 
 facture of fertilizers, for without the proper fertilization of the 
 soil there would be a steady deterioration which would gradually 
 exhaust all soils and ultimately lead to the agricultural ruin of 
 any country, and that would mean the ruin of all its industries. 
 Of recent years we have been learning more and more about the 
 restoration of soil fertility and the necessity of increasing the 
 yield per acre in order to reduce the cost of farm products." 
 
 Do Fertilizers Injure the Land? 
 
 Ex-Director Arthur Goss of the Purdue 
 University Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
 tion of LaFayette, Ind. answers this often 
 asked question as follows: 
 
 "The following table offers about the 
 best answer to this question obtainable. 
 The experiment cited is being conducted 
 at Rothamsted, England, and has been in 
 progress more than 50 years. No results 
 covering anything like so long a period of 
 time are obtainable in the country. 
 
 TABLE I 
 Continuous Wheat Experiment, Rotham- 
 sted, England, from 1852 to 1902 
 
 Ex-Director Arthur Goss, 
 
 Purdue University Agricultural 
 
 Experiment Station 
 
 Pounds of Fertilizer applied annually 
 
 Ammonia Acid Potash 
 
 Sulphate Phosphate 
 
 Commercial 
 
 Fertilizers 600 lbs. 350 lbs. 
 
 Manure 14 tons annually . 
 
 Unfertilized 
 
 Average Yield Yield 
 1852-1902 1902 
 
 Bushels per acre 
 
 200 lbs. 
 
 37 
 36 
 13 
 
 45 
 42 
 13 
 
 "By referring to the table it will be seen that the application 
 of a very large quantity of Fertilizer to wheat each year for 50 
 years has not only not injured the productiveness of this soil, 
 but has, in fact, actually increased the average annual yield from 
 13 to 37 bushels per acre. It will also be noted that the yield 
 on the fertilized plats the last year was 45 bushels per acre, 
 while the yield on the unfertilized plats the same year was only 
 13 bushels per acre." 
 
12 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 Director Goss further points out in Circular No. 10 of the 
 Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station some in- 
 teresting facts concerning experiments made in this country on 
 Southern Indiana Soils by the Purdue University Agricultural 
 Experiment Station. We quote from him as follows: 
 
 "Investigations have been in progress at the Experiment 
 Station for a number of years past, with a view of ascertaining 
 the methods of fertilization best adapted to the different soils 
 and crops of the State. In this connection tests have been made 
 on practically all the important soil types, and have involved 
 the use of such materials as: 
 
 Dried blood Iron sulphate 
 
 Nitrate of soda Iron hydrate 
 
 Bone Magnesium sulphate 
 
 Acid phosphate Magnesium carbonate 
 
 Dicalcic phosphate Sodium sulphate 
 
 Rock phosphate Copper sulphate 
 
 Muriate of potash Carbon black 
 
 Sulphate of potash Muck 
 
 Carbonate of potash Clay 
 
 Ashes Straw manure 
 
 Slaked lime Legume crops 
 
 Ground limestone 
 "It may be said in a general way that while occasionally soils 
 are found that do not respond to Fertilizers, usually some com- 
 bination has been found that has produced handsome profits 
 and not infrequently enormous returns. There is for example 
 no question that the application of potash in considerable quan- 
 tities on muck soil is very profitable in connection with the 
 growing of corn and other crops. It also seems certain that the 
 liberal use of Fertilizers on the potato crop is highly profitable, 
 and that Fertilizers will usually pay well on the wheat and corn 
 crops, if used in the proper proportions and right amounts. 
 The work that has been done emphasizes the fact however, that 
 in order to receive the best results it is necessary to understand 
 the needs of the particular soil and crops to be used. It is a 
 very easy matter to waste a large amount of money in the use 
 of Fertilizers through the application of unnecessary elements 
 and improper forms of plant-food, and the only wonder is that 
 such satisfactory results are secured under the present hap- 
 hazard system in vogue. There is not the slightest doubt that 
 a large and profitable increase in crop production could be 
 brought about in the State by a more systematic and intelligent 
 use of Fertilizers. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 13 
 
 ,^ 
 
 Fit;ure Two 
 
 "In Figure 2 is shown the amount of wheat recovered on 
 the unfertilized plats and on the plats receiving the complete 
 Fertilizer in the Scott County experiment. While this is perhaps 
 rather an extreme case, which could not be duplicated every 
 time, it is the result of a carefully conducted experiment, and 
 shows the yields actually secured on this soil. 
 
 ''The Fertilizers applied to the KPN* plat consisted of 60 
 pounds of dried blood, 200 pounds of acid phosphate and 30 
 pounds of muriate of potash per acre, and cost at prices pre- 
 vailing at the time this experiment was conducted, $3.20 per 
 acre. The increase in yield due to the Fertilizers was over 26 
 bushels of wheat per acre." 
 
 Marvelous Possibilities of Soil Building: 
 
 There are few men better posted on the actual needs of the 
 soil and crops in the South than President Andrew M. Soule 
 of the Georgia State College of Agriculture. The able work 
 he has done in developing Agriculture and Agricultural Educa- 
 tion in the South is well known. To what extent he recognizes 
 the need of proper plant feeding is indicated by the following 
 when he declared: 
 
 ''There were marvelous possibilities of soil building, and 
 that the farmer who would not feed his soil was like the man 
 who bought a fine horse, put it in the stable and refused to 
 feed and water it, and let it die. 
 
 "If you are going to fertilize, fertilize right. Feed the plants 
 liberally. Don't compel the plants to kill themselves hunting 
 for and chasing after beggarly little plant-food." 
 
 *KPN means potash, phosphorus and nitrogen, a complete fertilizer. 
 
14 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 The System of Agriculture Which Will 
 Be Most Permanently Profitable: 
 
 Few men in the United States have done 
 so much to improve conditions on our farms 
 as Dr. Bradford Knapp, Chief, Office of 
 Extension Worlv in the South, U.S. Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture. Dr. Knapp succeeded 
 his father, the late Dr. Seaman Knapp, as 
 the head of the Boys' Club Movement 
 under the auspices of the U. S. Department 
 of Agriculture. To what extent he recog- 
 nized the importance of permanent soil 
 fertility is shown in the following statement 
 made by him: 
 
 "The wise and judicious use of Fertili- 
 zers is an element of profitable farming. 
 Such practices in the use of Fertilizers as 
 bring the best results will in the long run 
 be followed by farmers. A complete crop- 
 ping system which aids in building up soil 
 fertility, coupled with the wisest and best use of Commercial 
 Fertilizers will, in the end, be the system of Agriculture which 
 will last longer and be the most permanently profitable." 
 
 Dr. Rrncltord Knapp, Chief, 
 Office of Extension Work in the 
 South, U. S. Department 
 of Agriculture 
 
 The Need of Greater Agricultural Efficiency 
 With Increased Production Profits Not Wanting: 
 
 Are we prepared to meet the situation which confronts us by 
 producing enough food for our own use and also a considerable 
 amount for other countries? Under existing conditions it would 
 be unpatriotic not to fertilize when we know we can help our 
 country and our people by the proper use of Fertilizers. With 
 a net return of one to five dollars for each dollar judiciously 
 invested in fertilizers, the profits are certainly not wanting. 
 Let us see what other countries have done. 
 
 Why the U. S. Is Not At the Top: 
 
 Thirty years ago the soil of Germany and of France was, as 
 revealed by official crop statistics, about equally productive, but 
 during the three decades Germany's crop-yield per acre has 
 nearly doubled while that of France has increased but a tenth. 
 In 1881-1886 the average yield of wheat per acre in Germany 
 was 19 bushels, and in France 18 bushels. This increased in 
 1911-13 to 33 bushels for Germany and 20 bushels for France. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 15 
 
 It is interesting to note the jaeld of certain crops in various 
 countries compared with the U. S. as shown in following. 
 
 Bushels Per Acre 
 Country and Year Wheat Rye Barley Oats Potatoes 
 
 Germany, 1913 33.0 30.4 40.9 61.0 235.4 
 
 Russia, 1912 10.1 14.3 16.1 23.6 121.3 
 
 Austria, 1912 22.3 23.2 29.7 36.1 148.7 
 
 Hungary 18.8 18.4 25.8 28.9 125.3 
 
 France, 1912 20.5 16.4 26.9 35.9 142.7 
 
 Canada, 1912 20.3 19.1 31.0 41.7 172.0 
 
 United States, 1913. .. 16.0 16.2 23.7 29.5 90.2 
 
 Such returns as these from soil cultivated for hundreds of 
 years in climate inferior to ours for grain production, tell the 
 whole story of American Farm methods. 
 
 Let us increase our Agricultural Efficiency, as the farm is 
 the base of our National pyramid of wealth. We should be at 
 the head of this list, not way at the bottom, and — we will. 
 
 'u 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r?^> 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^. . _ T 
 
 
 
 ^^^^L t . 
 
 
 
 '''' '■",'' ' ''i 
 
 
 Air,^ 
 
 V 
 
 Ulitn tlie AiruTipan ruinci-, u-t Commercial riiulizci^ tluv ( in i)iii(lii(c ucoid props. 
 J he above illustration ^.howi <i wheat field that yielded ol) bushels to the acn Ihia splendid 
 jitld wass secured by the liberal use of \ -C Fertilizers 
 
 Belgium 243 Pounds, U. S. 31 Pounds: 
 
 However, the Belgium farmers produce the highest yields of 
 wheat, and use more Commercial Fertilizer per acre than is 
 used in any part of the world. They use an average of 
 243 pounds of Fertilizer per acre on all cultivated lands not 
 including animal manures, and get in return an average of 373-^ 
 bushels of wheat per acre. Germany, the second highest user 
 
16 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 of Fertilizers — where the farmers apply 149.52 pounds per acre 
 aside from animal manures — gets the second highest yield of 
 wheat; 33 bushels per acre. In the United States we average 
 only 31 pounds of Fertilizer per acre on our cultivated lands, 
 and do not average one-fourth that on our wheat lands and 
 get in return only 16 bushels of wheat per acre. 
 
 Good Reason for Greater Farm Production: 
 
 There is a good reason why the production on our farms 
 should be increased. Our urban or city population has increased 
 much more than the rural population. The movement of 
 population in the U. S. appears in the following table: 
 
 Increase in total population, 1880-1910 83 . 3% 
 
 Increase in urban population, 1880-1910 188.5% 
 
 Increase in rural population, 1880-1910 39.4% 
 
 Food Production Not Keeping Pace With Population: 
 
 That our food production has not kept pace with the growth 
 of our population is evidenced by the following which shows 
 per capita production of wheat in the United States thirty 
 years ago in comparison with that of today: 
 
 Average Annual Annual Per 
 
 Year Population Wheat Production Capita Production 
 
 1876-1884 50,156,000 426,922,000 bu. 8.5 bu. 
 
 1906-1914 91,972,000 712,474,000 bu. 7.7 bu. 
 
 To have had the same per capita production in the last nine 
 years as in the earlier period would have required an annual pro- 
 duction of 73,600,000 bushels more than was actually produced. 
 
 30,000 New Mouths to Feed Every Week: 
 
 Some idea may be formed as to the growth of our population 
 when it is known that every week brings more than 30,000 new 
 mouths to feed, for it has been estimated that we grow in the 
 United States at the rate of 4433 folks a clay. At this rate our 
 growth in a few years hence will be at the rate of 10,000 a day. 
 These newcomers must all be fed and clothed. Every addition 
 to our population adds new responsibilities and demands 
 upon the farmer, for it is on him most of all that civilization 
 depends for sustenance. 
 
 Business of Farming Bound to Increase: 
 
 America has doubled its population within the last 40 years, 
 and during the next like period may be obliged to meet the needs 
 of fully 200,000,000 people. The farmer not only feeds the 
 world but saves it, and to maintain the productivity of our 
 farms is the ultimate problem of America and the foremost 
 question confronting us. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 17 
 
 Small But Great is the United States: 
 
 Our country covers less than 6% of the earth's area and 
 numbers about 5% of the earth's population. It produces 76% 
 of all the corn grown in the world; 70% of the world's oil; 59% 
 of all copper, 43% of the pig iron; 37% of the world's coal; 
 35% of its tobacco; 26% of its silver; one-fourth of all its wheat; 
 21% of its gold; and contains more than a third of all the wealth 
 of the civilized world. The wealth of the United States is now 
 about $240,000,000,000, which is more than the combined wealth 
 of England, France and Germany. 
 
 Although our area and population are small in comparison with the rest of the world, the above 
 diagram illustrates well the greatness of our industrial and agricultural production. 
 
 "The wealth of the United States will be greater a year from 
 now than it is now, and still greater at the end of each suc- 
 ceeding year. Improvements will go on, not so fast perhaps as 
 in time of peace, but houses will be built, farms will be improved, 
 industrial equipment will be increased and savings will grow. 
 
 "The South is likely to grow more of all crops in the future, 
 and the work being done everywhere for a productive Agri- 
 culture is giving promise of valuable results. The country is 
 being awakened as never before to a realization of the fact that 
 all industries are dependent upon Agriculture." 
 
 {Bulletin National City Bank, New York.) 
 
18 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 The Power and Profit of Soil Fertility 
 
 No Surer Profit Than Fertile Land: 
 
 Never in the history of our country have such efforts been 
 made to improve conditions on the farm; never has the need 
 been so recognized of applying more profitable methods on the 
 farm; and never have our farmers recognized and appreciated 
 the real value of making and keeping their land fertile. As the 
 late James J. Hill said: ''There is no surer profit than that which 
 comes from the development of fertile land well adapted to some 
 staple crop." 
 
 Ami IK 1 pioduces more tli m tluc i iDiiitli^ of all the corn grown and a crop like the above is 
 by no means uncommon wheie Coninieicial Fertilizers are used. 500 lbs. of V-C Fertilizers 
 were used per acre on this field and the vield averaged more than 80 bushels to the acre. 
 
 Soil Fertility Pays. 
 
 American Farmer Produces Most Wealth: 
 
 If asked to name the most valuable minerals of the United 
 States, most persons would promptly suggest gold, silver, iron, 
 lead, zinc and copper. Yet the American farmer mines more 
 wealth from the soil in a single year than has been taken from 
 the gold mines of the United States in all the years since Colum- 
 bus discovered America. It is literally true that our most im- 
 portant mineral deposits are the elements of plant-food con- 
 tained in our soils. The soil is the only mine known which 
 under proper management and liberal fertilization will not run 
 out. But too many farmers are yet "mining" their soil by 
 taking everything out and putting nothing back. A nation 
 built upon Agriculture will perish when the soil can no longer 
 yield its harvest. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 19 
 
 Soils Originally Had Plenty of Plant-Food: 
 
 Our best soils originally contained from 6,000 to 8,000 pounds 
 of nitrogen, from 2,000 to 3,000 pounds of phosphorus, and from 
 30,000 to 45,000 pounds of potassium to the acre in the first 
 twelve inches, but continuous cultivation, heavy cropping, sur- 
 face washing, and leaching have reduced the store of plant-food 
 in most soils much below these amounts. It is evident that if 
 most soils are to produce heavy yields, either the food they 
 contain must be made available more rapidly than it is in the 
 average soil, or the crops must be helped with Fertilizers. 
 
 Bigger Crops at Less Cost by Fertilization: 
 
 A prominent captain of industry of the Middle West said: 
 "Fertilization dovetails with diversification. It is one of the 
 principal objects of diversification. It produces bigger yields 
 per acre, thereby reducing the cost of production per acre. The 
 problem in a nutshell is to provide a bigger profit for the producer, 
 and lower prices for the consumer. In what better manner can a 
 bigger profit be assured than through the production of bigger 
 crops at proportionately less cost? That is what intelligent fer- 
 tilization will accomplish." 
 
 What happens to Cotton when no Fertilizers are used is well illustrated in the above. The 
 
 insert shows the results where Fertilizers were not applied. On the other field 500 lbs. of 
 
 V-C was applied per acre and the results speak for itself. 
 
20 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 Larger and More Thrifty Crops: 
 
 In the Bureau of Soils Bulletin No, 48, issued by the Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture in Washington, a most interesting and 
 significent fact is pointed out which should be of special interest 
 to the farmers of the Southern States who have neglected their 
 opportunity by not growing small grain on some of their land. 
 We quote from the above mentioned bulletin as follows: 
 
 "It is significent that the sandy soils of the Norfolk and 
 Portsmouth series collected from the Southern States, where 
 wheat is seldom grown, have produced, on an average, larger 
 and more thrifty wheat plants by the application of a Complete 
 Fertilizer and lime than have been produced by the same or 
 other treatment on soils of the Marshall or Miami series from 
 Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and New York where wheat does well." 
 
 Therefore, why should the farmer of the Southern States not 
 plant more wheat and other small grain on his land? Hasn't 
 he depended upon Western and Northern grain long enough and 
 paid a big price for doing so? The single State of Illinois grows 
 about 130,000,000 bushels more of oats than is grown in all the 
 Southern States combined. 
 
 Manure Not a Balanced Fertilizer: 
 
 The "Indiana Farmer" points out a few pertinent facts con- 
 cerning the value of Commercial Fertilizers and barn manure. 
 It is a well known fact that the West and Middle- West farmers 
 have an idea that by using barn manure on their soil and crops 
 it is all that is necessary. That this is a fallacy the "Indiana 
 Farmer" points out as follows: 
 
 "Manure alone is not a balanced Fertilizer. It is deficient 
 in the mineral substances which all plants demand. To get the 
 most out of our manure we should supplement its use with 
 Commercial Fertilizers carrying plenty of phosphorus and 
 potash. All experience proves that Fertilizers are most pro- 
 fitable when used judiciously in connection with barn manures 
 and green manures. Barn manures must undergo chemical 
 changes in the soil before the plant-food in them can be used by 
 the growing plants. Commercial Fertilizers contain readily 
 available plant-food. This may be assimilated and used at once 
 by the plant to give it a good start while the manure is being 
 worked over in the soil to help out later on. There is no danger 
 in using plenty of Commercial Fertilizers providing the ground 
 is not allowed to run down and lose its vegetable or organic 
 matter. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 21 
 
 Fertilizer Experiences of Successful Corn Growers: 
 
 "The fertilized rows had larger ears and fewer soft nubbins. 
 The corn w^as drier and more solid, so that a later weighing would 
 show a greater difference in favor of the Fertilizer. The ferti- 
 lized rows yielded at the rate of 46 J^ bushels per acre, the un- 
 fertilized not quite 36 bushels, a gain of 103 -^ bushels due to the 
 Fertilizer. At only 60 cents per bushel of corn, the price at 
 husking time, the increased yield is worth $6.30. The cost of 
 Fertilizer was $1.20 per acre. The judicius use of Fertilizers 
 practically guarantees a net return of 400%. It hardly need be 
 said that Fertilizers can be used to good advantage on practically 
 every farm in the State." 
 Richest Agricultural County in the U. S. : 
 
 And where do you suppose this richest of Counties is situ- 
 ated? Not in California or the South where the crop growing 
 season is longest, neither is it the much talked of Lancaster 
 County in Pennsylvania, nor some of the great Counties of the 
 Middle West. It is a County situated at the most extreme 
 northeastern boundry of the United States; stuck way up into 
 Canada and surrounded on three sides by Canada; where the 
 mercury frequently goes as low as forty degrees below zero and 
 stays there for days and weeks at a time. A County that is 
 almost as large as the whole State of Massachusetts. 
 
 Aroostook County, Maine, is now said to be the richest 
 Agricultural County in the United States today. It produces 
 between 17,000,000 and 25,000,000 bushels of potatoes a year. 
 The great wealth produced by the farmers of Aroostook County 
 is simply the result of intelligent farming. 
 
 Though this County has only 14 banks, last May these banks 
 held deposits of more than $15,000,000. Fortunes have been 
 made by the farmers of Aroostook County, manv farmers having 
 sold $40,000, $50,000 and in some cases as high as $100,000 
 worth of potatoes as the result of their season's work. 
 
 The farmers of Aroostook County began buying automobiles 
 and electric light plants; not the cheap and small automobiles, 
 but the kind that range in price from $3000 to $5000 each. One 
 manufacturer of automobiles shipped a trainload of 53 box cars 
 loaded to the doors with his product to Aroostook County, and 
 within two weeks after arrival every automobile in the shipment 
 had been sold. Besides buying automobiles the farmers of 
 Aroostook County made heavy purchases of farm machinery. 
 One single manufacturer of Agricultural Implements sold 60 
 carloads of plows, harvesters and tractors there. 
 
22 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 The Nation's Greatest Asset Must Be 
 Conserved 
 
 An Investment for a Definite and Profitable Return : 
 
 The wise and prudent farmer not alone plans to get results 
 immediately from his soil, but get the maximum results, as well 
 as establishes a permanent soil fertility. The wise farmer knows 
 that soils that are not properly handled and fertiUzed become so 
 poor that they will not produce profitable crops. Whether or 
 not a soil contains an abundance of the essential plant foods is 
 not so important as whether the plant foods are available. If 
 they are not the soil containing them is no better than a barren 
 soil. No one denies that when an abundance of good fertilizer 
 is wisely added to a soil the returns from it are improved. It is 
 a simple matter of investment for a definite return to use fertil- 
 izers that come back to you in profitable crops. 
 
 Enormous Soil Fertility Depletion: 
 
 A noted professor of economics at the University of Berlin 
 aptly brought out to what extent our soil fertility is depleted by 
 the following statement: 
 
 "In every million bushels of wheat that we purchase from 
 America there are 1,575,000 pounds of phosphorus, nitrogen and 
 potash, worth in round numbers about $267,000, at pre-war 
 prices." 
 
 Think what this means to soil fertility depletion on a wheat 
 crop of 1,025,801,000 bushels such as we had in 1915. A loss of 
 just $274,288,867 on the above basis. Since the nation's greatest 
 asset is the soil, we must conserve it, place it on a permanent soil 
 fertility basis and keep it there year in and out. We must not 
 rob our soils of its wealth producing properties. The soil is a 
 better wealth producer than all the mines put together — with 
 proper management. So don't rob your own bank by taking out 
 and putting nothing in. 
 
 Multiplying Productive Capacity Pays; 
 
 With big profits, industry expands rapidly; with small profits 
 it stands still; with no profits it declines. This applies to the 
 farmer as well as to the manufacturer. 
 
 In various lines of manufacturing, tremendous profits were 
 realized in the past few years. Examination shows that much 
 of the greater part of these profits went back into the business, 
 thereby increasing capacity, multiplying productive capacity. 
 The same method or process of multiplying productive capacity 
 
MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 23 
 
 can be applied on the farm. As the farm mcreases its productive 
 capacity, it also decreases its productive capacity in diminishing 
 the soil fertility, the crop producing properties. The farmer must 
 also put some of his profits back into the business — the soil, so 
 that his next crop will produce still further profits. 
 
 The Stimulus of High Prices : 
 
 In normal times every bushel of wheat contained 30 cents 
 worth of soil salts; these soil salts, extracted by the growing 
 wheat, must be replaced by fertilizers. We dare not, in fact we 
 can not afford to, continue to deplete our soil without restora- 
 tion. Our wheat growing has mined our soil in a manner that 
 no other nation would allow. From a yield of 40 bushels to the 
 acre in virgin fields, our average has dropped to 15 bushels from 
 the nation and 10 or 12 bushels in worn-out states. The farmer 
 must not only restore the soil salts extracted this year, but 
 restore those extracted in the last decade, if we are to meet the 
 agricultural demands wdiich the world will put upon us. 
 
 The laws of chemistry, of plant growth and of agricultural 
 economics are inexorable. To have enough bread to stave off 
 famine is the all important first consideration, both for ourselves 
 and for the whole world, which will be dependent upon our 
 foodstuffs during the next years as never before. During the 
 last three years the world has made unprecedented demands 
 upon American industries. They met that demand because 
 they were allowed the stimulus of high prices. Should not the 
 industry of agriculture have an equally great or even greater 
 stimulus since in the next two or three years the world's demand 
 is going to fall upon our agriculture as never before? For upon 
 the industry of farming depends the welfare and existence of all 
 industries and mankind. 
 
 A Sound Agricultural Policy Needed 
 
 It is high time the farmer and his interests should have that 
 consideration which a progressive age entitles them to. At last 
 it seems to be dawning upon this country that the most im- 
 portant thing for us at the present time is the creation and pur- 
 suit of a sound agricultural policy, a system of encouraging 
 farm production. In some way the disorganized farmers must 
 organize so they will have that collective strength which 
 has come from corporate or associated effort in other fields of 
 production. 
 
24 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 In the midst of a worldwide depletion of agricultural 
 production, a depletion which cannot be made good within at 
 least five years after the close of the war. Between 40,000,000 
 and 60,000,000 men have already been withdrawn from agri- 
 cultural production and thrown into the war or into business 
 connected with the war and not connected with agriculture. 
 Millions of those men have been killed, millions more crippled, 
 still other millions so disused to agricultural life that they will 
 never return to it. 
 
 Take the matter alone of skilled agriculturists who have 
 perished. This place cannot be taken by men from other voca- 
 tions, even if these men were forced to go to the farm. Farm 
 life is exceedingly varied; it requires a strong physique, years of 
 training and practice to make a good agriculturist. 
 
 The fields of Europe have for more than three years gone 
 almost without fertilizers. The salt of Europe's soil has been 
 mined. It will take many years to replace the fields in that old 
 state of fertility, even if the usual labor power of tilling them 
 were in existence. 
 
 Today, right now, America has an unexampled opportunity 
 and an unexampled obligation. If there is not to be a world- 
 wide famine, both now and after the war, we must step in and 
 prevent it. And we can step in in no better way than to estab- 
 lish and pursue an agricultural policy upon which the progress 
 of civilization in the next ten years or more will largely depend. 
 Progressive civilization is not possible without progressive 
 agriculture, and we will not have progressive agriculture unless 
 we establish and pursue a sounder agricultural policy than now 
 exists or has ever existed. 
 
 Crops Increased Over Two Billion Dollars: 
 
 The U. S. Census Map following page 25 clearly indicates 
 the expenditures for fertilizers in 1909. Each dot equals $5,000 
 spent for fertilizers. This indicates what a big field of possi- 
 bilities exists in our country for an increased consumption of 
 fertilizers, and how much a more liberal application of same will 
 mean to the future prosperity of our farms and our country. 
 
 The last U. S. Census reports that "in the country as a whole, 
 only 28.7 percent of the farms bought fertilizers. Of the total of 
 878,798,325 acres, only 478,451,750 acres were improved." 
 
 In ten years the farmers of the United States increased their 
 expenditures for fertilizers 115 percent, and in these ten years 
 the farmers increased their crops from an aggregate of $2,998,- 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 25 
 
 704,000 to $5,478,161,000, showing an increased crop value of 
 $2,488,457,000. The value of all crops for 1917 reached the 
 enormous total of $13,580,768,000." 
 
 This increase is not due entirely to the increased use of 
 fertilizers, but can it not be well imagined what the increased 
 crop value of all farms would be if 100 percent of the farmers, 
 instead of only 28.7 percent, used plant-food on their soil and 
 crops. 
 
 In the so-called "Cotton States" the greatest increase in the 
 use of fertilizers is shown, and here the total value of crops in- 
 creased 112.7 percent. 
 
 This neck-high Cotton is concrete evidence that it pays to Fertilize and Fertilize well. V-C 
 Fertihzers applied at the rate of 1000 lbs. per acre produced two bales to the acre on this field. 
 
 $1.30 or 4 Cents Worth of Fertilizer to the Acre: 
 
 The compilers of the last United States Census made the 
 following discovery concerning the value of plant-food and its 
 resultant benefits and profits: 
 
 "The 'worn-out' and 'barren' farms of New England pro- 
 duce on an average more corn and Avheat to the acre than is 
 grown in the famous corn and wheat belt States of the Middle- 
 West, as the following proves:" 
 
 New England States used $1.30 worth of fertilizers to the 
 acre on its farms. 
 
 Middle-West States used 4 cents' worth of fertilizers to the 
 acre on its farms. 
 
26 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 Each dot on the above iUustration means that $5000 has been spent for 
 FertiHzer. It will be readily seen that as yet the Farmers of the West have 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 27 
 
 not. awakened to the worth of FertiHzins their fields. The day will come 
 however, wh-jn they will get increased yields per acre. 
 
28 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 New England produced 44 bushels of corn to the acre. 
 Middle-West " 29 " " " " " " 
 
 New England produced 23 bushels of wheat to the acre. 
 Middle- West " 17 " " " " " " 
 
 Does this not prove conclusively the great value and ad- 
 vantage of using plant-food and an abundance of it on soil and 
 crops? 
 
 Over $1,700 Net Profit Annually on One Acre for 18 Years: 
 
 It used to be said that no one could support a family on less 
 than 100 acres, but some of the European farmers who have 
 settled in various parts of the West have known that this is a 
 long way from being true. 
 
 A notable example of their intensive methods is that of a 
 Belgian, who on a single acre of land in Nevada has for 18 years 
 made an average annual net profit of more than $1700, while 
 rearing and educating a family of eight children. 
 
 It is a well known fact that the farmers of Belgium use more 
 commercial fertilizers per acre than are used in any other part 
 of the world. They use an average of 243 pounds of fertilizer per 
 acre on all their cultivated lands, not including animal manures. 
 In the United States we use only about 31 pounds of fertilizers 
 per acre on our cultivated lands. 
 
 Well drained, well cultivated and well fertilized land will 
 produce maximum results per acre. The soil and crops need 
 good care and good nourishment if the best results are desired. 
 What this progressive Belgian farmer has done in Nevada can 
 be done elsewhere if the same methods are applied. 
 
 Making the Farm an Eflficient and Profitable Workshop : 
 
 Never before has there been such a broad discussion and 
 consideration as to our problems of agricultural education as 
 now. The children destined for the farm must have in their 
 schools a broad training that will give them understanding of the 
 scientific principles as well as skill and enthusiasm for the work 
 itself. We will then be assured of having less soil robbery and a 
 greater and also better production on each acre of tilled land. 
 And as our standards rise on the farm, our agriculture will rise 
 accordingl}^ so that for future generations our soil fertility will 
 be conserved on a firm and permanent basis. We must cease 
 this present agricultural process of mining. We need this new 
 education so that the farm may become an efficient and profit- 
 able workshop, furnishing a field for skilled and trained labor, 
 intelligent management, and the profitable employment of capital. 
 
Making s oil and crops p ay more 29 
 
 A Few Interesting Facts for Farmers 
 
 A Millionaire Farmer's Views: 
 
 The Hon. James M. Smith, a millionaire farmer of Georgia, 
 who died only a short time ago, had the following to say with 
 reference to the use of fertilizers on farm crops: 
 
 "The use of fertilizers has become one of the most important 
 factors in Southern agriculture. It is a powerful agency in pro- 
 ducing an increased yield ... a thing we should desire and work 
 for. We certainly believe in the use of commercial fertilizers, 
 but we also believe in the turning under of vegetable matter 
 the growing of legumes and the saving of all barnyard manure. 
 The up-to-date farmer will not consider one of these, but all 
 four of them, in trying to increase his farm crops." 
 
 Why $140 an Acre Profit When Others Make $1600? 
 
 That intensive farming and liberal fertilization pays well is 
 best illustrated by comparing the truck farmers, methods em- 
 ployed abroad and in this country. The market gardeners near 
 Paris, who supply the city with fresh produce, average in extent 
 from one-half to two acres each. There are about 1200 of these 
 small truck farms which produce crops valued at $1600 an acre 
 each year, whereas the truck farmers on Long Island produce 
 $140 an acre. This high yield is obtained by the French gar- 
 deners by the wise and liberal use of fertilizers and intensive 
 methods of cultivation. However, simply applying fertilizers 
 to the soil will not make a good farmer out of a poor one. Fer- 
 tilizers will prove effective only in proportion to the amount of 
 intelligence the farmer uses with it. He must understand the 
 laws of the soil and plant life and the fundamental principles of 
 agricultural practice. Then will fertilizers prove most effective. 
 
 Greatest Grin-Producers in the World : 
 
 One of the progressive and prosperous farmers in Indiana has 
 discovered the great value of properly applying commercial fer- 
 tilizers on his farm. This is what he says: 
 
 "One of the things I do to boost my crops is to fertilize. Crops 
 must be fed the same as stock. Fertilizers is what I call my 
 "crop insurance." By the judicious use of fertilizers, — in other 
 words, by feeding crops according to their needs and handling 
 the soil according to its deservings, you will have insurance on 
 the greatest grin-producers in the world — bumper crops." 
 
30 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 This surely is a grin-producing crop. Erricksim and Patten of Freehold, New Jersey, secured 
 a yield of 350 bushels of American Giant Potatoes per acre. V-C Fertilizers were applied at 
 the rate of 1500 pounds per acre to produce this splendid crop. 
 
 How a 50-Cent an Acre Farm Made Good: 
 
 On a sandy farm in one of the Southern States, which had 
 been abandoned by its original owner and sold for fifty cents per 
 acre, a little barnyard manure and heavy applications of fer- 
 tilizer made another farmer rich. This farmer used $15 worth 
 of fertilizer per acre and raised 1,400 pounds of seed cotton per 
 acre. This was about a bale per acre on the entire farm. This 
 investment in fertilizers and good breaking and cultivation 
 netted the thrifty farmer more than $50 per acre when cotton 
 was bringing a high price. This farm can not now be bought 
 for 50 cents per acre. 
 
 Farmers Must Make Good Profits: 
 
 A prominent manufacturer of fertilizers in the South indi- 
 cates the attitude of the manufacturers to the farmers in the 
 following expressions : 
 
 "We feel we will help ourselves in helping others. Through 
 co-operation can the greatest success in any industry be achieved. 
 The fertilizer industry can not succeed unless the farmers who 
 consume the fertilizers make good profits from their use. Can 
 any one with good sense and judgment imagine that the industry 
 
MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 31 
 
 could survive if fertilizers did not yield a profit considerably in 
 excess of their cost to the farmers?" 
 
 How Much Is a Billion Dollars? 
 
 We have heard much of late years about billions of bushels 
 and billions of dollars. Yet how many of us stop to think what 
 a billion really is, it is almost beyond comprehension, for it is 
 such a tremendous sum. Prof. Sprague of Harvard University, 
 in conversation with Mr. Peter W. Goebel, President of the 
 American Bankers' Association, made this very interesting 
 remark: 
 
 "If you want to bring the greatness of a billion dollars to the 
 attention of the average audience, tell them this: Supposing at 
 the birth of Christ, somebody, or some system, had started to 
 deposit into the treasury one dollar a minute for every minute 
 of the twentj^-four hours of the day and continued until today, 
 he still would not have quite a billion." 
 
 Multiply this seven times, and you then may form some 
 idea as to what a stupendous amount our Government borrowed 
 when on April 23, 1917, it authorized the Secretary of the 
 Treasury to borrow seven billions of dollars. 
 
 125 Years to Count a Billion Bushels : 
 
 We now think and talk in billions. Some one has figured it 
 out that it would take 102 years to count a billion silver dollars 
 at the rate that the expert money counters of the United States 
 Treasury count money. These expert money counters can 
 count 4,000 silver dollars an hour, or 32,000 a day. At this rate 
 it would take over 125 years to count the number of bushels of 
 wheat of a single year — 1915, which consisted of 1,025,801,000 
 bushels, which was the largest wheat crop this country has ever 
 known. 
 
 What a good thing it is that the wealth of the United States 
 which is now about $240,000,000,000, does not have to be 
 counted in silver dollars. At the rate of counting 4,000 dollars 
 an hour it would take 24,480 years to count this enormous 
 wealth, if it were all in silver dollars. A billion is certainly a 
 whole lot. The money value of all the crops produced by the 
 farmers of the United States that same year was $6,652,000,000. 
 Some business for that one year. Surely the men that produced 
 it should be entitled to a good margin of profit on it. 
 
32 MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 
 
 How Plants Add to the Wealth of the World: 
 
 The wealth of the world consists of : 
 
 a. Land or Soil. 
 
 b. Products of Mines, Quarries, etc. 
 
 c. Members of the Animal Kingdom. 
 
 d. Members of the Plant Kingdom. 
 
 e. The conversion of crude into finished products by the 
 
 process of manufacture, construction, etc. 
 
 Soil tillage for the production of plants and animals employs 
 more people, supplies more of the world's necessities and creates 
 more wealth than many other vocations combined. 
 
 The corn crop of 1914 amounted to nearly four billion 
 bushels. If this corn had been placed in bags two feet long with 
 two bushels in each bag and these bags placed in lines around 
 the earth at the equator they would have encircled the earth 
 58.5 times. The wheat crop of 1914 placed in two bushel bags 
 two feet long would have encircled the earth very nearly 64 
 times and the oat crop 22 times. The world annually produces 
 more than 1,000 bilhon pounds of the six most important cereals 
 — wheat, corn, oats, rice, rye and barley. This is 500 million 
 tons. If these grains were loaded into freight cars of average 
 capacity they would encircle the earth at the equator 7.75 times. 
 If one crop of potatoes, beans, peas, sugar, fruits and vegetables 
 was all loaded into freight cars of average capacity more cars 
 would be required than for the six great cereals. If all the cot- 
 ton grown in the world in 1914 had been packed into 500 pound 
 bales five feet long they would have if placed in line at the 
 equator just about reached around the earth, making a line of 
 bales 25,000 miles long and the bales touching. If the market 
 value of these crops was set down in figures showing the millions 
 of dollars of wealth they represent, the human mind could not 
 grasp them. No one can fully realize the vast value of the crops 
 of the world. Should all crops fail for one year more people 
 would die of starvation than have been killed in all the wars of 
 a thousand years. The population of the earth is increasing 
 annually by millions of souls that must be clothed and fed, and 
 the great economic problem of the future will be where with all 
 shall the people of the world get their food and raiment. This 
 problem must be solved by the farmer and the solution will be 
 reached through "How to Make Soil and Crops Pay More." 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 33 
 
 How Plants Supply Food, Clothing, Building 
 Material, Medicine, Etc. : 
 
 But few people realize the extent to which plants add to the 
 necessities, comforts and pleasures of man. Every part of every 
 plant that grows may serve some useful purpose to man. The 
 variety of uses to which plants are put and may be put is almost 
 inconceivable. They contain every element of nutriment for the 
 best sustenance of man or beast and in cheap, palatable, nutritious 
 and appropriate forms of food. Root, stem, bark, leaf, flower, 
 seed furnish more than three-fourths of the sustenance of man 
 and practically all that sustains man's domestic animals. Prac- 
 tically all the clothing used by man is either directly of plant 
 origin or indirectly, coming from the animals sustained by 
 plants. The medicines in their infinite variety and marvelous 
 curative power come from plants far more than from all other 
 sources. The books and newspapers are made from plants and 
 the ink with which they are printed. More than all other things 
 do plants contribute to man's necessities. Should plants for one 
 short year fail to give their bounty famine w^ould do more the 
 following year to destroy civilization than all agencies combined 
 for tAvo thousand years have done to establish it. Is it not then 
 our duty to minister to these God-given plants that they may 
 better serve the purpose God intended them to serve? 
 
 Miles of Roots and Millions of Mouths 
 
 Roots by the Mile : 
 
 It will no doubt be a surprise to many to learn to what extent 
 roots of plants grow. The roots of a corn or sunflower plant 
 fill a cubic yard of soil with tiny rootlets. The roots produced 
 in a season by a wheat plant, if placed end to end, would extend 
 a third of a mile. A pumpkin vine may produce 15 miles of 
 roots in one season. Alfalfa roots have been know^n to go down 
 into the soil 30 feet. Grapevine roots have been found 22 feet 
 below the surface. The total length of all the roots of a water 
 plant was found to be about 268 feet, of a rye plant 385 feet, 
 and one corn plant had a total length of 1452 feet of roots. And 
 if these roots find no plant-food to feed them, what happens to 
 the plants? They die of starvation. 
 
 A Few Great Drinkers : 
 
 In more than half the area of the United States there is not 
 enough water available in the average season for a maximum 
 
34 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 yield of crops. In the central part of the United States agri- 
 cultural plants, on the average, take about 450 pounds of water 
 from the soil for every pound of dry matter produced. By care- 
 ful experiment the pounds of water which under ordinary con- 
 ditions are drawn from the soil for every pound of dry matter 
 manufactured by certain plants has been ascertained to be as 
 follows : 
 
 Pounds 
 
 Alfalfa 1068 
 
 Canada Field Peas 800 
 
 Rye 724 
 
 Sweet Clover 709 
 
 Oats 614 
 
 Pounds 
 
 Wheat 507 
 
 Potatoes 488 
 
 Sugar Beets 377 
 
 Corn 369 
 
 Sorghums 306 
 
 Millet 275 
 
 Alfalfa, by reason of its deep rooting habit, feeds through a 
 greater area than other plants, and is therefore among the last 
 to suffer. The large amount of water used by alfalfa explains 
 why crops that follow alfalfa, such as corn, often suffer for lack 
 of sufficient moisture. In poor soil plants manufacture little or 
 nothing for long periods, although the water passes from their 
 bodies all of the time. High fertility, therefore, means more 
 rapid production and consequently cheaper farming. Plants 
 must be rushed at their work. 
 
 Leaves with Millions of Mouths: 
 
 In the surface layer, or epider- 
 mis, of the leaves of plants there 
 are many small pores through 
 which the water passes to the out- 
 side air. These pores are known 
 as stomata (stoma, singular, mean- 
 ing mouth). The stomata opening 
 is surrounded by a pair of surface 
 cells, known as guard cells. In dry 
 weather the guard cells are usually 
 affected so as to close the opening, 
 and in damp weather, so as to 
 leave it open. The number of 
 stomata on the leaves varies on 
 an average from about 24,000 
 to 180,000 a square inch, although 
 there are plants, such as the olive 
 
 Stomata or leaf mouths as seen through a, • i_*uj.u u _ 
 
 powerful microscope. These stomata are on tree, m Whlch the number runS aS 
 the underside of the leaf, and it is through 
 these openings that the plant breathes. 
 
MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 35 
 
 high as 375,000 a square inch, and in rape the enormous number 
 of 429,000 a square inch is reached. It is said that an average 
 leaf of rape contains as many as 11,000,000 stomata, and that a 
 large sunflower leaf has 13,000,000. It is estimated that if all the 
 water given off by the plants of a wheat field in the growing sea- 
 son could be put back on the land again, it would cover the ground 
 to a depth of about four and a half inches, while that given off 
 from the plants of a field of oats would cover the ground to a 
 depth of five inches. This shows that a wide margin of 
 safety exists for a farmer who handles his land so as to 
 conserve the water. 
 
 What Agricultural Educators and Experiment 
 Stations Have Found 
 
 General Tendency Is to Use Fertilizers in too Small Amounts : 
 
 Prof. Lucius L. Van Slyke of the New York Agricultural 
 Experiment Station, in his valuable book entitled ''Fertilizers 
 and Crops," among other facts of interest, points out the value 
 of soil fertility and plant-food. We quote in part as follows: 
 
 "The general tendency among not a few farmers is to use 
 fertilizers, if they use them at all, in too small amounts. While 
 the usual purpose in using fertilizers is to supplement the soil's 
 supply of plant-food, there are two points of view in mind: (1) 
 helping crops to start, and (2) helping them throughout their 
 entire period of growth. 
 
 "An ideal soil for raising good crops should possess qualities 
 such as an abundance of plant-food, good physical condition, 
 abundance of organic matter and calcium carbonate and good 
 drainage. On soils which are more or less deficient in qualities 
 characteristic of fertile soils, the use of fertilizers will generally 
 be necessary from the start to insure good yield and quality." 
 
 Three Hundred Trillion Cells in One Day : 
 
 "We may regard an ordinary living plant as a chemical 
 laboratory or factory, containing immense numbers of small 
 rooms, which we call plant-cells, each of which contains every- 
 thing essential for its work of production, and in which there is 
 at one time or another intense industrial activity. 
 
 "In some cases, one cell divides into two cells every 30 
 minutes; that is, passes through its cycle of life from birth to 
 reproduction; if such a rate were kept up for 24 hours the one 
 cell would multiply into more than three hundred trillions 
 (300,000,000,000,000). 
 
36 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 Great Waste on the Farm : 
 
 "The methods pursued by the American farmer in drawing 
 upon the readily available plant-food supplies deposited for 
 their use by the accumulations of long ages have been wasteful 
 if not yet exhaustive. 
 
 "One-third of the plant-food value of the manure produced 
 by the different kinds of farm animals in the United States is 
 lost by carelessness, a loss equivalent to $700,000,000 a year." 
 
 "The conditions of soils that are recognized as best suited to 
 crop production are the one which best furnish available plant- 
 food. 
 
 "The agricultural value of a fertilizer is measured by its 
 crop-producing power from the standpoint of the farmer. 
 
 Eight BiUion on Pinhead : 
 
 "It is only within recent years that the science of the micro- 
 scopic life of the soil has developed. Those tiny forms of life 
 are found in great abundance in the soil. Scientists have dis- 
 covered that some of the bacteria are so small that 8,000,000,000 
 of them could be placed on the head of an ordinary pin." 
 
 What Constitutes Good Farming: 
 
 Director Edward B. Voorhees, of the New Jersey Agri- 
 cultural Experiment Station and Professor of Agriculture at 
 Rutgers College, clearly points out the value of soil fertility as 
 follows : 
 
 The Reliability of Commercial Fertilizers 
 
 "Commercial fertilizers are widely distributed, are easily 
 obtained, and can be purchased in any desired amount and at 
 any convenient time. There is an advantage in being able to 
 obtain the same mixture from year to year, when it best suits 
 one's needs, and to feel assured of having the same kinds of 
 plant-food materials in the same proportions. Generally speak- 
 ing, the same brand of fertilizer, especially in case of the large 
 manufacturers, has been found very uniform from year to year. 
 It is possible for manufacturers to prepare fertilizers so that they 
 are evenly and thoroughly mixed, finely ground, dry, and in 
 condition for convenient use. The manufacture of commercial 
 fertilizers today is, on the whole, more carefully managed, and 
 the products more reliable in uniformity, than at any previous 
 time. 
 
 "There is no question of greater importance to the practical 
 farmer than that of soil fertility. To produce profitable crops 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 37' 
 
 and at the same time to maintain and even increase the produc- 
 tive capacity of the soil may rightly be termed 'good farming.' 
 
 "The agricultural value of any of the fertilizer constituents is 
 measured by the value of the crop increase which its use may be 
 expected to produce. The fertilizer when used in connection 
 with a crop possessing a greater market value may prove highly 
 profitable, since the monetary return secured from the crop 
 increase is much greater than the cost of the fertilizer," 
 
 Profits Within Farmers' Control : 
 
 "The profit from the use of fertilizers is measured to a large 
 degree by the perfection of soil conditions which are entirely 
 within the power of the farmer to control. The production 
 possible from a definite amount of plant-food can be secured 
 only when the conditions are such as permit its proper solution, 
 distribution, and retention in the soil. 
 
 "It should be the aim in the use of commercial fertilizers to 
 supplement the plant-food derived from the soil itself in such 
 a manner as to make possible the most profitable returns. Farm- 
 ing will thus be more successful, because profitable crops are 
 secured, while fertility of the soil is at the same time increased. 
 
 "Commercial fertilizers are mainly valuable because they 
 furnish the elements — nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash — 
 which serve as food, not as stimulants. A definite system or 
 plan should be adopted in the use of fertilizers; 'hit or miss* 
 methods are seldom satisfactory, and frequently very expensive." 
 
 Fertile Soil and Bumper Crops for 4200 Years : 
 
 The late Prof. F. H. King, D. Sc, formerly Professor of 
 Agricultural Physics at the University of Wisconsin, and Chief 
 of Division of Soil Management U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, in 
 his interesting history of "Farmers of Forty Centuries," points 
 out how the farmers of the Orient have successfully applied 
 plant-foods, good tillage and crop rotation to their intensive 
 methods of farming. 
 
 Prof. King relates how for hundreds of centuries these 
 Oriental soils have been tilled to the limit and produced ex- 
 ceptional crops. For 4200 years the fertility of these soils has 
 not decreased but increased, and today are producing crops four 
 and five times as much as we produce on our own soils here in 
 the United States. These Oriental farmers never "mine" their 
 soils, but 5'ear after year see to it that the fertility of the soil is 
 regularly maintained and increased, not robbed as is done so 
 much in this country. 
 
38 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 Feeding Apple Trees Pays: 
 
 Some interesting experiments were conducted by the Massa- 
 chusetts Experiment Station in determining the value of fer- 
 tihzers on an apple orchard. The cost of fertilizers was about 
 $12.00 per acre per annum. Between the trees hay was grown 
 for four years which was worth $270, which in itself more than 
 paid for the cost of fertilizer. The total yield of these trees for 
 20 years was as follows: 
 
 Barrels per Acre 
 Fertilized Unfertilized 
 
 Gravenstein 267 . 5 89 . 2 
 
 Baldwin 819.1 50.4 
 
 Russets 566.2 114.4 
 
 Greenings 341.3 96.9 
 
 Fertilizer Results on an Ohio Orchard. The two rows of 12 trees each are of the same variety, 
 received the same treatment in mulching and spraying, yet note the difference in the yield. 
 The row on the left was fertilized and yielded 30 barrels. The row on the right, unfertilized, 
 produced 3 barrels of apples. The difference of 27 barrels of apples was due to P'ertilizer 
 which was applied at the rate of 10 pounds per tree. 
 
 Increased Yields Per Acre Did It: 
 
 Dean Homer C. Price, College of Agriculture, Ohio State 
 University, Columbus, writing on "Increasing the Food Supply 
 of the Nation," as published in the Scientific American, says: 
 
MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 39 
 
 "A nation's food supply may be increased either by increasing 
 the area cultivated or by increasing the yield per acre. In 
 America we have been using the former method, and in Germany 
 the latter method has been used. Within twenty years the cul- 
 tivated area of grain in Germany has not increased over 5 per- 
 cent, but within this time the total product has increased over 
 60 percent, due to the increased yield per acre. This increase 
 has been due to the application of science to the practice of 
 agriculture, and has resulted from a better cultivation and 
 handling of the soil, from the more abundant and intelligent use 
 of stable manures and commercial fertilizers, and from the se- 
 lection and breeding of more productive varieties of crops." 
 
 Two Interesting Comparisons : 
 
 It will be of interest to compare the increase of five principal 
 crops in the United States with Germany's increase. Official 
 records for 20 years in Germany and 18 years in the U. S. show 
 the following: 
 
 Increase in Yield in Five Crops of Germany in 20 years, 
 and Same in U. S. in 18 Years: 
 
 Germany United States 
 
 Wheat 47.8% increase 15.7% increase 
 
 Rye 70.0% " 29.2% " 
 
 Oats 68.6% " 13.3% " 
 
 Barley 51.8% " 8.8% 
 
 Potatoes 71.6% " 32.3% " 
 
 Commenting on this showing Dean Price further says: "The 
 German is more careful in the selection of his seed, and his stand 
 of the crop on the ground is more perfect. He has also learned 
 how to feed his crops with fertilizers." 
 
 Why Home Mixing Is Not Best : 
 
 In Bulletin No. 167 of the Texas Agricultural Experiment 
 Station is clearly pointed out the advantage of having fertilizers 
 well mixed, and why the manufacturer of fertilizers can do this 
 best. We quote as follows: 
 
 "The fertilizer manufacturer has the advantage of purchasing 
 his materials in large quantities at wholesale prices. He also 
 has the advantage of possessing the necessary machinery and 
 appliances for mixing at a lower cost per ton than the home 
 mixer." 
 
40 MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 
 
 Indiana Farmers Found It Profitable : 
 
 Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station in its 
 Circular No. 49 emphatically points out to what extent com- 
 mercial fertilizers have helped the Indiana farmers in increasing 
 their crops and profits. We quote as follows: 
 
 "At the present time there is no Agricultural subject in 
 which there is more general interest than that of soil fertility. 
 The farmers of Indiana have found it profitable to spend $3,- 
 400,000 a year for commercial plant-foods among the 215,485 
 farms. 
 
 $5.00 Worth of Commercial Fertilizer Gave Greater Increase 
 Than Ten Tons of Manure 
 
 "One application of 207 pounds of muriate of potash to the 
 acre on muck soil gave an increase of 82 bushels of corn in four 
 years, while an application of 10 tons of barnyard manure to the 
 acre only increased the jdeld 51 bushels during the same period. 
 In this experiment an application of potash costing $5.00 gave 
 a greater increase in crop than an application of 10 tons of 
 manure. Contrary to the general opinion, farm manures are not 
 well balanced fertilizers for most soils." 
 
 Indiana Shows 187 Percent Increase: 
 
 In Bulletin No. 174 of the Purdue University Agricultural 
 Experiment Station, we learn to what extent the Indiana farmers 
 have increased the use of commercial fertilizers on their soil and 
 crops in recent years, as follows : 
 
 "Total amount of fertilizers sold in Indiana in 1913 was 
 193,899 tons, having a retail value of $4,516,404.81. The sale 
 in the spring amounted to 84,769 tons, valued at $2,068,649.13, 
 and in the fall of 109,130 tons valued at $2,447,755.68. Com- 
 pared with the 67,672 tons sold in 1904, ten years previous, 
 shows an increase of 126,277 tons, equivalent to 187 per cent." 
 
 What 30 Years' Experiments Proved : 
 
 The Pennsylvania State College of Agriculture has made 
 some very interesting and conclusive experiments on various 
 crops with the use of fertilizers. After 30 years of experiments 
 it found that the judicious use of fertilizers increased the yield 
 per acre on four crops as follows: 
 
 Wheat made a gain of 74 percent in yield per acre. 
 Hay " " " " 54 " " " " " 
 Corn " " " " 36 " " " " " 
 Oats " " " " 31 " " " " " 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 41 
 
 Fertilized Wheat 94 Percent Plump, Unfertilized Wheat 51 
 Percent Plump: 
 
 The Ohio Experiment Station made some interesting experi- 
 ments on wheat. It reports that where the wheat was grown on 
 soil which was not fertihzed, the sample of grain showed 49 
 percent shriveled wheat and 51 percent plumb wheat. Whereas, 
 the wheat which received a judicious amount of the correct 
 plant-food, the sample of grain analyzed 6 percent shriveled and 
 94 percent plump. Is this not conclusive evidence as to the 
 value of proper fertilization? 
 
 The Value of a Knowledge of Farm Manage- 
 ment Principles: 
 
 Many American farmers are getting 
 less from their labor than they are entitled 
 to because they fail to recognize certain 
 fundamental principles which underlie suc- 
 cessful farm management. 
 
 One of the important lessons we have 
 learned from the science of farm manage- 
 ment is that the great majority of Ameri- 
 can farmers must make their living from 
 the production of ordinary field crops and 
 standard live stock products. It has also 
 taught us that in order that the farmer 
 may be duly rewarded for his time and 
 energy he must work a considerable acreage 
 of land. The ideal American farm is of a 
 size that will give the average farm family 
 an opportunity to utilize their full earning 
 power at all seasons of the year. 
 
 One of the worst faults of American 
 farming, and particularly of farming in the 
 cotton belt, is the fact that the system followed leaves much of 
 the year either wholly idle or poorly occupied. A man's time is not 
 worth a great deal when he is following one six-hundred-pound 
 mule down a cotton row. The cotton farmer should at least 
 produce on his own farm all the feed and food needed by those 
 who live on the farm, and where there is a good local market for 
 food and feed products it is a good plan to produce a surplus of 
 these for sale. 
 
 Dr. \V. ,!. SpiUiuan. 
 
 Chief of tlie Uilke ol Farm 
 
 Management. 
 
42 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 Another very important lesson which the science of farm 
 management has taught us is that yield per acre is one of the 
 largest factors in the farmer's profits. A farmer whose yields are 
 low can add more to his income by giving attention to building up 
 soil fertility than he can in any other way. 
 
 Another important fact developed in farm management 
 studies is that farm land, because of the remarkable security it 
 offers as an investment, is usually held at a price that causes the 
 income from it to represent a very low percentage of its value. 
 On the other hand, when money is invested in work stock, 
 implements and the like, it brings a very high rate of income 
 under average conditions. It is not uncommon for landlords to 
 obtain an income of 4 percent or less on their real estate while 
 their tenants make an income of 15 percent to 30 percent on 
 their working capital. 
 
 The important lesson from this is that the young man starting 
 out with very small capital can make more as a tenant on a 
 farm of considerable size than he can as an owner on a small 
 patch of land. Yet the advantages of ownership are so great 
 that just as soon as the tenant is able to save enough to make a 
 first payment on a good sized farm it is important that he be- 
 come an owner. 
 
 2,000 Boys Produce Over 200,000 Bushels 
 of Corn : 
 
 One of the most revolutionary and 
 evolutionary pieces of work ever accom- 
 plished in the United States is that which 
 was done thi'ough the Boys' Corn Clubs. 
 This work was organized some years ago by 
 the late Dr. Seaman A. Knapp, and Dr. 
 Knapp's conception of the work marked a 
 new era in crop production in the South. 
 Dr. Knapp's idea was to MaJie Soil and 
 Crops Pay More, and to have boys demon- 
 strate how this could be done. How well 
 the demonstrations were carried out is 
 shown by the records of more than 25 boys 
 who produced more than 200 bushels of 
 corn per acre and more than 2,000 boys who 
 have produced more than 100 bushels of 
 corn per acre. 
 In 1916 the average yield of corn (U. S. Census) in the 
 fifteen Southern States was 20.91 bushels per acre. In the same 
 
 Dr. Seaman A. Knapp 
 Late head of tlie Boy's Club movement 
 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 43 
 
 year the average yield per acre ]\y all of the several thousand 
 members of the Boys' Corn Clubs was 46.94 bushels per acre, 
 26.03 bushels per acre in favor of the boys. The average yields 
 per acre by the Boys' Corn Club members was 124 per cent 
 more than the average yield of all the 15 Southern States. 
 The boys acres averaged five bushels more than twice as much 
 as the average per acre for the 15 Southern States. If the men 
 farmers of the South follow the lead of the Boy's Corn Club 
 members the South will more than double its yield of corn. 
 
 By following scientific instructions the Corn Club Boys in 
 fifteen states have shown that the yield of corn may be more 
 than doubled by giving timely attention to good soil prepara- 
 tion, good seed, appropriate feeding and frequent shallow 
 cultivation. Had the farmers in these states done as well as 
 the boys the total yield of corn in 1917 would have been about 
 2,000,000,000 bushels instead of a little over 900,000,000 
 bushels. 
 
 State 
 
 Average Yield in 
 Bushels in 1916 
 
 Total Annual Production 
 in Bushels 
 
 By Boys' 
 Corn Club 
 
 By Whole 
 State 
 
 1909 
 
 1917 
 
 Alabama 
 
 Arkansas 
 
 Florida 
 
 36.25 
 37.02 
 42.00 
 41.60 
 65.10 
 46.00 
 62.10 
 42.47 
 54.80 
 35.87 
 42.60 
 51.57 
 36.60 
 54.09 
 56.10 
 
 12.00 
 17.70 
 15.00 
 15.50 
 28.00 
 21.00 
 39.00 
 14.00 
 18.50 
 13.50 
 15.50 
 26.00 
 19.00 
 28.00 
 30.50 
 
 30,696,000 
 37,610,000 
 7,024,000 
 39,375,000 
 83,348,000 
 26,010,000 
 17,924,000 
 28,429,000 
 34,063,000 
 94,283,000 
 20,872,000 
 67,682,000 
 75,499,000 
 38,295,000 
 17,119,000 
 
 77,200,000 
 67,200,000 
 13,875,000 
 
 Georgia 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 Maryland 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 North Carolina . . 
 
 Oklahoma 
 
 South Carolina. . 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 Texas 
 
 Virginia 
 
 West Virginia 
 
 72,000,000 
 122,850,000 
 42,246,000 
 28,080,000 
 84,050,000 
 60,000,000 
 33,150,000 
 43,947,000 
 111,150,000 
 77,825,000 
 72,275,000 
 25,020,000 
 
 
 46.94 
 
 20.91 
 
 618,229,000 
 
 930,868,000 
 
 Boys' Average - 46.94 bushels per acre. 
 
 15 Southern States Average 20.91 bushels per acre. 
 
 Increase by Boys 26.03 bushels per acre. 
 
 The above states produced 312,639,000 bushels more corn 
 in 1917 than in 1909. 
 
1 
 
 44 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 The Business of Farming a Banking 
 Proposition 
 
 It is a well known fact that no matter 
 what crops may be grown, every crop con- 
 sumes plant-food from the soil, and this 
 plant-food supply is no more inexhaustible 
 than your bank account. Every pros- 
 perous and successful farmer has learned 
 this great truth and fundamental principle. 
 
 The reliability and strength of a bank 
 is measured by its deposits and invest- 
 ments, as w^ell as good management. In 
 this respect a farm is like a bank, for it too 
 must have good management, and when 
 the farmer realizes that his land is meas- 
 ured by the reliability and quality of its 
 deposits — available plant-food properly ap- 
 plied, he will awaken to the fact that his 
 soil and crops are as much a money-making 
 factor as a bank, if not more so, for is it not 
 true that if the farmer stopped producing 
 crops the banks would have to close and go out of business? 
 
 Hence the farmer can make his business more prosperous by 
 making his soil and crops pay more; by making his land and what 
 it produces more productive; by increasing and improving his 
 yields per acre; and by making his soil permanently fertile. If 
 he does that he will have the best bank account he could possibly 
 possess. 
 
 We will now let a few prominent and successful bankers 
 give us their views on the relationship between banking and 
 farming, and the necessity of soil and crop improvement. Every 
 farmer will be interested in the answer Mr. Oliver J. Sands, 
 President of the American National Bank of Richmond, Va., 
 gives to the question: 
 
 Why Are Your Soil and Crops Like a Bank Account? 
 
 "Because both will be useless if not properly fed. The 
 bank account is an ever present help in time of need, but it must 
 be constantly nourished by deposits of cash to replace that 
 which has been withdrawn, and the greater deposits the greater 
 the bank account. 
 
 Mr. Oliver J. Sands, 
 
 President of the American National 
 
 Bank, Richmond, Va. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 45 
 
 "Just so with your soil. You can not continue to draw on 
 it forever without depleting it of those qualities which are 
 necessary for it to have if it is to meet the demands which you 
 have a right to expect of it. 
 
 "Again the bank account grows from the intelligent use of 
 money, the practicing of well recognized rules of thrift in the 
 handling of one's affairs. So it is with the intelligent use of 
 proper methods in building up the soil, for when properly fed it 
 will yield greater returns and its value will increase. 
 
 "The soil is the basis of all wealth, for when it is made to 
 yield a proper return all business prospers." 
 
 "Soil and Crop Improvement Are More 
 Important to the People of the United 
 States Than Our Gold Production'' 
 
 The above statement was made l:)y the 
 representative of the largest banking in- 
 stitution of the United States, Mr. F. C. 
 Schwedtmann of the National City Bank 
 of New York City, in his address before 
 the National Fertilizer Association at Hot 
 Springs, Va., July 10th, 1916. The fol- 
 lowing extracts from this able address can 
 not help but be of interest and value to all 
 the farmers and bankers of this land: 
 
 "To double the crops of the United 
 States would add tremendously to the 
 wealth and contentment of our people. 
 There is a possibility of not only doubling 
 them, but quadrupling them. Secretary 
 Houston states that onlj^ 40 percent of the 
 tillable land of the United States is under 
 cultivation, and this 40 percent is not 
 bringing the return it should. The average 
 yield per acre of wheat in this country was 15J^ bushels for 1912 
 and 1913, as compared with 34 bushels in Great Britain and 35 
 bushels in Germany. During the same period potatoes yielded 
 100 bushels to the acre in the United States as compared with 
 235 to 500 bushels in Germany. Other crops follow more or less 
 the ratio of these two. Increasing the yield 100 percent per acre 
 would still leave us considerably below the best performance of 
 
 Mr. F. C. Schwedtmann, National 
 City Bank, New Yorli City 
 
46 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 European soils — some of which have been cultivated intensively 
 for centuries without signs of exhaustion. 
 
 "The money value of all the crops for the United States in 
 1915 was $6,652,000,000. Doubling the tillable soil and doubling 
 the yield per acre would bring this value to $26,608,000,000 
 annually. The value of the gold production in the United States 
 during 1915 was approximately $99,000,000, and of the whole 
 world for 1914 approximately $456,000,000. Compare these 
 figures and you will find that the value of our crops is about 67 
 times the value of our annual gold production and about 15 
 times the value of the gold production of the whole world, and 
 that by proper effort we can increase the crop value to 260 times 
 the value of our own gold production and 60 times the value of 
 the gold production of the whole world. It is evident, therefore, 
 that soil and crop improvement are far more important to the people 
 of the United States thaii our gold production. 
 
 "There are indications of crop improvement in our country. 
 The average yield of wheat per acre has been increased from 133^ 
 to 153^ bushels, or 20 percent in ten years, but during the same 
 period wheat production in Germany has increased from 24}/^ 
 bushels per acre to 35, or 39 percent. 
 
 "We have much to learn in the rotation of crops and in the 
 proper chemical preparation of the soil — this, too, in spite of the 
 excellent work of education and demonstration carried on by 
 you and the various experimental stations. The study of the 
 chemistry of the soil which you gentlemen have adopted as your 
 profession is, in my opinion, destined to become one of the most 
 important callings of the day and age. 
 
 "The census figures of the fertilizer industry in the United 
 States show the value of the products of all the fertilizer manu- 
 facturing establishments of the United States for which figures 
 are available from 1870 down to date. The total value of the 
 output recorded by the census of: 
 
 1870 was $ 5,851,118, 
 1880 was 23,650,795, 
 1890 was 39,080,844, 
 1900 was 44,657,385, 
 1910 was 111,871,481, 
 1915 was 168,388,405 (approximately). 
 
 This very rapid increase in production, especially in recent 
 years, demonstrates the increasing recognition by the farmers 
 of the United States of the need of a proper care of our soils. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 47 
 
 The total output of this line of manufacture increased over 130 
 percent in the decade of 1900-1910, while the value of all manu- 
 facturers in that period increased only about 80 percent. 
 
 "There is a particular reason why governmental departments, 
 State and Federal, should give a helping hand to the further 
 upbuilding of this industry; for the increase of foodstuffs in the 
 United States is not keeping step, by a long way, with the in- 
 crease in population. Those countries have succeeded best in 
 the intense cultivation of the soil, in which Government, manu- 
 facturers and bankers have worked in constructive harmonious 
 co-operation with the agriculturists and with each other." 
 
 $1,000 for Fertilizers But NOT for a Barn 
 
 Few men understand the relationship 
 between banker and farmer better than 
 Mr. William Ingle, who when Chairman of 
 the Board, Federal Reserve Bank of Rich- 
 mond, Va., said: 
 
 "The farmer, or rather his labor, is the 
 source of the greater part of our wealth. 
 Nearest related after the land itself, possi- 
 bly, is the fertilizer manufacturer. 
 
 "With the passage by Congress of ef- 
 fective Rural Credit laws, the farmers will 
 have at their command an agency which 
 in its use will permit them as readily to 
 finance their essential operations as mer- 
 chants are now able to do with comfort in 
 availing themselves, through their banks, 
 of the provisions of the Reserve Act. 
 
 "The farmer is essentially a manu- 
 facturer, but one who, as commonly is the 
 case, in having practically all of his assets 
 tied up in his land is without the means to purchase his fer- 
 tilizers and other supplies on a cash basis. Carrying costs under 
 the old system, that is, the difference between a spot cash price 
 and the figure actually paid in settlement of supply bills at the 
 end of the season, is probably as much as 20 percent of the cash 
 price of the material used. If this could be saved to the farmer, 
 he could afford either to be more liberal to his land under treat- 
 ment or to add to his acreage. 
 
 "We can not lend the farmer a dollar on paper made to 
 build a barn, but we can lend him $1,000 with which to pay his 
 fertilizer bill. 
 
 Mr. William Ingle, 
 
 President Baltimore Trust Co. 
 
 Baltimore, Md. 
 
48 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 "We must have the assurance when we take a farmer's note, 
 the banker must tell us in effect, that that loan is not made to 
 build a barn, but to pay a fertilizer bill." 
 
 Is this not ample proof to what extent the bankers value 
 fertilizers? There is safety and security in fertilizers, and the 
 banker will help the farmer who needs money for fertilizers, so 
 his soil and crops will pay more. 
 
 The Banker and the Farmer 
 
 By Mr.John K. Ottley— Vice President 
 Fourth National Bank, Atlanta, Ga.: 
 
 "The soil is the basis of all wealth. 
 Therefore the relation between the farmer, 
 whose business is handling the soil, and 
 the banker, whose business is handling the 
 money, is vitally important. 
 
 "The farmer who is not making a profit 
 is not a good credit risk. The farmer who 
 is operating on diminishing crops and too 
 high costs is in the hazardous class so far 
 as credit goes. When the farmer prospers, 
 everybody else prospers with him. What- 
 ever affects him unfavorably is bad for 
 general business. 
 
 "Two elements enter into the question 
 of the farmer's profits, viz. : 
 
 (a) The cost of crop production. 
 
 (b) The yield per acre. 
 
 Yield per acre is the factor that con- 
 trols the cost per unit of every crop the farmer plants. The 
 greater the yield per acre, the smaller the cost per pound or per 
 bushel of producing the crop. Profits depend upon the amount 
 of money received for the crop over and above its cost to pro- 
 duce and to market. This is elementary to the economist, but 
 it is the ABC that the farmer needs to learn by heart. 
 
 "The farmer's big task, then, is to make the land yield him 
 the very utmost that it is capable of yielding. 
 
 "This brings us to our much-admired, but little-practiced, 
 theory of cultivation. I regret to say that it is little practiced; 
 but the figures show that notwithstanding all the eloquence that 
 has been expended on the subject, the true meaning and import 
 of intensive cultivation has not yet dawned upon large sections 
 of our agricultural territory. 
 
 Mr. John K. Ottley, 
 
 Vice-President Fourth National 
 
 Bank, Atlanta, Ga. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 49 
 
 "The human machine must be 'fed up' with its proper nu- 
 trients. Body proteins and minerals and carbohydrates and 
 fats require severally their fuel of like elements to maintain 
 health, to build tissue, muscle, bone and brawn. Precisely so, 
 to repair the waste, must the land be supplied with the restora- 
 tive and nutritive elements that will keep it in condition and 
 up to standard. The most efficient body is the best-nourished, 
 that is to say, the most scientifically nourished body. If the 
 soil is to yield the best of which it is capable, it too must be 
 supplied with such food as will challenge it to its utmost per- 
 formance. Research in the laboratories of the chemist has re- 
 vealed the secrets of this food. We have men today who can 
 tell us what elements must be supplied to certain soils to make 
 them do certain things. The government, the colleges, the banks 
 are endeavoring to connect the farmer with these golden secrets. 
 Here and there, he is waking to the magical possibilities of his 
 business. Fertilizer experts are demonstrating the value of in- 
 tensively cultivated and well-fed land. Figures that are pitiless 
 in their statements of facts show an amazing total of money that 
 might be saved this country if our farmers were alive to the 
 necessity of getting out of their land all that it ought to yield. 
 I am tempted to cite one example: 
 
 "The average potato crop of the United States for the seasons 
 of 1910, 1911, 1912, was 367,526,000 bushels, grown on 3,666,285 
 acres. At the German average yield of 220 bushels per acre this 
 crop would have been produced on 1,670,574 acres. The average 
 cost of production for the United States, exclusive of the cost 
 of fertilizers, was $25.75 per acre. Multiplying the difference in 
 acreage, of 1,995,711 acres, by $25.75, we arrive at $51,389,558, 
 which the American farmer might have saved had he used the 
 intensive method of the German farmer. On potatoes, wheat 
 and oats, the total saving would have been $504,143,833, which 
 at an average price of $25.00 a ton would have bought 20,165,753 
 tons of fertilizers — a heavy application to equal German results 
 — and still leave a splendid profit to the American farmer. 
 
 "The best thing the banker can do for the farmer, as I see it, 
 is to encourage him in every possible manner to get most out of 
 his land and thus to depress the cost of production so that profits 
 may be greater and credit correspondingly stronger." 
 
 When the farmer gets it into his mind that his calling demands 
 the admixture of real business methods with the usual processes 
 of his specialty, then he will begin to take his place among the 
 independent producers of the world's wealth. But so long as he 
 
50 MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 
 
 clings to the tradition that the earth will yield her increase 
 without any particular encouragement on his part beyond the 
 old-time plowing and planting and cultivating methods, he is 
 losing potential riches for himself and for his Nation. 
 
 The Greatness of Our Country and Its 
 Farming Industry 
 
 When we realize that the United States covers considerably 
 less that one-sixth of the earth's surface, and contains only about 
 five percent of the earth's population, the following will give us 
 some idea of the greatness of our own country. 
 
 The value of our principal farm crops in 1917 reached the 
 enormous total of thirteen and one-half billions of dollars, exceed- 
 ing by almost four and a half billions of dollars the value of the 
 1916 crop, which was the previous banner value year in the crop 
 history of the country. 
 
 Corn: In the Department of Agriculture's December, 1917, 
 Crop Report it bases value on December prices on corn as 
 follows : 
 
 Production of 3,159,494,000 bushels is worth $4,053;672,000, 
 the largest and most valuable crop ever grown in this country. 
 It exceeded the crop of 1916, which was the largest previous 
 value crop by more than $1,700,000,000. In only one other year 
 has the corn crop been over 3,000,000,000 bushels, and that in 
 1912, when it was 3,124,746,000 bushels. 
 
 It is interesting and no doubt valuable for the farmers to 
 know that the corn crop was especially short and of poor quality 
 in the area including Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and 
 North Dakota, where the farmers have not as yet learned to 
 know the necessity and great value of plant-food, as the Southern 
 farmers have long ago learned and profited by. On the other 
 hand, in the Southern States, where fertilizers are used exten- 
 sively, the corn crop showed an increase. 
 
 Wheat: The 1917 wheat crop was also a record-breaker and 
 was valued at $1,307,418,000, which is $287,450,000 more than 
 the 1916 crop. 
 
 Oats: Another bumper crop in both production and value, 
 representing 1,587,286,000 bushels, over 300,000,000 bushels 
 better than 1916. Its value is estimated at $1,061,427,000, or 
 $400,000,000 more than the 1916 crop, which was the former 
 record value crop. 
 
MAKING S OIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 51 
 
 Other crops such as potatoes, tobacco, rye, buckwheat, rice, 
 hay, cotton and barley were also record crops. 
 
 The approximate value of the principal crops in 1917, accord- 
 ing to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, follow in the order 
 of their respective value: 
 
 Corn $4,053,672,000 Apples $ 213,057,000 
 
 Cotton 1,517,558,000 Kafirs 121,842,000 
 
 Hay 1,359,491,000 Peanuts 105,950,000 
 
 Wheat 1,307,481,000 Beans 102,426,000 
 
 Oats 1,061 ,427,000 Rye 100,025,000 
 
 Potatoes 54;;, sii:), ()()() Sweet Potatoes 96,121,000 
 
 Tobacco 297,442,000 Rice 68,717,000 
 
 Barley 237,539.000 Peaches 61,245,000 
 
 The following table w411 give you a good idea as to how the 
 American farmer is doing his bit toward feeding the world. The 
 figures in the first two columns represent the 1917 and 1916 
 acreage. The third and last columns show the 1917 and 1916 
 production respectively. The figures are those of the U. S. 
 Department of Agriculture as published in December, 1917. 
 
 ACREAGE PRODUCTION 
 
 CROP 1917 1916 1917 1916 
 
 Corn, bus 119,755,000 105,296,000 3,159,494,000 2,566,927,000 
 
 Wheat, bus 45.941,000 52,316,000 650,828,000 636,318,000 
 
 Oats, bus 43,572,000 41,527,000 1,251,837,000 1,251,837,000 
 
 Barley, bus 8,835,000 7,757,000 208,975,000 182,309,000 
 
 Rye, bus 4,102,000 3,213,000 60,145,000 48,862,000 
 
 Buckwheat, bus 1,006,000 828,000 17,460,000 11,662,000 
 
 Rice, bus 964,100 869,000 36,278,000 40,861,000 
 
 Potatoes (Round), bus. 4,390,000 3,565,000 442,536,000 286,953,000 
 
 Potatoes (Sweet), bus. 953,000 774,000 87,141,000 70,955,000 
 
 Hay (Tame), tons... . 53,516,000 55,721,000 79,528,000 91,192,000 
 
 Tobacco, lbs 1,446,600 1,413,400 1,196,451,000 1,153,278,000 
 
 Cotton, bales 33,634,000 34,985,000 10,949,000 11,449,930 
 
 Beans (6 States), bus. 1,832,000 1,107,000 15,701,000 10,715,000 
 
 Peanuts, lbs 2,084,400 1,076,350 60,222,000 35,324,500 
 
 Apples, lbs 58,203,000 68,194,000 
 
 Peaches, boxes 45,066,000 37,505,000 
 
 With such crop production is it any wonder that America 
 today contains more than a third of all the wealth in the world? 
 Yet how much greater will be our wealth when the farmers of 
 our country learn the real value of applying an abundance of 
 plant food on their soils and crops and to what extent Permanent 
 Soil Fertility will aid in increasing prosperity on their millions 
 of acres of cultivated lands. And not until the farmers of 
 America realize this will our prosperity be as great as it might be. 
 
Making Soil and Crops Pay More 
 Part Two 
 
 Questions ^ Answers 
 
 Which Will Help Every 
 Farmer to Make His Soil 
 and Crops Pay More 
 
MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 55 
 
 Answers to Questions Which Will Help 
 
 Every Farmer Make His Soil 
 
 and Crops Pay More 
 
 Question: WHAT ARE PLANTS? 
 
 Answer: Because plants are not noisy as animals are, few 
 people realize that plants are living things, full of life. Plants 
 do not roam about like animals do, nor shout, nor bellow on the 
 fields as animals do, but, nevertheless, they eat, sleep, drink, 
 breathe and breed, and do other things that w^e are accustomed 
 to associate with animals. 
 
 Plants are organized structures, the more common forms of 
 which have roots, root hairs, root bark; stem, branches and bark; 
 leaves, blossoms and seeds (fruit). A plant belonging to the 
 lower forms may consist of but one cell, but higher forms are 
 composed of billions of cells. Plant cells vary in size and shape 
 and contain protoplasm, a substance which may be said to be 
 the "physical basis of life." It is through these cells and through 
 the cell walls that plant-food enters and passes to the various 
 parts of the plant aided by protoplasmic functions. 
 
 Question: HOW DO PLANTS LIVE? 
 
 Ayiswer: Because plants are alive they must have food, air 
 and water, and the right place to grow in. Under-feeding or 
 improper feeding is as harmful to plants as it is to animals or 
 human beings. A robust, healthy, vigorous plant needs nour- 
 ishing food and plenty of it, also good water and good light and 
 air. If you doubt this, take any plant, place it in a dark, poorly 
 ventilated room without nourishment and sunshine, and it 
 will not live under such conditions any more than you would, 
 or your dog, horse or cow. 
 
 Then too, plants are really more particular what they eat 
 than most people or animals are. We know that an animal is 
 alive when we see it breathe, eat, grow and move. Just so with 
 plants, for they too breathe, eat, grow and move. The plant 
 is never a lazy worker, for it works in all its parts, the roots, the 
 stem and the leaves. 
 
 Since plants, unlike animals, are usually fixed and rooted in 
 one spot, it is impossible for them to go in search of food, hence 
 the food must be brought to them where they can readily assimi- 
 
56 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 late it and nourish themselves. The roots of plants immediately 
 start to fix themselves in the soil for the purpose of obtaining 
 nourishment to enable them to grow abundantly, and when 
 these roots fail to find the necessary food they simply die for 
 lack of proper nourishment, for they can not roam about like 
 animals can and forage for food. 
 
 Question: HOW DO PLANTS REPRODUCE? 
 Answer: The means by which plants naturally reproduce their 
 kinds are seeds, spores, tubers, roots, bulbs, corms, root-stocks, 
 stolons, suckers, etc. Nature provides means for the perpetuation 
 of all species of plants, and many of them vary very widely. The 
 most common means of rej^roduction is by seeds. Many plants, 
 however, will not reproduce their kinds by seeds and Nature 
 has provided other means for their increase, and man has be- 
 come expert in the employment of various natural and artificial 
 means of the different kinds best adapted to the multiplication 
 of our many crops. Thus corn, wheat, cotton and tobacco are 
 grown from seeds; grapes from cuttings or layers; Irish potatoes 
 from tubers; sweet potatoes from roots; apples from grafts; 
 peaches from buds; strawberries from runners; and mushrooms 
 from spores. Many of our crops do not come true from seeds. 
 Seeds develop from the exercise of sexual functions, and crossing 
 or hybridization is very common with many of our crops. If 
 pollen, which is the male part of plants, fertilizes the pistil or 
 female part of another kind of plant, the resulting seeds will be 
 crossed and many of them will produce plants different from 
 either parent. Hence, no matter how a plant is brought to life 
 or in what form it is placed in the soil, all plants need plant-food 
 — nourishment. 
 
 Question: HOW DO SEEDS GERMINATE? 
 Answer: Seeds are living things which have the power of 
 reproducing the plants from which they came. Stored in each 
 seed are the inherited potentialities which enable them to 
 become links connecting thousands upon thousands of genera- 
 tions of plants created so- that the earth may be made fit for man. 
 That seeds may germinate they must have moisture, heat 
 and air in appropriate supplies. Water is absorbed, the seed 
 swells, starch and fat become soluble, sugar is formed, new 
 tissues and cells are formed, and the rootlets push through the 
 seed coat and start downward into the soil; the stem and leaves 
 start upward to air and sunlight, and a new plant has sprung into 
 being. Enough food is stored in the seeds to support the young 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 57 
 
 plant until its leaves feed from the air, 
 and its rcots feed from the soil. Some 
 seeds will germinate at a temperature a 
 few degrees above freezing, while others 
 require 60 or more degrees Fahrenheit. 
 Eighty degrees is about the temperature 
 most favorable for the germination of 
 most seeds. The oxygen of the air is 
 necessary for the germination of all seeds. 
 A well prepared seed-bed gives the best 
 conditions for germination by aiding in 
 securing the right quantity of air and water 
 and the desired degree of temperature. 
 
 Question: HOW DO PLANTS GROW? These young com planta must push 
 . mi /- , • c !•(• 1 . Ml tlieir way through tho soil to the air and 
 
 Answer: ihe nrst sign or lire a plant will sunlight and the roots must multiply 
 make when the seed sprouts is to spread notisTmel.^^hltt'^pbnrmarS 
 its roots into the soil and starts downward ^,° 'V'^ l!"'/°'^^"u'^?! ^"^t throiighout 
 
 £ •, , 1 c c 1 1 ,1 t"^ depth to which it has been plowed. 
 
 tor its Store-nOUSe or rood supply; then a well prepared seed bed insures prompt 
 
 comes the stalk and leaf part which starts SisllTsons^ capS ttZidiZ 
 
 upward towards light and air, for it must ^'^^'"^ and gives the growing crop easy 
 '^ , 11-1 11 ,1 • , 11 1- • access to the plant food in the soil. 
 
 eat and drink and breathe just as all living 
 
 things do. 
 
 Plants grow by forming new cells. Plant cells of various 
 
 sizes and shape make up the structure of all plants. New cells 
 
 are formed by division 
 of older ones, and by the 
 plant extending its stem, 
 branches, leaves and roots, 
 the plant grows. To do 
 this it must be supplied 
 with food, water and air. 
 The food must contain the 
 material of which the plant 
 is made, and in quantities 
 and proportions in which 
 they are to be used by the 
 plant. The carbon, hydro- 
 gen, oxygen, nitrogen, sul- 
 phur, phosphorus, potas- 
 sium, calcium, magnesium 
 and iron which are found 
 in all plants must be in the 
 
 Photo. Micrograph of cell structure of Potato Vine, greatly en- 
 larged. The various cell shapes and forms can be clearly seen. 
 
58 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 right forms or combinations for the plant, and must be where 
 the plant can get them or it will not grow. All of them must 
 be present and usable, since the absence of any one of them 
 will prevent the plant from growing, and the smallest quantity 
 available of any one of these elements will be a controlling 
 factor in the growth of the plant. When the plants in a field 
 or in a part of a field are not growing well, either the conditions 
 and materials necessary to good growth are not supplied or the 
 materials are not in suitable form. 
 
 Onqqen 
 
 arbon dioxide 
 
 Question: WHAT MUST A PLANT HAVE IN ORDER TO 
 LIVE? 
 
 Answer: That plants may live they must have: 
 
 Temperature that is neither too high nor too low, Changes 
 of temperatures that are sudden seriously interfere with their 
 growth. Some plants thrive best in low and some in high tem- 
 peratures. 
 
 Water, which by weight com- The Atmosphere 
 
 poses the bulk of all growing plants, 
 must be constantly and abundantly 
 supplied while plants are growing. 
 Either too little or too much water 
 is disastrous to nearly all economic 
 plants, though many of them by 
 nature grow in water. Drainage 
 and irrigation are the means em- 
 ployed by the farmer to get rid of 
 excess of water and to secure the 
 proper supply when there is a 
 deficiency. 
 
 Food builds the plant. Plant- 
 food is taken from both the air 
 and the soil, entering the leaves 
 from the air and the roots from the 
 soil. The food which comes from 
 the soil must be in solution or dis- 
 solved in water before the plant 
 can take it up. Water is the 
 vehicle which conveys the soil-food 
 into the plant and is the distribu- 
 ting agent which takes it to such parts of the plants as need food. 
 Air is the medium in which the above-ground parts of the 
 
 A clover plant, showing its parts in relation 
 to the soil and atmosphere. From the at- 
 mosphere and water the plant derives oxy- 
 gen, carbon, and hydrogen. From the soil 
 the mineral plant-food elements are taken. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 59 
 
 plant live, just as the soil is the medium in which the under- 
 ground parts of the plant live. 
 
 Carbon, next to water, is the most abundant material of the 
 many which enter the plant. Carbon comes from the air and 
 passes into the plant through the pores of the leaves. Carbon 
 Dioxide of the air is decomposed when it enters the plant with 
 the air, the carbon remaining and the oxygen going back into 
 the air. Thus plants take carbon out of the air and liberate 
 oxygen, while animals take oxygen from the air and liberate 
 carbon. 
 
 Soil Conditions that are congenial to plants are important 
 factors in the lives of plants. There are many conditions of the 
 soil that are favorable, and many that are unfavorable, and a 
 knowledge of these conditions will enable the farmer to plant 
 certain crops where certain conditions most favorable to them 
 are present and avoid unfavorable conditions. Drainage, plow- 
 ing, cultivation, organic matter, lime, air, water, temperature, 
 sunshine, bacteria, insects, manures and fertilizers change soil 
 conditions, and enable plants to live or interfere with their 
 growth, as the case may be. 
 
 Insects and Diseases of many kinds and in vast numbers 
 are ever laying in wait for their attack upon plants, and the 
 farmer must be alert at all times so that he may avoid or destroy 
 them. 
 
 Nature supplies the necessities of plants only in part, and by 
 Divine command man is responsible for the good care and 
 abundant feeding of the crops he grows. Man must protect his 
 crops from their enemies, and supply them with their needs if 
 his crops are to give abundant harvests. 
 
 Each plant is endowed with life, with its own peculiar ana- 
 tomical structure, and performs in its own way its nature-given 
 physiological functions. In living its life, each plant employs 
 natural laws and sciences from the germination of the seed on 
 through to the final goal of reproduction; and solution, absorp- 
 tion, capillarity, osmosis, diffusion, adhesion, cohesion each 
 performs its necessary functions in enabling plants to live and 
 grow, to reproduce and ripen. The growing of plants is intimately 
 associated with nature's benign mysteries, and man has much 
 to learn from them. By the slow processes of evolution, the 
 more rapid processes of breeding, and the employment of arti- 
 ficial nutriment, plants ha,ve made the world a better place to 
 live in. And still better will the world be when the farmer 
 
60 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 knows his soil and knows his crops so that he may best treat his 
 soil and best feed his crops, which in a great measure is the 
 mission we hope to fulfill with this little book. 
 
 It was the great scientist Darwin who likened the roots of 
 plants to the brain of animals on account of their great dis- 
 crimination and ingenuity. Their tiny finger-like rootlets go 
 feeling their way into the soil for nourishment as well as to fix 
 the plant which is to sprout from its roots perfectly secure in its 
 abiding place. 
 
 Question: WHY ARE THERE ONE-SEED-LEAF AND 
 TWO-SEED-LEAF PLANTS? 
 
 Answer: All of the important farm crops fall under two clas- 
 sifications and their separation into these two groups naturally 
 follows the differences in their habits of growth and their struc- 
 ture. One-seed-leaf plants germinate from their seeds by send- 
 ing up one leaf first, while two-seed-leaf plants send up two 
 leaves. Corn, wheat, grasses, etc., are samples of the one-seed- 
 leaf class, and cotton, beans, cabbage, etc., are examples of the 
 two-seed-leaf plants. One-seed-leaf plants grow from the in- 
 
 The germination of Corn (one-seed-leaf plant) and Bean (two-seed-leaf plant) showing 
 progressive stages from germination to mature plant. 
 
 side, have no bark, their leaf veins are parallel and they have no 
 tap root. Two-seed-leaf plants grow by additions to the out- 
 side, have a distinct bark, their leaf veins are netted, and they 
 
MAKING S OIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 61 
 
 have a distinct tap root. The difference in the root systems 
 affects the manner of growing of these two classes of plants, 
 since the tap rooted crops feed deep and the fibrous root crops 
 feed shallow. The rotation of these two classes aids the farmer 
 in his efforts to conserve his soil's fertility and produce each 
 crop more economically and more profitably. 
 
 Plant Nutrition 
 
 Question: WHAT ARE THE ORGANIC AND INORGANIC 
 
 SUBSTANCES? 
 Answer: The several materials or substances which the plant 
 takes into its structure are of two classes; inorganic or mineral; 
 and organic, or vegetable and animal. 
 
 The inorganic portion of the food of plants is in all soils in 
 varying quantities and varying proportions and varying com- 
 binations. They are silica, iron, aluminum, soda, magnesia, 
 lime, potash, phosphoric acid and sulphur. We know that all 
 of these substances are plant-foods since they are found in the 
 ashes of all plants when the ashes are analyzed. If only one 
 of the elements essential to plant growth is not present, plants 
 will not grow. Most of them are present in all soils and in 
 quantities sufficient for the needs of large crops. Since, how- 
 ever, all of them are necessary to plant growth the absence 
 of one or even the presence of a too small amount of one will 
 proportionally limit the growth of a crop. To correct these 
 defects it becomes necessary to apply to the soil the elements 
 that are deficient or wanting. This is done by applying good 
 commercial fertilizers — plant-foods. 
 
 The organic portion of the food of plants is also found in all 
 soils and most of them in quantities sufficient for the needs of 
 the largest yields of crops. The organic elements are oxygen, 
 hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen. The first three are always 
 available for the fullest development of any plant, but only 
 occasionally is there enough nitrogen present. 
 
 These inorganic and organic substances are plant-foods, but 
 all of them must be present in abundance and in a form available 
 to the plant to be grown, otherwise the plant cannot grow. 
 
 Question: WHAT IS PLANT-FOOD? 
 
 Answer: Plant-food is the materials taken from the soil and 
 
 air by means of roots and leaves, and is transformed within the 
 
62 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 plant into cellular structures which make the many parts of the 
 plant. Plant-food is the material of which plants are made, 
 entering the plant either dissolved in water or as a gas. Dif- 
 ferent parts of plants and different products of plants vary 
 widely in composition. An onion, a sugar beet, a tomato and a 
 pepper plant may each be growing in a tobacco field under 
 identical conditions, living upon the same food, yet each will 
 develop its characteristic size, shape, color, flavor, odor and 
 composition. The superlative value of plants comes from the 
 fact that they can take from the soil ancl air the same raw ma- 
 terials, manufacturing a variety of products not equalled any- 
 where else in Nature. Each plant in its own way is a chemical 
 laboratory where a certain class of products is manufactured, 
 and every genus, every species of plant has its own proprietary 
 products manufactured from the. same raw materials. These 
 raw materials are plant-food. How necessary it is that these 
 raw materials, in both kind and quantity, be within reach of 
 each plant in a field so that all may best serve man as Nature 
 intended they should. 
 
 Question: WHERE DO PLANTS GET THEIR FOOD? 
 
 Answer: Plants get their food partly from the soil in which 
 they grow and partly from the air surrounding them. The 
 young roots push their way through the soil and form many 
 root branches. The tip of each root is armed with strong cells 
 
 Cross-Section of a Single Root Hair 
 
 so clustered as to make the tip sharp-pointed. As the cells 
 multiply and enlarge behind the tip it is pushed forward into 
 the soil. Just back of these tips the surface cells of the young 
 roots develop a multitude of very minute thread-like projections 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 63 
 
 called root-hairs. These act as mouths, through which the food 
 enters the plant. Other plant-foods come from the air, entering 
 the plant through openings in the leaves. 
 
 Plants are prolific feeders or eaters, for they eat constantly, 
 not only three times a day as you and I do. Hence, as they take 
 food from the soil's larder we must replenish this larder so that 
 the plants will not starve. 
 
 Question: SHOULD THEHOMEOF PLANTS BE A 
 CONGENIAL ONE? 
 
 Answer: Animals may move from place to place in search of 
 food, but plants must depend upon the limited area of the soil 
 in which they live for all they get for their growth. Conse- 
 quently the soil is the home of the plant, and if we expect a 
 good crop we must make the homes of the plants which make 
 up a crop congenial homes. Plants, like animals, if not satisfied 
 with their surroundings will show by their growth and other 
 behavior that conditions are not favorable to their full develop- 
 ment. 
 
 A congenial soil is one that is deep, well pulverized, through 
 which water circulates in every direction freely and uniformly, 
 in which there is a good amount of organic matter undergoing 
 decomposition, and in which there are always present the plant- 
 food constituents necessary for the development of the plant. 
 In addition to the natural conditions of the soil, favorable to 
 plant growth, there are changes which must be made by plow- 
 ing, harrowing, cultivating, drainage, and other means, all of 
 which aid in making the soil a congenial home for the plant. 
 The farmer must know what natural and artificial conditions the 
 soil must possess, and he must see that these conditions are 
 present. No plant will find the soil a congenial home if there is 
 not an abundant supply of plant-food in the proper form 
 demanded by the plant and available for its use. 
 
 Soil 
 
 Question: WHAT IS SOIL? 
 
 Answer: Soil is made from the disintegration of the earth's 
 surface, and to be soil proper in the agricultural sense, it must 
 contain in addition to air, water and soluble mineral elements, 
 a good supply of organic matter undergoing decomposition. No 
 soil is a good soil without decomposing organic matter or humus 
 
64 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 for it modifies extreme conditions which might affect the plant; 
 makes the soil friable and loose, and enables it to hold more 
 moisture. It also supplies plant-food in its best form for the 
 best growth of the crop. 
 
 Soils are divided into two broad 
 classes. One controlled by the chemical 
 composition of the soil, the other by its 
 physical properties. There are hundreds 
 of different kinds of soil, each varying 
 in characters and composition. Thus, 
 a soil may be a sandy soil, a clay soil, 
 or a lime soil, depending upon which of 
 these materials predominates; or, it may 
 be a coarse soil, a fine soil, or a gravelly 
 soil. Again, soils may be classified into 
 light soils, if they are easily worked, 
 heavy soils, if they are worked with 
 difficulty. Either extreme is objection- 
 able, and the addition of an abundance 
 of organic matter in the form of farm manures or plants plowed 
 into the soil will make a heavy soil lighter and light soil heavier. 
 
 Section of soil showins Soil Particles 
 and Air Spaces. 
 
 Question: WHAT IS SUBSOIL? 
 
 Answer: Soil proper is the thin surface which represents the 
 depth to which a field has been plowed and the depth into 
 which organic matter has been incorporated. Just under this 
 strata lies the subsoil, in the position it was left when formed 
 from the original rock from which it came. The subsoil is a 
 great storehouse for mineral plant-food, and it may be formed 
 into new soil by bringing it to the surface a little at a time, so 
 that water, air, temperature, and the dissolving influences of 
 organic matter undergoing decomposition may crumble it and 
 liberate the plant-food it contains. Many fields produce poor 
 crops on account of the soil being too shallow. This may in 
 part, at least, be remedied by deeper plowing, so that the depth 
 of the soil may be increased and the crop have ample room for 
 the spread of its roots in search of food and water. 
 
 Question: ARE THERE MANY KINDS OF SOILS? 
 Answer: There are two larger groups of soils, and these are: 
 sedentary and transported. The first lies over the rock from 
 which it was formed or has not been moved, and the second has 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 65 
 
 been moved by water, glacier, wind or gravity. Soils may be 
 residual, cumulos, alluvial, glacial, aeolian-loess or colluvial, 
 according to their origin. The kind of rock from which soils are 
 formed make different soils, and if these are mixed their classi- 
 fication becomes complex. Each of the above may be further 
 classified accordingly to the size of the soil particles. Clay soils 
 are composed of the finest particles, clay loam next, and then 
 silt loam, loam, fine sandy loam, sandy loam, fine sand, sand, 
 coarse sand, gravelly loam and gravel. Each of these have their 
 peculiar properties, varying in character and composition. 
 
 Knowledge of soils is important, since such knowledge aids 
 greatly in determining what crops will grow best on the soil of a 
 farm and how the different soils should be cultivated. A knowl- 
 edge of the character, composition and condition of a soil aids 
 greatly in determining how each should be treated and what 
 fertilizers will give the best results when applied to them. 
 
 Question: HOW ARE SOILS FORMED? 
 Answer: The natural processes of soil formation have been 
 going on since the beginning of the world. The presence and 
 activities of plants and animals have contributed a great deal to 
 soil formation. There are many agencies at work in making 
 soil. Every root and every insect or other animal that enters the 
 soil aids in the admission of air and water. Air and water are 
 
 The soil as shown in the bottom of ilhistration has been formed by the disintegration of the 
 rock above. This process of disintegration is continuous and is caused mainly by the action 
 of air, water, and temperature. 
 
66 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 the two great altering influences operating to change the inert 
 surface of the earth into soil possessing conditions suitable to 
 plant growth. Every drop of water and every breath of air 
 entering the soil have the powder of changing it so that it may be 
 more suitable to plant growth. Change of temperature, espe- 
 cially freezing and thawing, crush and loosen soil particles, 
 thus exposing new surfaces for the action of air and w^ater. 
 This process has been going on since the beginning of time and 
 will continue until the end of time. Accessory to these influences 
 we have the action of animals and plants in their various ways, 
 all of which tend to aid in the formation of soils. Even the dead 
 bodies of animals and plants give out juices or chemicals which 
 have dissolving power, and assist, still further, in reducing the 
 inert and dead soil so as to make it better and better each year 
 for supplying food to plants and through plants to animals. 
 
 Questio7i: DO CROPS FIND ENOUGH PLANT-FOOD IN 
 THE SOIL? 
 
 Ayisiver: Soils are formed from rocks which are broken up or 
 disintegrated by several natural agencies. The resulting soils 
 contain the materials of which the rocks were formed, and since 
 there are many kinds of rocks of extremely variable composi- 
 tion, the compositions of soils vary with the compositions of the 
 materials forming them. It follows that many soils are deficient 
 in some of the necessary plant-food elements. Soils are also 
 subject to erosion by rain-water, and portions of plant-foods are 
 washed away and other portions are dissolved by water and lost. 
 When crops are grown they take from the soil varying quantities 
 of plant-foods and these foods are removed in the crop. The 
 yield of a crop is a measure of the plant-food available in the 
 soil in which the crop grows. If there is an abundant supply of 
 plant-food the crop will be a good one. If the plant-food is 
 deficient the crop will be poor in proportion to the deficiency. 
 
 Question: WHAT IS A FERTILE SOIL? 
 Answer: A fertile soil is a congenial home for plants to live 
 and grow in. It must be deep, well pulverized, contain a great 
 variety of soil particles, have an ample supply of organic matter, 
 permit air to pass into it and circulate through it, and permit 
 water to pass into it and circulate freely without stagnating. 
 Above all a fertile soil is one that in addition to the possession 
 of desirable physical qualities contains an ample supply of all 
 the plant food necessary to plants for their growth. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 67 
 
 Question: WHAT IS A POOR SOIL? 
 
 Answer: There are many things that may be responsible for a 
 soil being poor or infertile. Some soils naturally are hard, 
 harsh and uncongenial to crops and may contain insufficient 
 quantities of plant-food. Such soils must be appropriately 
 treated to develop a good physical condition, and must have 
 plant-food added if they are to produce profitable crops. Soils 
 may be deficient in phosphoric acid, nitrogen or potash; they 
 may be deficient in one or in two of these elements or they may 
 
 The upper field, without fertOizer, yielded but 8 bushels of potatoes and 6 bushels of corn 
 per acre. The lower field, treated with fertilizer, produced two fine clover crops, the second 
 crop being turned under and furnishing fertility for an 87 bushel per acre crop of potatoes 
 and a 57 bushel per acre yield of corn. 
 
 be deficient in all three. The element of plant-food present in 
 the smallest quantity becomes a limiting factor. Some soils 
 become poor through unwise or neglectful management. This 
 may result from surface washing, shallow plowing and absence 
 of a sufficient amount of organic matter in the soil to keep it in a 
 wholesome condition. Such soils may be restored to a high 
 degree of fertility by judicious plowing, thorough pulverization, 
 the addition of organic matter and proper plant-food. No soil 
 can be fertile if it is supplied with any one of these three ele- 
 ments in an amount insufficient to supply the demands of the 
 crops to be grown on it. 
 
68 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 Fertility 
 
 Question: HOW MAY SOILS BE MADE FERTILE? 
 Answer: Since physical condition and chemical composition 
 are responsible for soils being fertile or infertile, it naturally 
 follows that making a soil fertile must be preceded by a knowl- 
 edge of it present condition. Soils may be made fertile by in- 
 creasing their depth, by pulverizing their particles, by increasing 
 their power to hold water, by controlling leaching and soil 
 wash, by the addition of organic matter, by rotation of crops, 
 and by judicious and appropriate application of available plant- 
 food. 
 
 Coru to which no fertilizer has been applied. Cuiiipare this crop with that on pa^e G9 and see 
 what a difference the application of Complete Fertilizer makes in a crop. 
 
 Question: HOW ARE SOILS DEPLETED? 
 
 Answer: Soils are depleted of fertility or made poor by tillage, 
 by leaching, by washing, by the removal of plant-food in the 
 crops taken from the land, and by the failure of the farmer to 
 keep up the supply of humus and plant-food found in the soil 
 when it was in its virgin state. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES TILLAGE DEPLETE SOILS? 
 Answer: The virgin soils in forests or prairie contain the 
 maximum amounts of plant-food and an abundant and annually- 
 added-to supply of humus making materials. When brought 
 into cultivation not only is this annual supply of organic matter 
 stopped, but the accumulations of many years decomposes and 
 is leached or washed away. Thus tillage or growing crops 
 depletes the soil of fertility or makes it poor by dissipating or 
 destroying its good physical properties and by loss of plant food. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 69 
 
 Question: HOW DOES CONTINUOUS CROPPING 
 
 DEPLETE SOILS? 
 Answer: The continuous cropping of a field in one crop or 
 closely related crops, and especially if the crop or crops demand 
 clean culture will rapidly deplete a soil of its fertilit3^ Some 
 crops draw heavily upon the soil's supply of phosphorus, 
 others draw heavily upon the supply of nitrogen and others upon 
 the supply of potash. This exhausts most soils. Continuous 
 croppings subject a soil to the same treatment year after year 
 and untoward excesses and abuses follow, diseases and insects 
 accumulate and the soil becomes depleted of its plant-food 
 supply, it loses its good physical properties and becomes poor. 
 
 This Curii lius had the iit-ri-^sary plaiit-lood elemeiils supplied by an applK-aticm ul CuUipleLe 
 Fertilizer. Corn sucli as this will bring big returns. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES THE REMOVAL OF CROPS FROM 
 
 THE SOIL DEPLETE IT? 
 Answer: The growing of crops and their removal from the 
 land to a high degree impoverishes soils, since each pound, 
 bushel or ton of crops taken from the soil carries from it a definite 
 quantity of all the elements of fertility. The quantity of plant 
 food removed from the soil is proportionate to the yield or 
 quantity of crop removed. If an acre of land produces 30 
 bushels of corn that acre loses 30 pounds of nitrogen, 5.1 pounds 
 of phosphorus, and 5.7 pounds of potash. If the acre was 
 made to grow ten crops of corn there would be removed from it 
 
70 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 300 pounds of nitrogen, 51 pounds of phosphorus and 57 pounds 
 of potash. The Missouri Experiment Station grew corn alone 
 on the same land for seventeen years and at the end of that 
 time the yield had been reduced to 11.8 bushels per acre. The 
 same station, with corn in a rotation with legumes and with the 
 addition of plant-food, secured 77.8 bushels of corn at the end 
 of the seventeen year period. 
 
 This potato patch on farm of Mr. Dell Ross, Rural Point, Va., was not fertilized and as a result 
 
 the crop was very poor. 
 
 Soils may in many ways become depleted of their fertility 
 but the two main causes of soil poverty are due to soil wash and 
 the removal of plant-food in the crops taken from the land. 
 
 A fertile soil is a soil maintained in a good physical condition 
 and containing an ample supply of plant-food for the crops 
 that it is expected to produce. If a soil is not maintained in a 
 good physical condition and does not contain, or is not given, 
 the plant food necessary for profitable crops it is a poor soil. 
 
 Question: HOW ARE DEPLETED SOILS RESTORED? 
 Answer: Soils should not be allowed to lose their fertility. 
 When a soil becomes poor something is wrong with its owner or 
 with those who have been responsible for its care. The time 
 may come when there are no poor soils. Something is lacking 
 when a soil is poor. In China lands that have been cultivated 
 for forty centuries are now maintained at a high degree of fer- 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 71 
 
 tility. In Europe lands that have been cultivated for hundreds 
 of years are now producing twice to four times as much as the 
 comparatively^ new lands of many of our American States. It 
 should l)e a crime to wear out soil. Not only the present gen- 
 eration, but all future generations own it. We of the present 
 generation are but keepers of this "divine heritage," the soil. 
 If we neglect or abuse it we are not only exercising poor citizen- 
 ship and wasting our talents and sustenance but we are recreant 
 to a divine trust. 
 
 This is the same field on IMr. Ross' farm. Note the fine appearance of this Potato Field. 
 This crop followed the one shown on page 70 the same season. Mr. Ross fertilized the second 
 crop liberally with V-C Fertilizers and as a result has a fine Potato crop. V-C points the way 
 to greater Soil Fertility and Increased Yielding per acre. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES GOOD TILLAGE CONSERVE AND 
 RESTORE FERTILITY? 
 
 Ansiver: Good tillage that conserves the qualities and com- 
 position of soils will aid in the restoration and maintenance of 
 fertility. Deep plowing done at the right time and in the right 
 way and thorough pulverization of the soil are the foundations 
 upon which productive soils rest and accompany or precede 
 other means by which depleted soils are restored and maintained. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES ADDING PLANT-FOOD TO THE 
 SOIL CONSERVE AND RESTORE FERTILITY? 
 
 Answer: Depleted or poor soils are restored or made fertile by 
 restoring the elements of plant-food that have been lost or re- 
 
72 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 moved. These elements are phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash 
 and one of the greatest triumphs of science is the discovery of 
 means and methods by which these indispensable plant-foods 
 conveyed by fertilizers may be returned to the soil and not only 
 restore its lost power of production but make it more fertile 
 than when it was in its virgin state. 
 
 Clover on right was fertilized with manure, limestone and rock phosphate, that on left with 
 manure alone. The two patches received the same seeding. Manure alone is not a balanced 
 Fertilizer, as the above clearly shows. 
 
 Though we may practice the best systems of farming, only a 
 small part of the plant-food taken from the soil in crops can be 
 returned to it. Railroads groan under the loads of farm products 
 that daily leave the farms. There is a .shortage the world over 
 in ships for carrying abroad the products of farms. Every 
 pound of these millions of tons of farm products carry from the 
 farm its precious plant-food and year after year this drain 
 increases. 
 
 "Any system of farming that does not provide for the return 
 to the soil of as much plant-food as is removed by the crops will 
 deplete the fertility of the soil." H. J. Waters. 
 
 A bale of cotton with its accompanying seed contains 33 
 pounds of nitrogen, 13.1 pounds of phosphoric acid and 13.9 
 pounds of potash. 
 
 Twenty-five bushels of corn with its accompanying stover 
 contains 40.5 pounds of nitrogen, 16.5 pounds of phosphoric 
 acid and 27 pounds of potash. 
 
 To restore the plant-food removed by a bale of cotton and 
 its accompanying seed will require 200 pounds of nitrate of 
 soda, 82 pounds of 16% acid phosphate, and 110 pounds of 
 kainit; total 392 pounds of fertilizer. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 73 
 
 To restore the plant-food removed by 25 bushels of corn 
 and its accompanying stover will require 250 pounds of nitrate 
 of soda, 104 pounds of 16% acid phosphate, and 211 pounds of 
 kainit; total 565 pounds of fertilizer. 
 
 To restore the 93 pounds of nitrogen, 19 pounds of phos- 
 phorus and 63 pounds of potash contained in two tons of 
 cowpea hay would require 581 pounds of 16% nitrate of soda, 
 120 pounds of acid phosphate and 504 pounds of kainit; total 
 1205 pounds of fertilizer. 
 
 The same data may be worked out for all crops and nothing 
 is more evident, in the premises, than that continued taking from, 
 without giving to the soil will deplete it; and, that restoring 
 the removed plant-food together with good farm practices will 
 maintain the soil's fertility indefinitely. 
 
 Question: WHY IS IT MORE PROFITABLE TO OWN AND 
 
 CULTIVATE FERTILE FIELDS? 
 Answer: It requires as much preparation, cultivation and 
 other care for growing a crop that will produce say 15 bushels 
 of corn to the acre as it does for the production of 30 bushels per 
 acre. In the first case the crop merely pays for itself, and in the 
 second it gives 100 per cent profit over the cost of production. 
 It costs a certain proportion or per cent of each crop to bring it 
 to maturity, and the yield in excess of the cost of production is 
 profit. In addition to this great advantage which fertile soils 
 have over poor soils is the fact that quantity and quality of 
 crops grown on poor soils is greatly reduced and the opportunity 
 of the farmer is materially limited. Fertile fields not only help 
 to increase yields per acre but also increase the quality of crops, 
 as well as assuring an earlier maturity of crops, which is often 
 so essential and profitable. 
 
 Drainage 
 
 Question: IS GOOD DRAINAGE ESSENTIAL TO GOOD 
 
 CROPS? 
 Answer: Too much water standing for any considerable 
 length of time on or near the surface of a soil destroys ordinary 
 farm crops. While water is of prime necessity to plants, never- 
 theless they may drown in too much water. Man must have 
 water if he is to live, but he too may drown in water. Many 
 millions of dollars are annually lost by farmers who attempt to 
 cultivate land that is too wet, and millions of acres of the best 
 
74 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 cultivated lands in the United States were once too wet to 
 cultivate, and there are millions more of the best land in need 
 of drainage which will be unproductive until drained. Drainage 
 removes surplus water, deepens the soil, prevents too great 
 dilution of plant-food; improves the quality and texture of soils 
 by making them porous and friable; admits air with its food- 
 making and purifying oxygen; enables plants to stand drouth 
 better, to send their roots deeper; it warms the soil and extends 
 the period of plant growth; it checks winter killing of crops; 
 crops start growing earlier in the spring and continue longer in 
 growth in the fall; it aids in the healthful development of bene- 
 ficial bacteria; seeds will germinate better in drained land; crops 
 rot less and are more easily gathered from drained land than 
 from land in need of drainage; and good drainage also improves 
 the health of the community as well as the crops. 
 
 Undramed land showins st mding vv iter, which makes crop production impossible, 
 condition is common in many sections of the country. 
 
 This 
 
 Question: WHAT ARE THE INDICATIONS OF THE 
 NEED OF DRAINAGE? 
 
 Answer: The need of drainage is often very evident, while in 
 many cases it is not so evident. Not knowing that a field or a 
 part of a field needs drainage, farmers often cultivate it for years 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 75 
 
 at a loss, while proper drainage would enable them to reap rich 
 profits. The need of drainage is indicated by water standing 
 on the land after rains, by the cracking of the surface when it 
 dries, by clods and harsh soil texture when plowed, by the growth 
 of plants commonly found in wet places, by the water table 
 being near the surface of the soil, etc. After a wet season irregu- 
 lar areas in fields often show their need of drainage by the slow 
 growth and poor color of growing crops, because the plant-food 
 has been washed away. Lands showing any of the above indi- 
 cations of an excess of water, though they be shown for but a 
 short while, are in need of proper drainage. 
 
 The same land as on preceding: pTsie, after tile driinage Cnwpc i«i xnd Corn are now grown 
 with exrellerit results as the illustration shows. 
 
 Question: HOW MAY WET LANDS BE DRAINED? 
 Answer: The drainage of wet lands is an old practice and 
 like other old practices was at its beginning primitive. There 
 are various ways in which land may be drained so that it may be 
 free of surplus water. Open ditches and underground drains 
 are for the removal of water. If large quantities of water ac- 
 cumulate on the surface or are brought from adjacent areas, 
 open ditches may be best employed, but wherever they can be 
 replaced with tile this should be done. The open ditch is always 
 changing its course, filling in places, taking up land which should 
 grow crops and divides fields; they are unsightly and grow up 
 with weeds and bushes that harbor insects, noxious v/eeds and 
 plant diseases. They require constant attention and are ex- 
 pensive to maintain. Other materials like stone, poles, plank, 
 etc., may sometimes be used in its place, but nothing is so de- 
 sirable, effective and durable as drain tile made of burnt clay. 
 Any one with ordinary intelligence will find no difficulty in 
 following instructions for locating ditches for tile, digging them 
 and laying the tile, and instructions may be had of any of the 
 State Experiment Stations or of the National Department of 
 Agriculture. Tile may be put down at seasons of the year 
 
76 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 when there is not much work to be done on the farm and when 
 crops are not on the land. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES SOIL WASH DEPLETE SOILS? 
 Answer: One may find enormous areas of abandoned land 
 almost anywhere through the upper coastal plain or the Pied- 
 mont section of the Southern States, through many sections of 
 the Middle and New England States and even in the Middle and 
 Far West. This is particularly noticeable in the upper portions 
 of the Southern States where the land is rough and rolling. 
 
 Fields scarred with sullies and bare from neglect are too _ common in many States. The 
 criminal neglect of land has been called "the crime of gullying." It is an inexciisal>lr neglect 
 and a criminal waste. Had this land been wi.sely cared for, this picture could nut have been 
 made. Good farming will prevent .such waste of land. The time has come when the whole 
 world needs the bountiful fruitfulness of every acre and these wasted areas .should be put 
 to work. They are wasted, poor and starving, they need good care and abundant nourishment. 
 
 This wholesale impoverishment is very largely due to a lack of 
 control of rain water. W hen rain falls faster than the soil can 
 take it up it will accumulate on the surface after the soil has 
 become saturated. Then, if the land is not level, this water 
 will flow in the line of least resistance to some stream. When 
 soil is saturated with water the weight of the particles of soil is 
 greatly reduced or the particles are buoyed and nearly float; 
 the water which surrounds them lubricates them, and with a 
 slight fall to the land the surplus water washes soil, plant-food, 
 organic matter, and fertilizers into the streams below. The 
 natural agencies previously spoken of are constantly operating in 
 making soil, and if the surface washing carries soil away as fast 
 as it is made the land necessarily becomes poorer and poorer. 
 Not only \\\\\ its good physical properties be destroyed but 
 the plant-food which it contains will also be carried away. 
 
VARIOUS STEPS IN TILE DK AINAGE. 
 1 — Trenching machine. Man in rear laying tiles by hand. 2— Testing grade of trsnch by use of grading 
 line and rod. 3 — A pile of drain tiles and tools used in laying tile. 4— Levelling cross bar to support 
 grading line in making drain trench level. 5 — Finishing grade with tile scoop. The scoop levels the 
 bottom of trench so the tiles will lay properly. 6— Laying tile by hand. 7 — Open drain ditch for tile 
 outlet. 8 — The use of tile hook in laying tiles. This is one of the best methods. 
 
78 MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 
 
 The greatest cause of soil depletion is erosion or soil wash. 
 Especially is this true on soils that are rolling or soils of rough 
 topography and when clean-culture crops are grown. Many 
 soils in the South lose more fertility by the washing away of the 
 soil than by all other causes contributing to the loss of fertility. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES LEACHING DEPLETE SOILS? 
 Answer: When plant-food leaches from the soil it is carried 
 away by its being dissolved in water, the water having passed 
 to a depth beyond the reach of the roots of crops. The shallow 
 soils which are so common in many sections of the country, and 
 the worn soils and the over-cropped soils are all more subject to 
 leaching than are better soils. Deep, well-pulverized soils, and 
 especially soils that are filled with humus, are less affected by 
 leaching than soils in a poor condition. In the better soils the 
 water is retained and utilized to a greater extent, consequently 
 more plant-food is taken up and plant-food which would have 
 been leached is held in the soil, partly in new combinations and 
 partly stored in the crop. A soil that is subjected to leaching 
 loses each year a part of the plant-food which it contains, 
 thereby becoming poorer and poorer. To restore a soil that has 
 been impoverished by leaching is often a slow process, but can 
 be accomplished by deep, thorough preparation, good drainage, 
 the addition of humus to the soil, by appropriate rotations, by 
 adding Commercial Fertilizers and manures, and by protecting 
 the surface from washing. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES THE CHECKING OF LEACHING 
 AND SOIL WASH CONSERVE AND RESTORE 
 FERTILITY? 
 
 Answer: Leaching of plant-food and the washing away of the 
 soil itself are prevented or at least reduced to a minimum by 
 the control and utilization of rain water. Deep plowing, thor- 
 ough pulverization of the soil, abundant organic matter in the 
 soil and growing crops all tend to cause increased quantities of 
 water from heavy rains to enter the soil and be held by it. Leach- 
 ing and washing are best prevented by treating the soil by every 
 means possible that will induce it to take up and hold the 
 greatest amount of water. Nothing is more necessary to plant 
 growth than water and often the available water supply is the 
 limiting factor in crop production. Water, the most necessary 
 thing for the utilization of plant-food by the crop, may be the 
 cause of the loss of more plant-food than all other losses from 
 all other causes and the first and most necessary means for the 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 79 
 
 restoration of a soil depleted of fertility is water control. A 
 field deeply plowed, finely pulverized and well filled with humus 
 will hold many times more water than a field with a shallow, 
 hard, compact soil with little humus in it. Thus, depth of soil, 
 fineness of its particles and a high humus content checks leaching 
 and washing and restores lost fertility. 
 
 Some fields are so steep or have such a fall that all of the 
 water falling during a heavy rain cannot be taken up by the 
 soil. In such cases it is all the more necessary that these fields 
 be maintained in crops that cover the ground well and fill the 
 soil with their roots and thus check both washing and leaching. 
 A bare soil suffers more from washing and leaching than a soil 
 covered with a crop. Another highly efficient and often neces- 
 sary means for controlling the run-off of heavy rains is the 
 terrace. Terraces are banks thrown up with a depression above 
 
 A Magnum Terrace in Xuith Carolina, Terraces such as the above control the flow of rain 
 water and prevent fields from washing and leaching. 
 
 them for holding surplus water. The terraces are made at 
 intervals and preferably should have a fall that will enable the 
 surplus water to slowly pass away. The more slowly it drains 
 away the greater the quantity that will soak into the ground; 
 and that which does flow from the field is in such decreased 
 quantity and goes off at so reduced a velocity that but little 
 damage can be done. King estimates the soil materials an- 
 nually carried by the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico 
 to be so great that it would cover seventy-two sections of land 
 to a depth of four feet. The erosion of fields in cultivation east 
 and south of the Appalachian mountains is enormous. In the 
 
80 MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 
 
 South where cotton and tobacco are important crops the most 
 momentous farm management problem is soil wash and a more 
 rational system of farming will restore hundreds of thousands 
 of depleted acres to a fertility they have never known. 
 
 Surface washing may best be prevented by so checking the 
 flow of water which passes off over the surface so as to rob it of 
 its power to do harm. This may be done by the following 
 means: deep plowing and subsoiling which will open, loosen, 
 and pulverize the soil so that it will take up and hold more 
 water; the addition of organic matter in the form of stable 
 manure or plants plowed down; the sowing of broadcast crops, 
 especially those which occupy the ground for a year or more, 
 by judicious rotation, and by mechanical means such as ter- 
 races and hillside ditches which collect the water at intervals and 
 carry it off slowly in broken quantities rather than allowing it 
 to pass rapidly in large volumes. 
 
 Crops requiring cultivation such as cotton, tobacco, corn 
 and many others, especially when these crops are cultivated on 
 beds or ridges are responsible for a very large portion of the loss 
 of fertility by soil wash. This is especially true when these 
 intertilled crops are for two or more years in succession grown 
 on the same land. The avoidance of such practice and the 
 following of a wise system of rotation with appropriate fertili- 
 zation will check soil wash and conserve soil and plant-food. 
 
 Sun, Air and Water 
 
 Question: HOW DOES THE SUN BENEFIT SOILS AND 
 CROPS? 
 
 Answer: The sun is both a vitalizer and a disinfector. Its 
 heat and light makes the earth habitable. The sun is the giver 
 of rain and dew, and causes the air to move. The sun as a 
 direct source of energy stores carbon in plants, and when their 
 carbon is taken into the animal system as food it supplies the 
 animal with heat and energy. Growing plants draw their food 
 and water from the soil, which jDasses on to the leaves where, 
 with the combined action of the green principle (chlorophyll) of 
 plants and of sunshine, the food materials become digested food 
 and returns to the various parts of the plant to become leaf, 
 branch, bark, root, flower or fruit. If the sun is to do its work 
 well plants must have an abundance of plant-food at their base 
 or in their storehouse. 
 
 The soil gets its heat from the sun. Without sunshine soils 
 become uncongenial to plants. Crops will not thrive without 
 
MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 81 
 
 sunshine. Too much direct sunshine ma}^ temporarily injure 
 soils that are plowed wet and left in a cloddy condition. The sun 
 aids the oxygen of the air while this most active of all elements 
 is doing its duty in the soil or in the plant. Starches and sugars 
 would not be formed were it not for the glorious sunshine, nor 
 would flowers have their color and fragrance, nor fruit its blush 
 and flavor. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES AIR BENEFIT SOILS AND CROPS? 
 Answer: The atmosphere or air is composed of about four 
 parts of free nitrogen to one part of free oxygen. Nitrogen is 
 the most expensive element that plants are composed of, and 
 oxygen probably is the least expensive. Oxygen is the most 
 active, the most important and one of the most abundant sub- 
 stances in nature. It is found in combination with nearly every 
 other element. It is actively engaged in the development or 
 growth of living tissues, and is largely responsible for the break- 
 ing down by decay or burning of all tissues. It is the most active 
 and hardest worked element in nature. Air also contains car- 
 bonic acid gas diffused through it, and this enters the plants 
 through their leaves, and, by the action of the sunlight and the 
 green parts of the leaves the oxygen is separated and goes back 
 into the air. The carbon becomes a part of the plant, the main 
 part, since live plants contain more carbon than any other one 
 thing except water, while dry plants are often half carbon. 
 The nitrogen of the air through the instrumentality of bacteria 
 inhabiting the roots of legumes, enters into combinations in the 
 legume and nourishes it. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES WATER MOVE IN THE SOIL? 
 Answer: When rain-water falls it continues to soak into the 
 ground until all the spaces between the soil particles are filled. 
 If, after the soil becomes filled with water, rain continues to fall 
 fnster than it sinks deeper into the ground, the surplus water 
 ^^ill flow off. The water in the soil will continue to sink deeper 
 and dee])er until it has drained out from between the surface 
 soil particles down to where water stands permanently in the 
 soil. The depth down to this permanent water measured from 
 the surface represents the distance of the water table from the 
 surface. This water table rises when considerable rain falls and 
 becomes lower in dry weather. Water is constantly travelling, 
 one might say, from the water table upward to the surface 
 where is passes into the air or is evaporated. Water moves by 
 
82 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 crawling over the surface of the particles of soil, consequently, 
 the amount of water that moves and the rapidity with which it 
 moves depends to a great extent upon the number of particles 
 composing the soil and the nearness of these particles to each 
 other. Roots of plants penetrate the soil passing between its 
 particles, and the movement of water keeps them supplied with 
 this important part of their food. 
 
 30 FEET 
 
 The above diagram shows how water moves in the soil. Water goes into the soil by gravity, 
 and circulates throughout the soil by the capillary action of the soil particles. A part of the 
 water in the soil returns to the air by evaporation. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES WATER CARRY PLANT-FOOD? 
 
 Answer: The food that plants take out of the soil enters the 
 plant in solution or dissolved in water. If you will place a tea- 
 spoonful of sugar or of salt in a glass of water and stir it the 
 sugar or salt will be dissolved or passes into solution. Since 
 water forms the function of both dissolving or taking into 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 83 
 
 solution plant-food and of carrying plant-food, one can appre- 
 ciate better the importance of an abundance of water for sup- 
 plying readily the roots of plants with all the food that they are 
 capable of taking up. Plant-foods in solution occupy equally 
 all parts of the liquid in which they dissolve, thus giving every 
 tiny rootlet an opportunity to choose in quality and quantity 
 the plant-food it needs. 
 
 Treating the Soil 
 
 Question: ARE ALL SOILS IN GOOD PHYSICAL CON- 
 DITION FOR PLANT GROWTH? 
 
 Answer: They are not, and no soil in poor physical condition 
 can produce the best crops. A fertile soil may be in poor physi- 
 cal condition and produce only poor crops, while an infertile 
 soil in good phj-sical condition will produce good and profitable 
 crops with proper treatment and liberal fertilization. Some 
 soils are naturally harsh, hard, tenacious and cloddy. Water 
 does not circulate in them well, they do not pulverize well when 
 
 -^ w~ .^ __..^^^ 
 
 Poorly drained soils puddle in wet weather and crack open as their surfaces become dry. 
 Either may cause the winter killing of small grain. Compacting the soil in early spring with 
 roller will be very beneficial to the crop. The roots loosened b.v the winter's freezes will be 
 pressed into the soil and evaporation of water from the soil will be checked. 
 
84 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 plowed or cultivated, nor do they respond to commercial fer- 
 tilizers. Roots of plants do not penetrate them well, and the 
 plant-food in them is not in a readily available form. The de- 
 fects of such soils may be corrected by drainage, fall plowing 
 and subseciuent freezing, the addition of organic matter, appli- 
 cations of lime, harrowing and rolling when they are neither too 
 wet nor too dry. The physical properties of clay and clay loam 
 soils are often seriously injured by being plowed when they are 
 too wet. The addition of organic matter or lime, or both, and 
 their being plowed rough late in the fall and exposed to the 
 freezing effects of winter will add greatly to the physical and 
 other good qualities of soils. 
 
 The modern method of plowing. The tractor today is a mighty factor in America's Agri- 
 cultural Program, and the need of them is growing daily. If America is to feed the world 
 her farmers must produce more per acre. V-C Fertilizers will make your Soil and Crops 
 Pay More. 
 
 Question: WHEN SHOULD LAND BE PLOWED? 
 
 Answer: It is out of the question to attempt to give any iron- 
 clad rules that might be followed in determining when land 
 should be plowed. On the other hand, under special condition 
 it is not difficult to know the best time for plowing land. Land 
 
MAKINCx S OIL AND CfiOPS P AY MORE 85 
 
 as a rule should be plowed long enough before the crop is planted 
 so as to give an opportunity for its thorough discing, harrowing, 
 and other means for pulverizing and crushing, and that it may 
 settle through the influences of rain-water falling between the 
 plowing and the time the seed are sown. If a considerable 
 quantity of stable manure, pea-vines, clover or other green 
 manuring crops are to be plowed down, or if stubble or other 
 crop residue covers the surface, it is a decided advantage to 
 plow such lands far enough in advance of the preparation of the 
 seed bed to allow these materials plowed down to go through at 
 least a partial decomposition. 
 
 Land should not be plowed when too wet. If plowed at 
 such times, especially if it contains a considerable amount of 
 clay, great injury will result. Neither should land be plowed 
 when it is too dry since such soils will be broken with great 
 difficulty, and the large clods that are left will seriously inter- 
 fere with good crop production. Land plowed in the fall so that 
 the newly brought up soil may be exposed to the freezing effects 
 of winter will receive greater benefit from plowing than land 
 plowed at any other time. 
 
 Question: HOW SHOULD LAND BE PLOWED? 
 
 Answer: This question is one susceptible to so many answers 
 and subject to so many exceptions that it can only briefly be 
 discussed here. In the first place the plow used should be one 
 
 Turning under the sod hi thf l;ill. 'I"1h' newly liriiu>:ht up soil will be exposed to the freezing 
 effects of winter and the sdd turned under will form organic matter, which every soil needs 
 in abundance so that the plant-food in the soil will be avialable for the use of the crop grown. 
 
86 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 that is especially adapted to doing the kind of work you wish 
 done in the soil to be plowed. The object of plowing is to break, 
 partly turn over, and pulverize a certain depth from the sur- 
 face. In different soils, at different seasons of the year and for 
 different crops the depths to which a soil should be plowed will 
 vary. Again, the character of the soil, the amount of organic 
 matter it may contain, and the depth to which it has been pre- 
 viously plowed will all have an important bearing upon the 
 manner of plowing that should be done in each case. 
 
 Another view of pluwuij; with a tractor. On tho va>t fn kK ot An > m i tin ti actor is gradually 
 taking the place of the hoise, and n daily doing woik that \\a^ impossible with the horse. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES TURNING THE LAND HELP IT? 
 
 Answer: The surface of the soil is constantly exposed to drying 
 influences, to the effects of the sun, and the changes of tem- 
 perature; it is upon the surface of the soil that organic matter 
 naturally accumulates, so it naturally follows that it is on the 
 surface of soil where the most sudden, the most extreme, and the 
 most important changes take place. It is the surface of the 
 soil that suffers most from washing, and is benefited most by the 
 action of air, temperature, and other natural soil-making 
 agencies. It is also well understood that a uniform and homo- 
 geneous soil is best adapted to plant growth. If soils are not 
 turned there will be a wide variation between the characters and 
 conditions of the surface and the characters and conditions at a 
 depth of a few inches. Further, there is a gradual sifting of the 
 
MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 87 
 
 small particles of the soil downwards, and it is at the bottom of 
 the plowed area where these small particles stop and accumulate, 
 stopping up the pores or capillary tubes which establish com- 
 munication between soil and subsoil and permit air, water, and 
 roots of plants to penetrate readily. When the land is turned 
 there is an opportunity for the mixing of the lower and upper 
 parts of the soil area turned. 
 
 The manner of plowing wall vary as the quantity of organic 
 matter to be plowed down increases or decreases, and with the 
 depth to which the soil has been previously plowed, as well as 
 with the character of the subsoil and the degree of differences or 
 changes w^hich take place as one goes down. If a considerable 
 amount of organic matter of any character is to be plowed into 
 the soil the organic matter should be pulverized and well mixed 
 with the surface of the soil to a depth of two, three, or more 
 inches before the plowing is done. This will give a better dis- 
 tribution of the material plowed down, help the soil very much 
 in developing its ability to take up and hold water, and to dis- 
 tribute that water uniformly throughout the soil. 
 
 Depending upon several circumstances land may be turned 
 completely over, or the plow slice may be turned on edge. The 
 deeper the plowing the more necessary it is to leave the plow 
 slice on edge. When land is plowed in this manner it gives a 
 more thorough mixing of the bottom and top soils, thus making 
 them better absorbers and holders of water and in other ways 
 more congenial to plant growth. 
 
 Question: HOW DEEP SHOULD LAND BE PLOWED? 
 
 Answer: This question is susceptible to a great many answers. 
 The depth to which a soil has been previously plowed, the 
 character of the soil, and the amount of organic matter it con- 
 tains, all these have a bearing upon the proper depth to which 
 any given soil should be plowed. The aim, however, should be 
 to gradually deepen all soils until a sufficient depth of good soil 
 has been made for the full exercise of the functions of the plant 
 for the attainment of its full growth. A soil that is 8 inches 
 deep will hold twice as much plant-food and twice as much 
 water as a soil 4 inches deep. A deep soil withstands extreme 
 cold and extreme heat very much better than a shallow soil. 
 
 The best way to increase the depth of the soil is to plow a 
 little deeper each time it is broken until the desired depth has 
 been reached. Care should be taken, however, to increase the 
 amount of organic matter added to the soil in proportion to the 
 
88 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 increase in soil depth. Merely plowing deep and bringing to 
 the surface the subsoil will not make soil of it. Soil is made 
 through the combined action of heat, cold, and organic matter, 
 all three of which act together in bringing about the changes in 
 the character and composition of soils which best adapt them 
 to an abundant plant growth. When a soil is made deeper it is a 
 great advantage that the plowing which increases its depth be 
 done in the fall or early winter. When done at this time opportu- 
 nity is given for the breaking up and crumbling effects of freezes. 
 If the deepening is done in late spring or summer the direct effect 
 of the sun and wind often produces such a cloddy condition that 
 a year or more will pass before it becomes thoroughly congenial 
 to plant growth. 
 
 A soil in good physical cumhtion for plant growth. The roots of a plant can easily penetrate 
 a soil such as this, and obtain plant food. If V-C is the plant food applied the farmer can be 
 assured of a bountiful crop. 
 
 A deep soil suffers very much less from surface washing than 
 a shallow soil, and in the deepening of the soil we find one of the 
 best means for a conservation of plant-food. Fertilizers applied 
 to a shallow soil are more apt to be leached from them and lost 
 than when applied to a deep soil. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES HUMUS CONSERVE AND 
 
 RESTORE FERTILITY? 
 Answe7-: Humus is the life of a soil and humus always main- 
 tained in good supply in a soil that is wisely and well tilled pre- 
 pares the way for the development and perpetuation of a per- 
 manent fertility — the goal for which all who till the soil should 
 strive. Humus is organic matter decaying in the soil and is 
 supplied to the soil by plowing down crops grown for soil im- 
 provement, by the residues of crops ancl by the addition of 
 manures. 
 
MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 89 
 
 Question: HOW SHOULD ORGANIC MATTER BE 
 PLOWED INTO THE SOIL? 
 
 Answer: When organic matter is added to the soil for the 
 purpose of improving its condition, its effects will be much more 
 marked if the material plowed into the soil is thoroughly in- 
 corporated with it. When stubble, clover, pea-vines, socl, stable 
 manure and other such materials are to be plowed in, the land 
 should be thoroughly disced to a depth of not less than 4 to 6 
 inches before these materials are plowed down with a turning 
 plow. This not only mixes these materials well with the surface 
 of the soil but enables one to plow to the bottom of the furrow, 
 thoroughly pulverizes soil mixed with organic matter, thus 
 
 Discing is one of the most approved methods of plowing down organic matter whii li by disomg 
 is well mixed with surface of the soil. In many cases plowing will give better results if 
 preceded by discing. 
 
 giving a distribution from surface to subsoil of the organic matter 
 and insuring thorough pulverization of the soil throughout its 
 area by surface treatment with disc and harrow after the organic 
 material and pulverized surface has been plowed down. This 
 is a very important consideration when the materials mentioned 
 above are added to the soil, and will often more than double the 
 good effect that should be expected of them. Should this ma- 
 
90 MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 
 
 terial be plowed down in mass and the plow slice inverted there 
 would be a strata of plant residue between the soil and subsoil. 
 This would very seriousl}^ intercept the rise of moisture from 
 below, and often in practise will cause the dying of the crop 
 should dry weather prevail. 
 
 Question: WHEN AND HOW SHOULD LAND BE 
 
 SUBSOILED? 
 Answer: The fall of the year is considered the most ideal 
 time for subsoiling, though farther South there is more oppor- 
 tunity for midwinter plowing, and very often the work of the 
 farm is better adjusted to subsoiling in late November, Decem- 
 ber and January than in the fall. Subsoiling should be done 
 early enough, however, to allow the subsoiled land to be sub- 
 
 A popular type of subsoil plow. This subsoil plow follows in the furrow made by the turning 
 plow, and reaches the soil the turning plow does not reach. New soil is thus incorporated 
 with the old soil, giving greater soil depth. 
 
 jected to several hard freezes before spring. Subsoiling does not 
 necessarily mean that the lower strata of soil is to be brought to 
 the surface. More properly speaking the term applies to break- 
 ing the subsoil a few inches deeper than it is habitually broken 
 by the use of the turning plow. The act of subsoiling is simple 
 in performance. The subsoil plow is drawn by a team w^iich 
 follows in the furrow made by the turning plow. The foot of the 
 subsoil plow penetrates and pulverizes the soil in and beneath 
 the open furrow. It is usually considered safe, however, to bring 
 that quantity of subsoil to the surface which is about equal to 
 one-fourth the quantity of soil proper. The soil recently brought 
 to the surface should be thoroughly mixed with the surface soil, 
 both of which should be well pulverized. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 91 
 
 Question: WHEN IS SUBSOILING BENEFICIAL? 
 
 Aiisiver: If the soil proper has under it a hard, close, or ten- 
 acious subsoil the breaking of the sub strata will be of great 
 benefit in permitting rain-water to descend and soil water to 
 rise; in giving the roots of plants an opportunity to penetrate 
 deep and secure their allotted supply of food and water. It will 
 avoid extremes of temperature, extreme wet and extreme dry 
 conditions. 
 
 Question: WHEN IS SUBSOILING HARMFUL? 
 
 Answer: If subsoiling is done when the ground is too wet it 
 will cause a running together of the particles or ''baking" and 
 the locking up of plant-food. At the same time the power of 
 the soil to hold water will be decreased. If too much of the sub- 
 soil is brought to the surface it will so dilute the productive sur- 
 face soil that its evil effects may be shown for a year or more. 
 If the subsoil is already loose and pulverized, and offers no re- 
 sistance to the descent of water or the entrance of roots, it will 
 be a useless operation, and may to some extent be harmful to 
 subsoil it, though such soils may to advantage be plowed deeper. 
 
 Question: WHY ARE DEEP MELLOW SOILS BEST? 
 Answer: A brief answer to this question is that there is more 
 soil if the soil is deep, and better soil if it is mellow. Deep and 
 mellow soils will hold more plant-food and more water. They 
 will give opportunity for the penetration of more roots, and 
 thus with an abundance of food and drink and great numbers of 
 roots, the plant has ample opportunity of supplying itself with 
 
 
 A deep mellow soil allows the roots to penetrate in every way in search of food with which 
 to nourish the plant. If the necessary plant food elements are present the plant wui be 
 robust, healthy and strong. 
 
92 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 all the nourishment necessary for the best growth and the most 
 abundant growth. Fertilizers applied to deep and mellow soils 
 will give from two to four times the beneficial results as would be 
 given by the same fertilizers applied to shallow, harsh soils. 
 
 Question: WHY SHOULD SOIL BE PULVERIZED? 
 
 Answer: Soil should be pulverized so that the surface area of 
 the soil may be increased, increased quantities of plant-food 
 liberated, and the water-holding power increased. Pulverizing 
 soil gives more soil and better soil. The importance of water in 
 crop production is universally recognized, and a simple illus- 
 tration will show how reducing the size of soil particles will 
 increase the power of that soil to hold 
 water. Rememl^ering that the water is 
 held in the soil by clinging to the surface 
 of the soil particles we will find that should 
 a cubic inch of stone be dipped in water 
 the 6 sides of the stone when removed from 
 the water would each hold a square inch 
 of film water. Should this stone be cut in 
 two 10 times in the direction of one of its 
 dimensions, 20 more square inches of sur- 
 face would be exposed. Should it be cut 
 again 10 times in another of its dimensions, 
 another 20 square inches of surface would 
 be exposed. Should the cutting be repeated 
 through the third dimensions, still another 
 20 square inches of surface would be ex- 
 posed, giving 66 square inches of surface 
 where there were only 6 before. In addi- 
 tion there would be the same increase in 
 the exposure of the stone to the various 
 agencies which act upon it, break it up 
 and liberate its plant-food. A pulverized 
 soil holds more water and holds it longer, 
 holds more plant-food and holds it longer, 
 liberates more plant-food from the particles 
 which compose the soil, permits roots to 
 grow wider, deeper and in increased num- 
 bers and gives greatly increased and more 
 profitable returns from fertilizing mater- 
 ials added to the soil. Amounts of water absorbed by 
 
 equal quantities of course and fine 
 soils. The smaller the soil particles 
 the greater amount of water it 
 will hold. 
 
 \ 
 
 9 OZ. 
 
 45 OZ. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 93 
 
 Question: HOW MAY SOILS BE TREATED TO TAKE 
 
 UP AND HOLD MORE WATER? 
 Answer: The amount of water available for plant growth is 
 one of the most commonly effective factors in crop production. 
 It naturally follows that anything we may do to the soil which 
 will enable it to take up and hold more water will be a direct and 
 important step towards more profitable farming. There are a 
 number of ways in which this desirable result may be obtained. 
 Deepening the soil, pulverizing its particles, adding organic 
 matter and frequent stirring of the surface are simple and easy 
 means for increasing the power of the soil to hold water. The 
 amount of water that a soil can hold is in direct proportion to 
 the number and size of the particles that compose the soil. 
 Every time a particle of soil is broken in two, two new surfaces 
 are exposed, and when a particles of the soil is broken in two 
 twice we have twice the area of surface for holding water, since 
 the soil holds its water on the surface of its particles. Alterna- 
 tion in temperature and especially freezing are potent factors in 
 crumbling the soil so that it may hold more water. The most 
 effective treatment that soils may be given so that they may 
 hold more water is found in pulverizing and adding organic 
 matter. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES HARROWING, DISCING, 
 ROLLING, ETC., HELP THE LAND? 
 
 Answer: Implements are devised for the express purpose of 
 crushing, pulverizing and stirring the soil surface so as to mix 
 well all materials which compose the soil, thus making it uni- 
 form and homogeneous in texture. The crushing, pulverizing 
 and stirring reduces clods, and leaves the soil in smaller particles, 
 exposing more surface for holding of water and for the liberation 
 of plant-food. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION 
 OF SOILS AFFECT CROP GROWTH? 
 Ariswer: The materials that a soil contains are determined by 
 chemical analysis, consequently the chemical composition of a 
 soil is nothing more or less than the many elements and com- 
 pounds found in a soil. It has been shown that certain elements 
 and certain compounds are essential to crops — that crops cannot 
 live or grow without them. If there is one essential element of 
 plant growth wanting in a soil plants cannot grow on or in that 
 soil. If one element is present in insufficient quantity for the 
 full development of a plant or a crop the plant or crop may grow 
 
94 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 as long as the supply lasts, but no longer, and, while growing 
 will make but poor progress, since the supply is insufficient. The 
 essential element that is present in the smallest quantity limits 
 the growth of crops. Fertilizers are employed for correcting 
 this serious defect, since fertilizers are for the purpose of supply- 
 ing soil deficiencies. 
 
 Harrowing a field for corn. Harrowing levels the surface, pulverizes the clods, covers the 
 seeds, and aids in destroying weeds. A harrow ia especially desirable where fertilizers have 
 been appUed as it mixes the soil well. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES THE PHYSICAL CONDITION OF 
 
 SOILS AFFECT PLANT GROWTH? 
 Answer: Physics is the science which deals with solids, liquids 
 and gases — ^their properties, their actions and their relations 
 to each other. Since crops live in and feed upon solids, 
 liquids and gases, the laws which govern these three forms of 
 matter must also govern plant growth. The physical properties 
 of soils and plants involved in the relationship between the 
 two are: porocity, tenacity, hardness, cohesion, adhesion, capil- 
 larity, solution, diffusion, osmose, and in an infinite number and 
 variety of ways these physical principles make a soil a good one 
 or a poor one for the support of plant life. If the physical prop- 
 erties of a soil are poor, crops will not grow profitably. It is very 
 necessary that the physics of soils be understood if the farmer 
 expects to make his soils and crops pay. Knowledge of soil 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 95 
 
 physics will enable him to correct poor physical conditions and 
 make the soil a congenial one, one that will readily supply crops 
 with food and drink. See that your soil is in good physical 
 condition if you want the application of fertilizers to produce 
 the best results. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES THE ORGANIC CONTENT OF 
 SOILS PROMOTE PLANT GROWTH? 
 
 Answer: One of the many beneficial effects upon the soil is the 
 addition of organic matter. If the soil is too porous or not 
 porous enough, if it is too tenacious or not as tenacious as it 
 should be, if it is too hard or too soft, if it is lacking in capillarity, 
 if it does not promote solution and diffusion, the addition of 
 organic matter will help it to better do these things or possess 
 these properties. Organic matter makes humus, and has the 
 additional good effects of enabling the soil to take up and hold 
 more water, permit easier and more extended penetration of the 
 roots of crops, warms the soil, enables it to be more easily cul- 
 tivated, dissolves plant-food from soil particles, increases the 
 profit from fertilizers by preventing them from leaching away, 
 and organic matter supplies soil conditions that enable the crops 
 to make better use of plant-food applied to and found in the 
 soil. 
 
 Plant Food 
 
 Question: WHAT DOES THE PLANT DO IF IT DOES 
 NOT GET ENOUGH FOOD? 
 
 Answer: If a pig or a steer is confined in a pen without enough 
 food to sustain them neither will produce profitable growth. If 
 plants do not get sufficient food their growth also will be poor and 
 unprofitable. Feed the pig and the steer an abundance of an 
 appropriate ration, and they will produce profitable pork or 
 beef. Feed the plant an abundance of an appropriate ration, 
 and a profitable crop will be harvested. 
 
 Question: HOW SHALL IT BE DETERMINED WHAT 
 
 PLANT-FOOD TO USE? 
 Answer: First, by knowing in what element the soil is deficient; 
 second, by knowing from experimental tests what each crop 
 needs, and then correcting both defects. Commercial fertilizers 
 are manufactured for each and every crop grown. The appro- 
 priate fertilizer can always be secured, and when applied 
 properly an abundant yield follows and the fertility of the soil is 
 
96 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 maintained. The prudent farmer will never buy or use any- 
 thing but fertilizers made by reliable and trustworthy manu- 
 facturers. Buy your fertilizers as you buy your seed — nothing 
 but the best. 
 
 Question: WHAT MUST THE FARMERS DO IF THERE 
 IS NOT ENOUGH FOOD IN THE SOIL? 
 
 Answer: The quantity or amount of yield that any crop will 
 produce on a given area of soil is controlled by the amounts of 
 plant-foods present and available for supplying the needs of the 
 particular crop grown. To produce 60 bushels of corn on an 
 acre and the 5000 pounds of stalk, leaves, roots, etc., that goes 
 with the 60 bushels of corn, requires 32 pounds of phosphoric 
 acid, 84 pounds of nitrogen and 34 pounds of potash; to grow 
 
 A combination Fertilizer Distributor and Planter. This implement marks off the next row, 
 opens up the furrow for the Fertilizer, applies it, and covers it up. The furrow is again 
 opened up, and the seed is planted, covered up, and finally the soil is pressed firmly around 
 seeds by means of a roller. 
 
 1600 pounds of tobacco with its 1400 pounds of stems requires 
 16 pounds of phosphoric acid, 76 pounds of nitrogen and 200 
 pounds of potash; and to produce 30 tons of cabbage per acre 
 requires 70 pounds of phosphoric acid, 200 pounds of nitrogen 
 and 270 pounds of potash. If these quantities of plant-foods are 
 not present and available these yields will not be secured. If 
 there is not enough plant-food in the soil to produce the yields 
 desired, the thing to do is to add the necessary plant-food. Fer- 
 tilizers are made and sold for just this purpose. 
 
MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 97 
 
 Question: WHAT IS COMMERCIAL FERTILIZER? 
 
 Answer: The elements that compose food products and the 
 sources from which derived are just as well known as the multi- 
 plication tables. There is no more doubt about one than the 
 other. That plants must be fed is an absolute and indisputable 
 scientific fact; the mamier of their feeding is determined by the 
 Science of Chemistry, and the amount of their feeding by the 
 Science of Mathematics. A soil that needs nitrogen must have 
 nitrogen; a soil that needs phosphorus and potash must have 
 both, and if it does not get them it remains a poor soil. All 
 plants need these elements. The principal elements of plant- 
 foods commonly deficient in the soil and without which no plant 
 or crop can grow are phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash, and 
 a high grade commercial fertilizer contains these, the principal 
 plant-food elements. A commercial fertilizer that fits the soil and 
 fits the crop is the best, and no other is as good. The ideal 
 fertilizer for soil and crops is that fertilizer which contains plant- 
 food elements in appropriate proportions for and in forms that 
 are available to the crop grown. Hence, a commercial fertilizer 
 is a compound of plant-foods that crops must have if they are to 
 grow. It is a soil builder which if properly applied will not only 
 maintain soil fertility but increase it. Besides it will give the 
 soil the power to be fruitful and multiply crop yields and give 
 forth in increased quantity and in improved quality of the 
 fruits of the earth. 
 
 Question: WHAT IS A "COMPLETE" FERTILIZER? 
 Answer: Of the ten or a dozen elements necessary to plant 
 growth, three — phosphorus, nitrogen and potash — are very often 
 found in the soil in quantities too small to supply the needs of 
 crops. In some soils only one, in others two, but in a large 
 majority of soils all three of these elements are so deficient crops 
 can not produce full yields until their deficiencies are supplied by 
 adding to them the rnissing elements of plant food. To meet 
 the requirements of this majority of soils fertilizers containing 
 nitrogen (ammonia), phosphoric acid and potash must be added. 
 Such a fertilizer is a complete fertilizer, since it contains all of the 
 needed elements of plant food and, so far as supplying the plant- 
 food requirements of soils is concerned, completely supplies 
 these requirements 
 
 Question: ARE '^ FILLERS" AND "CARRIERS" THE 
 SAME? 
 
 Answer: No fertilizing material is all plant-food. It is im- 
 
98 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 
 
 possible for this to be since nitrogen is a gas and in its pure 
 form is not a plant-food, while phosphorus and potassium are 
 minerals and are not found in nature in their pure forms. Neither 
 phosphorus nor potash are plant-foods in their pure forms but 
 must be chemically combined with other substances before the 
 plant can use them. Materials used for making fertilizers and 
 containing one or more of these three plant-food elements are 
 called carriers of phosphorus, of nitrogen or of potash, as the 
 case may be. These carriers may contain their plant foods in 
 low or in high percentages according to the nature and the 
 quality of the materials, and they must be combined or mixed 
 in quantities that will give in the mixed fertilizer the analysis 
 desired or guaranteed. Analyses are expressed in percent, and 
 2000 pounds or a ton is the commercial unit. 
 
 There is a common belief among many farmers that all mixed 
 fertilizers contain a large amount of bulky material, without 
 plant-food value, put in them to increase their weight. They 
 believe that everything in a bag of fertilizer, besides the three 
 actual plant-food elements, is what is commonly called "filler," 
 and they believe that all of a fertilizer should be plant-food and 
 all available. It is impossible for this to be since no fertilizing 
 material is all plant-food. The plant-foods that fertilizers con- 
 tain are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and the value of all 
 fertilizers is based upon the amounts of these three elements the 
 fertilizer contains in available forms. 
 
 These three essential elements of plant-food cannot be used 
 by plants in their pure forms. Pure Nitrogen is a colorless, 
 tasteless and odorless gas and composes about three-fourths of 
 the air we breathe. Neither animals nor plants can use it in its 
 pure forms. Pure Phosphorus and pure Potassium are minerals 
 and are not found in nature in their pure forms. If pure phos- 
 phorus or pure potassium were applied to live plants they 
 would kill the plants. 
 
 These essential elements are found in nature combined with 
 many other substances and exist in a wide range of proportions 
 in these various combinations. This is in accordance with 
 nature's laws — laws ordained by the "Creator of all things 
 visible and invisible." Nature has distributed the plant-foods 
 throughout the world for man's use and they are found on or in 
 the earth and are mined, they are taken from the sea and from 
 the air, from plants and from animals and prepared and com- 
 bined in the cheapest and best plant-food forms. 
 
 The materials with which these plant-foods are combined by 
 
MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 99 
 
 nature are not "fillers," but "carriers" of plant-foods, and with- 
 out these carriers there would be no fertilizers or manures that 
 the farmer could use. If the elements of plant-foods were sep- 
 arated from their carriers they would not then be in forms that 
 the plant or crop could use. This is in accordance with the laws 
 of nature. 
 
 If a farmer wished to use fifteen pounds of nitrogen on a 
 certain piece of land he could not apply it in a pure form since 
 nitrogen is a gas. Besides there are many tons of nitrogen in 
 the air resting over each acre of land, but it is not in a usable 
 form. To overcome this, and to have the nitrogen in a form 
 that will be available and suitable for plant-food, nature com- 
 bines the nitrogen with other materials and thus gives us this 
 valuable plant-food in a diluted and usable form, as in the case 
 of nitrate of soda which contains 15 pounds of nitrogen in one 
 hundred pounds of bulk — nature's proportion or formula for 
 nitrate of soda. 
 
 Nature does not confine the application of this law to plant- 
 foods and fertilizer materials but to human and animal foods and 
 feeds also. Very few of the animal feeds are composed of as 
 much as half of available food. Only a small part of many of 
 the dishes served thrice daily on our tables is really used or even 
 usable as human food, yet we must use the whole bulk to get 
 the nutriment in it. The greater part of our foods are unavail- 
 able and are conveyed by "carriers," as the plant-foods in fer- 
 tilizers. Fruits, potatoes, cabbage, beets, etc., are composed of 
 more water than any other one substance. We do not complain 
 of the "carrier" materials in our stable and barn-lot manures, 
 yet the average ton of such manures contain rarely more than 
 30 pounds of plant-food, the remainder, 1970 pounds being 
 "carrier" or accompanying bulk put there by nature. 
 
 Question: DO HIGH GRADE FERTILIZERS CONTAIN 
 FILLER? 
 
 Answer: No. Filler increases the bulk of a fertilizer and is 
 added for the purpose of balancing the analysis, insuring the 
 fulfillment of the guarantee and conforming to the fertilizer 
 inspection laws of the various states. The purchaser of a fer- 
 tilizer should remember that he is paying for the pounds of 
 plant-food the fertilizers contain. Some one has said and ap- 
 propriately that filler in a fertilizer is ballast. Hence, it will 
 be seen that low-grade fertilizers are, as a rule, more expen- 
 sive than high grade fertilizers, since a pound of plant-food 
 
100 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 in the latter costs less than a pound of plant-food in the former. 
 Three tons of 8-2-2 fertilizer contains 720 pounds of plant-food 
 and two tons of 12-3-3 fertilizer contain exactly the same num- 
 ber of pounds of plant-food. If the 8-2-2 goods retails at $24.00 
 per ton, three tons will cost $72.00. If the 12-3-3 goods retails 
 at $32.00 per ton the two tons will cost $64.00, or $8.00 less 
 than the same amount of plant-food in the 8-2-2 goods. Thus 
 he who purchases 720 pounds of plant-food in three tons of 
 8-2-2 fertilizer has an extra ton to pay freight on, to haul, to 
 apply to the soil, and must pay $8.00 more than he who purchases 
 two tons of 12-3-3 fertilizer, yet each purchaser gets exactly the 
 same amount of plant-food or 720 pounds. High grade fertilizer 
 is cheaper and better. 
 
 Should the V-C Company add filler to its fertilizers what 
 would it gain? The price of a fertilizer is determined by the num- 
 ber of units of plant-food it contains. However, worthless as 
 filler might be as a plant-food it would cost a small fortune to 
 purchase, ship, dry, grind, screen and mix thousands of tons of 
 such materials annuall3^ All of this would be an absolute loss 
 to the company since its fertilizers are valued only for its plant 
 food units, or the pounds of plant-food in a ton of fertilizer. In 
 a high grade fertilizer there is no room for a filler. 
 
 Question: WHAT IS ROCK PHOSPHATE? 
 Answer: Many thousands of years ago enormous quantities of 
 bones of animals became fossilized — turned to stone — and are 
 now found in great deposits in South Carolina, Florida, Ten- 
 nessee and other places. These rocks are mined and ground to a 
 fine powder called "floats" or ground phosphate rock. This 
 rock contains the equivalent of from 26 to 32 percent of phos- 
 phoric acid which in this form is but slightly soluble in water and 
 consequently but little of it is available for the use of crops as 
 plant-food. 
 
 Question: WHAT IS ACID PHOSPHATE? 
 A7iswer: Acid phosphate is the standard carrier of phosphoric 
 acid and is made by treating ground phosphate rock with about 
 an equal weight of sulphuric acid. The sulphuric acid changes 
 the phosphorus in the rock phosphate to a soluble form. Thus 
 100 pounds of phosphate rock analyzing 32 percent of insoluble 
 'phosphoric acid becomes 200 pounds of acid phosphate analyzing 
 16 percent of soluble phosphoric acid. The phosphate rock after 
 being treated with sulphuric acid becomes acid phosphate and the 
 phosphorus it contains becomes phosphoric acid. Acid phos- 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 101 
 
 phate and phosphoric acid must not be confused — acid phos- 
 phate is the whole material while the phosphoric acid is the 16 
 percent and is actual plant-food. Thus a 200 pound sack of 
 acid phosphate contains 32 pounds of phosphoric acid, or 16 
 percent. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES PHOSPHORIC ACID HELP THE 
 PLANT? 
 
 Ansioer: If plants cannot get phosphoric acid they will die be- 
 fore reaching maturity. It is highly necessary to the develop- 
 ment and maturity of the seeds of all plants, and increases their 
 fruitfulness. Phosphoric acid also aids in making soluble and 
 transferring to the seeds the nitrogen compounds so essential 
 to the full development of the seeds. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES NITROGEN OR AMMONIA HELP 
 THE PLANT? 
 
 Ansiver: Nitrogen or ammonia exercises a great influence in 
 the development of the vegetative functions of plants. An 
 excess of nitrogen retards fruitfulness, but with an abundance 
 of phosphoric acid and potash present aids in producing a heavy 
 yield of well balanced composition. Seeds and leaves are rich 
 in nitrogen, consequently full seed and leaf development re- 
 quires a full supply of nitrogen. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES POTASH HELP THE PLANT? 
 Answer: Potash helps to make the stalks, stems, branches and 
 leaf-stems of plants. It is essential to the formation and trans- 
 ference of starch; it aids in the manufacture of starch in the 
 leaves and in its transference to the fruits. Potash is essential 
 to the growth and maturity of the stems or woody parts of 
 plants and the fleshy parts of vegetables, grains and fruits. 
 
 Feeding Crops 
 
 Question: WHEN SHOULD FERTILIZER BE ADDED TO 
 
 THE SOIL? 
 Answer: Fertilizers should be applied when the crop is not 
 developing and producing as it should, when heavier yields of 
 better quality and when greater profits are desired. There is a 
 deficiency in the soil if crops do not grow well and fertilizers are 
 made for the purpose of supplying deficient food materials for 
 the use of the plant. The time to apply fertilizers is when the 
 land is being prepared for the crop, while the crop is growing 
 and whenever it needs to be fed so that it may do the duty 
 expected of it. 
 
102 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 Question: HOW SHOULD FERTILIZERS BE APPLIED 
 
 TO THE SOIL? 
 Answer: Fertilizers are added or applied to the soil to make it 
 richer. The richest soils have the plant-food elements which 
 they contain evenly distributed through them. The best results 
 come from fertilizers when they are well mixed with the soil. 
 The soil receives the best benefits when fertilizers are applied 
 broadcast, spread evenly and well mixed into the soil. Crops 
 grown in rows more than two feet apart are fertilized in the 
 
 This is a typu dI I'lrulizer Distributor oommonlN u-ij'l l"i- cotton, rum, ami other crops 
 cultivated in the row. The row is marked, opened and the Fertilizer put down, and then 
 mixed with the soil by the solid wooden wheel which follows in the furrow. 
 
 drill, and later additional applications are made between the 
 rows. In some cases only one application need be made, in others 
 two applications, and others three applications. Implements 
 are in common use for putting the fertilizer on or into the soil. 
 
 Question: IS THE MANNER OF APPLYING FERTIL- 
 IZERS IMPORTANT? 
 Answer: How to apply fertilizers to growing crops is a matter 
 of more consequence than might appear at first glance. In the 
 first place the applied materials should be finely pulverized 
 since lumps or clods are far more objectionable in fertilizers than 
 lumps and clods in a field. This is particularly true regarding 
 late applications of fertilizer. They should be well pulverized 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 103 
 
 and evenly distributed. The fertilizer may be distributed be- 
 tween the rows of growing crops more cheaply by the use of 
 that valuable implement known as a combination cultivator 
 and fertilizer distributor. When second or late applications are 
 made to growing crops the roots of the crops have almost always 
 spread far into the "middles" or the spaces between the rows. 
 This wide spreading of the root system must be taken into con- 
 sideration both as regards the depth of cultivation given the crop 
 and as regards the place the fertilizer is put down. It is not at all 
 necessary that it be near the point where the plant comes out 
 of the ground. As a matter of fact, it is better that it be away 
 from rather than near the base of the plant. When a crop has 
 reached that stage of its development that calls for intercul- 
 tural applications of fertilizer the feeding parts of its roots are 
 not near the main stem of the plant, but spread far out in all 
 directions. It is the tips of the roots and rootlets that take up 
 the plant-food while those parts of the root system connecting 
 the root tips with the plant are merely conveyors of plant-food 
 - — the pipe line system, so to speak — and do not take plant-food 
 from the soil. The root tips with their root hairs alone perform 
 the function of absorbing food from the earth. Consequently 
 an even distribution of late applications of fertilizer over all the 
 soil in which the roots are operating is necessary for the best use 
 of the fertilizer applied by the crop. 
 
 Not only the distribution, but also the incorporation of the 
 fertilizer with the soil is necessary. This incorporation or mixing 
 of the fertilizer with the soil is often a very necessary act. When 
 the combination fertilizer distributor is used in making the 
 application it is of course mixed with the soil and for this reason 
 the use of such an implement is urged. On the other hand, if 
 the fertilizer is left on the surface of the soil it may remain there 
 until rain falls and in the meantime be of no benefit to the crop. 
 If rain does not fall for a week or two and no cultivation is given 
 the crop its development may have passed that stage at which 
 a late application would have been of benefit and the office of 
 the fertilizer and increased yields it should have induced are 
 lost. The farmers who have become prejudiced against late 
 applications of fertilizer have developed their error in the When 
 and the How of making the application. He who puts down 
 his late applications of fertilizers at the right time in the right 
 manner and uses the right fertilizer in the right condition for a 
 crop in need of late fertilization will have his wisdom and in- 
 dustry rewarded by bountiful yields of high quality. 
 
104 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 Question: MAY FERTILIZERS BE APPLIED PROFIT- 
 ABLY TO GROWING CROPS? 
 Answer: Second or intercultural applications of fertilizer are 
 each year more commonly practiced and many of the best 
 farmers are now making a third application. For cotton, to- 
 bacco, corn and many truck and other crops planted in rows 
 the later application of fertilizer is an established practice and 
 a profitable one. Many farmers apply half of the quantity 
 decided upon for a crop before or at the time of planting and 
 
 A Fertilizer Distributor and Planter. The fertilizer is applied first and then the planter 
 puts down the seed. Good seed and fertilizer will increase your yields per acre. 
 
 the remainder at some period of growth when experience teaches 
 it is most beneficial. This will vary of course with different 
 crops and on different soils. It may be assumed that the origi- 
 nal or first application is for the purpose of developing the plant 
 and the second (and third, if three applications are made) to 
 develop the fruit, seed or the part of the plant to be used. The 
 fruit of some crops, like wheat or corn all ripens practically at 
 one time (if the strain of seed is a well bred one), while crops like 
 cotton or tomatoes develop and ripen their fruits through sixty 
 or more daj^s. It naturally follows that the right time for mak- 
 ing a late application of fertilizer for crops like wheat and corn 
 is of brief duration while with crops like cotton and tomatoes the 
 right time may be extended over a number of days or weeks. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 105 
 
 The safest rule to follow in deciding when to make the second 
 application is to apply just before or at the time the crop is 
 beginning to fruit or when the crop demands the largest amount 
 of available plant-food for its best development. With corn and 
 wheat and other crops which ripen all their seed about the same 
 time, the second application should be made when the plants 
 show their first signs of tasseling or heading, or just before. 
 With crops like cotton, tomatoes, etc., which continue to blos- 
 som and make fruit through many days the late application may 
 be given when the first blossoms open or a little before. With 
 this class of plants a third application may profitably be made 
 between fifteen and thirty days after the second. 
 
 Intercultural applications of fertilizers are very profitably 
 applied to crops grown for their leaves, such as tobacco, cab- 
 bage, lettuce and many others. Applications to be of greatest 
 benefit to these crops must be made long before the blossoms 
 begin to appear so that the fertilizer may supply the crop with 
 plant food while the crop is beginning to make the final growth 
 expected of it. A short time before a crop begins its heaviest 
 growth — when it has the greatest demand for plant food — is the 
 proper time for late applications of fertilizers. If the crop will 
 for some time continue to make a heavy growth or through 
 many days develop fruit a third application should be made, 
 since the object of late or intercultural applications of fertilizer 
 is to supply the demands of the crop and enable it to do its duty. 
 The more appropriately this demand is met in time of appli- 
 cation, character, quality, composition and quantity of plant- 
 foods carried by the fertilizer the better will be the character, 
 quality, composition and quantity of crop produced. 
 
 Question: IS THERE MORE THAN ONE WAY TO APPLY 
 FERTILIZERS? 
 
 Answer: Fertilizers may be applied in five general ways: 
 (1) Broadcast; (2) in the drill; (3) in hills; (4) interculturally 
 (side applications) ; and (5) as top-dressing. 
 
 Question: HOW IS FERTILIZER APPLIED BROADCAST? 
 Ansiver: Broadcast application of fertilizer is obviously ap- 
 propriate for crops that are seeded broadcast, like the small 
 grains, grasses, clovers, etc. Broadcast applications are made 
 with drills, planters, seeders, etc., that have attachments for 
 distributing fertilizers, or with implements especially con- 
 structed for the purpose. Broadcasting of fertilizers under the 
 above conditions is more effective when the distribution is uni- 
 
106 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 form over all the surface of the land and when the fertilizer is 
 thoroughly incorporated with the upper stratum of the soil 
 from one to four inches deep. 
 
 Fertilizers should be used not only for supplying plant-food 
 
 The above view shows a met licxl of Broadcasting Fertilizer which has met with the general 
 approval of the farmers who are Making Their Soil and Crops Pay More. 
 
 to the current crop but also for the permanent enrichment of 
 the soil. When they are applied with these two objects in view, 
 broadcasting is more effective than any other mode of applica- 
 tion and not only so for broadcast crops but for crops grown in 
 rows also. Fertilizers should be of benefit not only to the crop 
 for which they are directly applied, but also for future crops. 
 The best farmers and truckers apply more fertilizer than the 
 one crop needs, so that the surplus may act as a permanent 
 enricher of the soil and the second crop be benefited by the 
 residual effects of preceding applications. The cumulative 
 effects of heavy broadcast applications are among the best means 
 for preventing soils from losing their fertility and a sure means 
 by which soils will become richer and richer each year. 
 
 Question: HOW IS FERTILIZER APPLIED IN THE 
 DRILL? 
 
 Answer: Fertilizers are applied in the drill or row by the use 
 of fertilizer distributors designed for this purpose. There is a 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 107 
 
 large variety of these distributors in use and they vary widely in 
 merit and adaptation to different crops and different methods 
 of culture. These distributors may be adjusted so as to regulate 
 between their maximum and minimum capacities, the quantity 
 of fertilizer put down per acre. While gauges or indices point to 
 the quantity per acre with the distributor definitely adjusted, 
 care must be taken to insure the application desired when the 
 distance between rows varies. If the distributor is geared to 
 apply 300 pounds per acre with rows three feet apart, more than 
 300 pounds will be applied if the rows are 2>^ feet wide, and less 
 
 A closer view from the rear of the combination Fertilizer Distributor and Planter as shown 
 on page 90. Here is easily seen the roller which packs the soil over the seed, and the 
 appliance which indicates the next row, and the fertilizer and seed containers. 
 
 if the rows are 4 feet wide. The reason for this is obvious. 
 Assuming that an acre is 70 yards square there would be 3640 
 feet of rows to the acre if the rows were 4 feet apart, and 4900 
 feet of rows to the acre if the rows were 3 feet apart, and 5880 
 feet of rows if the rows were 2]4 feet apart. If the distributor's 
 feed is not adjusted to the number of feet of rows in an acre 
 there is no certainty that the desired quantity per acre is being 
 applied. 
 
 Fertilizers applied in the row should not be placed too deep 
 nor too near the surface of the soil; they should be uniformly 
 distributed so that every foot of row will receive as near as 
 
108 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 possible the same amount of fertilizer given every other foot; 
 the fertilizer should be well mixed with the soil; and, no con- 
 siderable quantity of fertilizer should be allowed to come in 
 direct contact with the seed. 
 
 Question: HOW IS FERTILIZER APPLIED IN THE HILL? 
 
 Answer: Applications of fertilizers to crops grown in hills like 
 melons, squash, cucumbers, etc., is more commonly made in the 
 individual hills and this often is advisable, if it is properly done. 
 In applying fertilizers in hills it is a mistaken idea that the fer- 
 tilizer should be placed in a mass directly in or under the hill. 
 It should be applied in and around the hill and well mixed ivith 
 the soil over a space at least two feet square — the center of the 
 square being the center of the hill. 
 
 The various kinds of fruit trees and vines especially when 
 young may more economically and appropriately be fertilized 
 individually rather than by the row or broadcast. This need not 
 apply, however, when crops are grown in the young orchard or 
 vineyard and these crops are well fertilized. In such cases the 
 crops may be fertilized by broadcasting the whole area and 
 thus feed both the orchard or vineyard and the crop at one 
 application. 
 
 Question: WHEN SHOULD FERTILIZER BE APPLIED 
 IN THE DRILL OR ROW? 
 
 Answer: This method of fertilizer application is practiced gen- 
 erally with such crops as are commonly grown in drills or rows, 
 like corn, cotton, tobacco, potatoes, many truck crops, etc.; and, 
 the time of application should be a comparatively short while 
 before the seed are sown or at the time of sowing. The latter 
 should be preferred since it is more economical, inasmuch as one 
 implement may be used for both putting down the fertilizer and 
 sowing the seed and both be done at one time. If, however, 
 heavy applications are made in the drill they may sometimes be 
 put down five or ten days before the seed are sown. The fer- 
 tilizer should be well mixed with the soil so that no considerable 
 quantity of it wall be in contact with the seed. 
 
 Question: WHEN SHOULD FERTILIZER BE APPLIED 
 BROADCAST? 
 
 Ansiver: Broadcast applications of fertilizer may be made (1) 
 when the soil is being fitted for the seed, (2) when the seed are 
 sown, (3) or after the seed are sown. 
 
 (1) Applications made after the land has been broken and 
 
IMAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 109 
 
 then ■worked well into the soil with disk and harrow will give a 
 most ideal distribution of the fertilizer throughout the soil pre- 
 pared and aid materially in developing a seed bed most congenial 
 to the crop. 
 
 (2) If the application is made when the seed are sown and a 
 combination fertilizer and seed drill is employed much time and 
 labor is saved. This is the most common method emplo^^ed for 
 broadcast distribution of fertilizers and is the most economical 
 for small or medium heavy applications. If heavy applications 
 are made all, or a part at least, should be put down a few days 
 before the seed are sown. 
 
 (3) Applications made after the seed are sown should be 
 made with a broadcast distributor (or by hand) before the seed 
 germinate and the land lightly harrowed or rolled. If rolled the 
 harrow or weeder should at once follow the roller. Such appli- 
 cations are recommended only in cases of emergency and for 
 small seeds that are covered very lightly. 
 
 Question: HOW IS FERTILIZER APPLIED INTERCUL- 
 TURALLY? 
 
 Answer: Intercultural and side applications of fertilizers 
 usually refer to the fertilization of crops cultivated in rows and 
 the fertilizer applied after the crop has begun growth. Such 
 applications may be made with the distributors used for fer- 
 tilizing rowed crops before planting, but are best made with an 
 implement known as a combination cultivator and fertilizer dis- 
 tributor. As the name implies, such an implement puts down 
 the fertilizer for the growing crop while the crop is being cul- 
 tivated and works it into the soil. It really does two very 
 important and profitable things at one and the same time and 
 may operate only on one side of a row at a time, on both sides; 
 or, it may cultivate the crop and apply the fertilizer to two rows 
 at a time — depending upon the construction of this valuable 
 implement. 
 
 Intercultural or side applications of fertilizer has become an 
 established custom ver}^ widely adopted in comparatively recent 
 years, and on accomit of its profitableness is practiced more and 
 more each year for increasing yields of practically all field, truck 
 and orchard crops and for adding to their quality. While the 
 application of the fertilizer may be and often is made by hand 
 this method is slow and expensive and every farmer is urged to 
 possess one or more of the implements made especially for this 
 
110 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 purpose that he may not only make the application more econ- 
 omically but much better and reap through the efforts of one 
 operation the benefits of needed plant-food (applied when the 
 crop demands it) and needed cultivation. 
 
 A modern two row fertilizer distributor and cultivator. This method of cultivating destroys 
 weeds, applies fertilizer and also keeps the soil in a good physical condition. 
 
 Question: HOW IS FERTILIZER APPLIED AS A TOP 
 
 DRESSING? 
 Answer: Top dressing has the same object as intercultural 
 or side applications of fertilizers and differs from it in no ma- 
 terial way except in manner of application, and, that top dress- 
 ings are most commonly made to broadcast -grown crops 
 However, some interpret "top dressing" to mean the application 
 of fertilizers to growing crops and construe it to mean ''side 
 application," "late application," and "intercultural applica- 
 tion." This interpretation is immaterial since the principle 
 underlying all is the same and the only difference is the manner 
 of application. Top dressing is the "finishing off" process in the 
 production of good crops. It is the application of plant-food at 
 the "pyschological moment" — when fertiJization gives best re- 
 sults. When all the fertilizer intended for a crop is applied 
 before the seed are sown there is a constantly decreasing quantity 
 of plant-food in the soil and constantly increasing size or volume 
 
MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 111 
 
 of crop to be supported. When the crop begins to develop its 
 fruit or seeds a top dressing of appropriate composition is of 
 greatest benefit and increases the yield and quality of the crop 
 often to a remarkable extent. 
 
 Applications of top dresser to broadcast-grown crops may be 
 made by hand or by broadcast fertilizer distributors to the 
 crop while it is growing. If the condition of the soil and the 
 habit of the crop will permit the application should be followed 
 by a harrow, weeder, or some surface stirring implement. This 
 will incorporate the fertilizer with the soil and it will become 
 available to the crop as soon as the soil moisture dissolves it. 
 If the soil surface is dry when the top dresser is applied it can 
 not be dissolved or reach the roots of the crop before rain falls 
 unless it is worked in with a harrow, weeder, or some similar 
 implement and thus come in contact with moist soil. 
 
 Question: WHAT ADVANTAGE HAS TOP DRESSING TO 
 
 CROPS? 
 Answer: A comparatively new practice in the use of fertilizers 
 and one which is bringing heavier yields and greater profits is 
 top dressing with commercial fertilizers. This practice embraces 
 both conservation and preparedness since an application made 
 just when the growing crop needs increased quantities of food, 
 the food is taken up then and it is not washed or leached away 
 as may be the case if all the fertilizer was applied at one time 
 and before the crop even begins to grow. Top dressers applied, 
 two, three or four times as cotton, corn, tobacco, truck crops, 
 etc., are being cultivated and worked into the ground (or, sown 
 broadcast, for broadcasted crops like small grain, meadows, 
 etc.), is a practice by which needed plant-food is applied when 
 most needed. A top dresser of composition appropriate to the 
 crop to which it is applied and supplying the soil's deficiency in 
 plant-food is a most logical practice since it is a means to an 
 end and the end is attained. 
 
 Question: DO FERTILIZERS MAKE THE SOIL RICH? 
 
 Answer: A poor soil is one which does not contain enough 
 plant-food to supply the needs of a big crop. Fertilizers are 
 plant-food. If the right kind of high grade fertilizers and enough 
 of them are applied, the soil is made rich. If it is to remain rich 
 and fertile the food supply must be maintained. 
 
112 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 Part of a 475 acre field of cotton on land which has been in cultivation for over 100 years, 
 on plantation of Mr. F. W. Taylor, near Greenwood, La. Mr. Taylor is an enthusiastic 
 user of V-C Fertilizers. 
 
 Question: DO FERTILIZERS SAVE LABOR? 
 
 Aiiswer: The heaviest item of expense in growing crops is 
 labor. With many crops the cost of labor for producing a low 
 yield is almost as great as the cost of labor for producing a high 
 yield. The labor cost of preparing the land, planting and cul- 
 tivating an acre that produces 25 bushels of corn is practically 
 the same as that required to produce 50 or even 100 bushels per 
 acre. It costs practically the same (and often more) to cultivate 
 a poor or infertile acre of land as it costs to cultivate a rich or 
 fertile acre. Poor or infertile land is poor because it contains an 
 inadequate supply of plant-food and the judicious use of com- 
 mercial fertilizer is the chief means by which it may be made 
 rich and yield, without additional labor, heavier crops of better 
 quality and at a lower cost of production. When labor is diffi- 
 cult to get and when it is high in price crop production may not 
 only be maintained but increased by the use of increased quan- 
 tities of fertilizer. This is strongly illustrated in a bulletin 
 written by Dr. B. W. Kilgore, Director of the North Carolina 
 Experiment Station. Dr. Kilgore's report is based on a number 
 of experiments the object of which was to ascertain the profits 
 accruing from the use of varying amounts of fertilizer applied to 
 cotton. The tabulated results given below are based upon the 
 normal cost of both labor and fertilizers. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 113 
 
 Fertilizers Save Labor 
 
 No. of 
 Acre 
 
 Lbs. of 
 Lint 
 
 Cost of Fer- 
 tilizer Used 
 
 Cost of 
 Labor 
 
 Total Cost 
 
 Value of Lint 
 per Acre at 
 
 N'tPr'fitper 
 .\cre iVod ncl. 
 
 per Acre 
 
 per Acre 
 
 per Acre 
 
 
 20c per pound 
 
 Value of Seed 
 
 1 
 
 105 
 
 No Fertili- 
 zer Used 
 
 $35.00 
 
 $35.00 
 
 $ 21.00 
 
 -S14.00 
 
 2 
 
 215 
 
 % 3.00 
 
 35.00 
 
 38.00 
 
 43.00 
 
 + 5.00 
 
 3 
 
 430 
 
 7.00 
 
 35.00 
 
 42.00 
 
 86.00 
 
 +44.00 
 
 4 
 
 500 
 
 10.00 
 
 35.00 
 
 45.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 +55.00 
 
 The value of the lint from Acre No. 1 on which no fertilizer 
 was used was $14.00 less than the cost of production. Three 
 dollars invested in fertilizer for Acre No. 2 resulted in, a profit 
 of $5.00, a narrow margin of profit. On the other hand, when 
 $7.00 and $10.00 worth of fertilizer, respectively, were used on 
 plots Nos. 3 and 4 the profit above the cost of labor was $44.00 
 and $55.00. It would have required eleven acres receiving only 
 $3.00 worth of fertilizer to have made the profit one acre made 
 when $10.00 worth of fertilizer was used and eleven times the 
 labor would have had to be employed. While this may be an 
 exceptionally wide margin it has been duplicated and exceeded 
 thousands of times with high priced crops such as tobacco, cot- 
 ton, truck crops, etc. It is a striking example of how farmers 
 may serve their country and themselves in trying times and when 
 an abundance of cheaply produced crops becomes an economic 
 and patriotic duty. 
 
 Question: DO FERTILIZERS IMPROVE THE QUALITY 
 AND INCREASE THE MARKET VALUE OF 
 CROPS? 
 Ansiver: In addition to the profits reaped from increased pro- 
 duction and reduced cost of production which comes from the 
 judicious and liberal use of fertilizer there are other important 
 and often overlooked benefits derived from fertilizers. Since 
 fertilizers are scientific and practical plant foods it is to be ex- 
 pected that crops which are liberally fed the foods they are in 
 need of will develop higher qualities as well as produce higher 
 yields. This is universally proven in practice and, in recognition 
 of the better qualities, the market will and does pay a higher 
 price for well fed, well developed, healthy and wholesome prod- 
 ucts. No one expects a half starved cow to give good milk, or a 
 half fed hog to make rapid gains of high price pork, or a half fed 
 horse to do a full day's work. Food produces quantity and 
 quality of milk, pork and work in these three kinds of animals 
 and food — plant-food — does the same thing for plants. It makes 
 
114 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 more plants, better plants and plants worth more since there are 
 more products to use or to sell and the products are more val- 
 uable and sell at a higher price. High qualities are always 
 sought and always command a higher price. One cannot make 
 a "silk purse out of a sow's ear" nor can one make higher priced 
 truck, orchard and farm products from underfed plants and crops. 
 
 Soil Conditions 
 
 Question: WHAT SOIL CONDITIONS MUST BE PRESENT 
 IF FERTILIZERS ARE TO BE EFFECTIVE? 
 
 Answer: That a crop may be able to make the best use of the 
 plant-food already in the soil and the plant-food in fertilizers 
 
 Thorough cultivation is essential to good plant growth after the soil has been well 
 supplied with Plant Food. 
 
 applied to the soil, the soil itself must be in such condition as 
 will supply all the demands of the crop. The soil must be deep 
 and fine. Depth of soil is obtained by deep plowing and sub- 
 soiling, and a fine soil is secured from thoroughly plowing, 
 followed by the best use of such implements as the disc, smooth- 
 ing harrow and other harrows, and a roller if clods make the 
 use of a roller necessary. Clods allowed to remain in or on a soil 
 are not entered by the roots of crops. Clods seriously check the 
 growth of plants by withdrawing plant-food from their reach, 
 and reducing the water-holding power of the soil. The soil 
 must be well drained to a depth not less than three feet if the 
 full benefit is to come from fertilizers and from the plant-food 
 found in the soil. 
 
 Humus enables the soil to hold more water and hold it 
 longer, and loosens the soil by preventing it from baking or 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 115 
 
 ruimiiig together into clods. Lime aids in pulverizing the soil 
 and, if acid, makes it sweet. Deep, pulverized, well drained 
 soils with a good supply of humus, if not acid, are congenial to 
 crops, supplying their physical needs and enabling them to 
 enjo}^ good health and make good and profitable use of fer- 
 tilizers. Good soil conditions make healthy crops. Sick animals 
 and sick plants cannot make good use of foods. 
 
 Question: HOW SHALL ACID SOILS BE CORRECTED? 
 Ansiver: Lime is a "digestor" of plant-food. It corrects acid 
 soils, making them sweet and habitable to plants. It aids in 
 making potash a better food and enters into the structure of all 
 plants. Lime is especially beneficial to legumes, such as clover, 
 cowpeas, alfalfa, beans, peanuts, etc. 
 
 Method now 
 
 1\ u-ed in the application of lime. 
 
 Question: DOES THE COLOR OF SOIL AFFECT CROP 
 GROWTH? 
 
 Answer: Soils may be brown, red, yellow, gray and black. 
 While the kind and color of rocks from which soils are disinte- 
 grated partly control their color, it is controlled more by the 
 amount of organic matter and by the form of the iron in the 
 soil. The more organic matter a soil contains the blacker and 
 more fertile it is. Red and yellow soils become brown and darker 
 if organic matter is added. Black or dark soils absorb the sun's 
 heat more than lighter soils, and if well drained will produce 
 better crops earlier. Radiation of heat from the soil is also 
 affected by color. Dark soils may be worked earlier in the spring 
 and later in the fall, and on account of their higher tempera- 
 
116 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 tures more plant-food becomes available, and the length of time 
 plants may continue in best growth is extended. However, any 
 soil may wear out, no matter what its color may be. Even a 
 very black soil ma}^ be an infertile one, such as shale soils which 
 are at times actually barren. 
 
 Question: WHAT EFFECTS HAVE MANURES ON CROPS? 
 
 Answer: A ton of manure contains about five pounds of phos- 
 phoric acid, seven pounds of nitrogen and eight or nine pounds 
 of potash, which is not so much plant-food as is contained in a 
 200-lb. sack of complete commercial fertilizer. It is evident 
 that manures can only in a limited way compensate for the 
 absence of commercial fertilizers. On the other hand, a liberal 
 application of manures enables the farmer to get better and 
 more profitable returns from commercial fertilizers, since manures 
 in several ways act beneficially upon the soil, especially so in 
 improving their physical condition and water holding power. 
 Manures also increase the bacterial population of the soil, for 
 beneficial bacteria are great promoters of fertility and plant 
 growth. Manures affect beneficially the color of soils, aid in 
 making unavailable plant-food available, make the soil warmer, 
 looser, more easily worked, and check leaching and soil wash. 
 Fertilizers may nearly always be more profitable applied to 
 soils filled with humus than to soils deficient in humus. The 
 greatest benefit to soils from manures comes from the increased 
 quantities of humus that result from applications of manures. 
 Care should always be exercised in the use of stable manure 
 since it is liable to cause the spread of insects, fungus and bac- 
 terial diseases, and the introduction of weed seeds. 
 
 Question: IS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE A GOOD SEED- 
 BED? 
 
 Answer: A good beginning is very helpful to a good ending, 
 and good preparation for many crops is more necessary than any 
 other one thing the farmer can do. A good seed-bed is secured 
 by thorough breaking to a depth appropriate for the particular 
 soil under treatment and for the crop to be grown, a thorough 
 pulverization of the soil, especially for small seeds, and a com- 
 pacting of the soil to at least a moderate degree so that the seeds 
 may come into intimate contact with the soil particles and 
 promptly absorb moisture for quick and uniform germination. 
 A well prepared seed-bed better controls the soil water, presents 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 11? 
 
 conditions for the ready delivery of plant-food to the plant roots, 
 and enables the young roots to spread and to penetrate further 
 as they seek water and food. The seed-bed is the home of the 
 young plant in which it not only lives but from which it gets its 
 food and water, and the more nearly its home is a congenial one 
 the more sturdy and rapid will be germination and growth of 
 
 a•K^'v*l^^ * 
 
 
 .-^, «f *- ^ "^ 
 
 
 
 . J ■■ ^ '1 
 
 Preparation of sopil bed. The ratcrpillar tractor is hero slinwn using the three types of 
 harrows, — the disc, cutaway disc and spike tooth harrow. 
 
 the plants, and the more profitable will the crop be. Good seeds 
 and good seed-beds mean a good stand. 
 
 Good Seeds 
 
 Question: ARE GOOD SEEDS NECESSARY TO PRODUCE 
 
 GOOD CROPS? 
 Answer: A farmer may have the best soil, the best climate, 
 and the best fertilizers, yet without good seeds he cannot pro- 
 duce the best crops. The seed makes the plant and plants make 
 the crop. Good seeds are true to name, sound, strong in vi- 
 tality and free from weed seeds, adulterants and mixtures. 
 Without good seed the farmer is not assured of a good stand, or 
 a crop of good yield and high quality. Like begets like. If the 
 
118 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 stand of corn on an acre is ten percent less than a perfect one 
 there will be a loss of ten percent in the failure to utilize all the 
 land, ten percent of the cultivation and of the fertilizers will be 
 lost, and the yield will be ten percent short. Good seeds will 
 often yield twice as much as poor seeds. By purchasing inferior, 
 
 ^L ^ 
 
 VH 
 
 ^^B^^KK/KKKS^'t ' ~ "V'-^^TIH^^I 
 
 
 ^B 
 
 
 
 ^^jc_ .. ^1 
 
 
 WmM 
 
 HHB^/'M 
 
 3IK^ 
 
 Making a germination test of corn seeds. The seed sample.^ that do not produt-e strong 
 vigorous shoots should be noted, and the ears from which tliey were taken should be discarded. 
 
 cheap seeds the farmer is often subjected not only to the above 
 losses but introduces many weeds that for years to come may 
 annually increase his labors and reduce his crop yields. 
 
 Question: IS IT IMPORTANT TO PLANT ONLY GOOD 
 VARIETIES? 
 
 Ansiver: The selection of good varieties is equally as important 
 as the planting of good seeds. Varieties of a crop like different 
 crops vary widely in their adaption to soil, climate and uses. 
 A poor variety of apples may have no sale value, yet the trees 
 occupy the same area that the trees of a good variety occupy. 
 A poor variety of cotton may yield only a fourth of a bale of 
 lint to the acre, wdiile a good variety would yield a bale on the 
 same land, though both be given the same care, treatment and 
 fertilization. Certain varieties of the various crops are well 
 adapted to some localities, and certain varieties poorly adapted, 
 and large profits will come to the farmer who seeks, finds and 
 grows the best variety for his farm. Likewise great loss will 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 119 
 
 result if a poor or even an average variety is grown in the place 
 of one of the best. Each farmer should choose only the best 
 varieties, improving these by careful selection from each kind 
 every time the new crop is harvested. 
 
 
 Question: 
 
 Rack used for the storing of seed corn. 
 
 HOW MAY CROPS BE IMPROVED BY SEED 
 
 SELECTION? 
 
 Answer: Within recent years science has thrown a strong 
 light upon the laws of heredity, and applied to seed selection 
 in crops these laws have been the means of developing the art of 
 selection so that the average farmer may practice it with great 
 profit. Very profitable increases in yield, quality and other 
 properties of plants may easily be secured by any one who will 
 go to the trouble of becoming familiar with the simple practice 
 of the art. Plants vary wideh^ within families and varieties, and 
 the selection from those which transmit the tendencies to vary 
 in desirable directions will establish a strain of superior ability 
 to give heavy yield, large size, better color, or superior quality 
 of any kind. The same principle of selection has long been 
 
120 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 practiced with domestic animals by many breeders. In any 
 collection of plants will be found some that are poor, some that 
 are very superior, and many that are between the two extremes. 
 The selection of only the best for seed, and always the best each 
 year, and those that came from the best the year before will soon 
 develop a strain superior in yield and quality. 
 
 Question: DO FERTILIZERS IMPROVE THE QUALITY. 
 VITALITY AND HIGH REPRODUCTIVE 
 POWER OF SEEDS? 
 
 Answer: Every one knows and appreciates the value of good 
 seeds and every one should know that no matter how carefully 
 seeds may be grown, selected and kept they will not and cannot 
 reproduce high qualities and abundant yields unless they are 
 sown in well prepared, enriched soils and otherwise given that 
 treatment necessary for their best development. A healthy, 
 strong and fully developed plant will produce the best seeds and 
 if not well fed it cannot do this. Like produces like in successive 
 generations of plants when each generation is given full oppor- 
 tunity for the best development. Plant-food when utilized by 
 the growing crop makes the crop through the transformation of 
 the air and earth food materials into plant tissue. If the plant 
 or crop is not adequately supplied with the food materials nec- 
 essary for it to most perfectly perform its divine mission — the 
 reproduction of its kind — it cannot do this. An undeveloped 
 plant or one weakened and dwarfed by being underfed cannot 
 fully perform its "divine mission," nor reward the husbandman 
 by bringing forth the "best of its kind." The best seeds are 
 produced by the best plants and the best plants are those which 
 are fed best. 
 
 Question: HOW DO CROPS CROSS AND BECOME 
 MIXED? 
 
 Answer: A very large proportion of our important crops are 
 propagated from seeds, and seeds are produced from pollen, the 
 male organ of plants, and the pistil, the female organ. The 
 pollen which is found in the anther, which is the top of the fila- 
 ment, is carried by the wind, insects, etc., and coming in con- 
 tact with the stigma, the enlarged top of the pistil, extends 
 downward through the style and fertilizes the ovules, and these 
 develop into the seed. Without pollen and pistils' plants cannot 
 form seeds. The pollen from closely allied plants have the 
 power of fertilizing or pollinating each other, and it is by this 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 121 
 
 cross-fertilization that hybrids or crosses are developed. If one 
 kind of corn or one kind of cotton develops seeds from the pollen 
 of other kinds of corn or of cotton the seeds that result will be 
 crossed, and may partake of the character of either parent, or 
 both, or may develop new characters, which may be or may not 
 
 Male and female flower of the Watermelon plant. The female or pistillate flower is to the 
 right, and the staminate or male to the left. 
 
 be desirable. Some plants cross very readily, like corn, and some 
 cross but slightly like wheat. 
 
 Plants that produce seed are of three classes, their classi- 
 fication being controlled by the relative positions of their male 
 and female parts. Some plants have both male and female 
 parts in one blossom, like tobacco, legumes, cotton, wheat, 
 peaches, etc. Some have two kinds of flowers, one male and one 
 female, like melons, corn, oaks, pines, etc., and some have all 
 their female parts on one plant and all their male parts on 
 another, like persimmon and juniper. The ease with which 
 pollen may be blown by the wind and carried by bees and other 
 insects is responsible for the crossing of many crops. Indis- 
 criminate crossing is largely responsible for the ''running out" 
 or deterioration of some crops, and it is often necessary to plant 
 only one variety of a crop in a field if the seed are to be kept 
 pure. The precautions that must be taken in order to keep seed 
 
122 
 
 MAKlNCx SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 pure and make them better vary with different crops, and the 
 farmer should become familiar with the practices necessary 
 for keeping his seed pure, and should know how to grow good 
 seed and make them better by selecting the best from each crop; 
 or better still, grow a seed patch and have it separated from other 
 crops that would cause crossing. Some crops produce better 
 from seeds fertilized with pollen from the same plant that pro- 
 duce the seeds, like tobacco and cotton, while corn should be 
 fertilized with pollen from other plants than those from which 
 the seed are saved, but the pollen should come from plants of the 
 same variety of corn. 
 
 Planting and Cultivating 
 
 Question: WHAT 
 
 CROPS BE 
 
 DISTANCES SHOULD 
 GIVEN IN THE ROW? 
 
 Ansiver: If crops habitually grown in rows are given too much 
 distance between the rows and between the plants in the row 
 the yield will be reduced, and the same undesirable result will 
 follow if the rows or the plants in the rows are too close. The 
 habit of growth and the manner of fruiting, the preparation of 
 the soil, its natural fertility and the quantity of fertilizers applied 
 and the season, all these affect the distance or the "stand" that 
 crops should have. Only good judgment and experience are 
 
 safe guides. Examples 
 of wide variation in the 
 numbers of plants that 
 will give the best re- 
 turns on a given area 
 are found in a compari- 
 son of the best dis- 
 tances to plant cotton 
 and corn. Corn should 
 be planted thickly on 
 rich land, and further 
 apart on poor land; 
 cotton should be grown 
 thinner on rich land so 
 that each stalk may 
 spread and produce 
 more bolls, and thicker 
 on poor land so that 
 space will not be lost 
 between the plants. 
 
 A cultivator in common use on shallow cultivated 
 crops such as corn. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 123 
 
 Question: DOES GOOD SOIL PREPARATION MAKE 
 
 CULTIVATION MORE EFFECTIVE? 
 Answer: If the soil is not well prepared before the seeds are 
 planted or the plants set out, as the case may be, the lack of 
 preparation will not only affect the germination of the seed and 
 the growing off of the crop by having an uncongenial home for 
 the plants, but the subsequent cultivation of the crop cannot 
 be as effective nor can it take the place of good preparation. 
 
 A jioorly pri'piiM'il firl.l lil.-.i- tlii- mir will ii>i mnw i'dn-l crop.s. Alnif^tvire canimt firoulate well 
 in the ^soil and tlic laifio uumhei- ot elcjd.-^ prevents u goudly portion of the best of tlie soil from 
 being; used by the crop. Had these elods been crushed and the field then harrowed a good 
 seed-bed would have been prepared and a good crop would result. 
 
 Good preparation pulverizes surface and undersurface soil, 
 enables the soil to take up more water on account of its greater 
 fineness and increased porosity. Preparation starts the soil off 
 in a good condition. Poor preparation leaves the soil cloddy, 
 harsh and often there is too much thrashy material on the sur- 
 face, all of which interferes with cultivation and makes it less 
 effective, more difficult and more expensive. Good preparation 
 brings about conditions favorable to a greater supply and a well 
 maintained supply of water, makes plant-food more available 
 and enables the roots of the crops to penetrate further and have 
 an extended feeding area, admits air and warmth, etc., while 
 cultivation maintains these desirable conditions. 
 
 Question: WHAT BENEFITS ARE DERIVED FROM 
 
 CULTIVATION? 
 Answer: If, after a field of cotton, corn, tobacco, cabbage or 
 potatoes, has been planted, no further cultivation should be 
 given these crops, the failure would be marked. The main 
 
124 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 objects of cultivation are the keeping of the soil in good condi- 
 tion while the crop is growing, and the destruction of weeds. 
 Cultivation pulverizes and loosens the surface, prevents the 
 formation of a crust, checks the evaporation of water from the 
 soil, prevents wide fluctuations in the moisture in the soil, 
 modifies the extremes of temi^erature, kills weeds which would 
 shade the ground and rob the soil of plant-food and water, and 
 increases the effects of manures and commercial fertilizers by 
 maintaining conditions in the soil which enable the crops to 
 better utilize both the natural and applied food, and prevents 
 the loss of plant-food and moisture that would be used by weeds 
 if allowed to grow. 
 
 Dip one end of a lump of sugar in coffee and tlie coffee will rapidly rise through the lump. 
 The grains of sugar which compose the lump are very small but have been closely pressed 
 together and the coffee easily passes from one particle to another and the whole lump becomes 
 wet with coffee. Soil-water will spread quickly through finely pulverized and compacted 
 soil in the same way. 
 
 Question: WHEN AND HOW SHOULD A CROP BE CUL- 
 TIVATED? 
 
 A7iswer: Since the object of cultivation is to keep the surface 
 of the soil in good conclition and to destroy and prevent weeds, 
 it is evident that frequent cultivation at the right time with the 
 right implements will prevent the surface from getting in a poor 
 condition and prevent the growth of weeds. If the soil is not 
 allowed to get in poor condition, and weeds are not allowed to 
 grow, the soil is continuously in good condition, and weeds can- 
 not do harm if not allowed to grow. If the field is not in the 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 125 
 
 best condition when a crop is planted cultivation should begin 
 with a light harrow or weeder before the seeds are up. Light 
 and thorough cultivation at this time hastens the germination 
 by breaking the clods, admitting air and conserving water, and 
 the plants come up promptly and strong. Cultivation should 
 begin after each rain as soon as the soil is dry enough, and should 
 be done with that implement which will most quickly, cheaply 
 and thoroughly stir all the soil surface and pulverize it to the 
 proper depth for the soil and crop. 
 
 Cover another lump of sugnr with finely pulverized su«:ar and dip tlie lump in coffee. The 
 coffee will rise rapidly through the lump of .sugar but very slowly through the loose sugar on 
 top of the lump. This illustrates the value of a pulverized and compacted soil upon which 
 an earth mulch has been made. The mulch holds the moisture in the soil. 
 
 Question: WITH WHAT IMPLEMENTS SHOULD A CROP 
 BE CULTIVATED? 
 
 Answer: Great ingenuity has been displayed by modern imple- 
 ment inventors in devising cultivators for every class of soil, 
 every kind of crop and every variation in the methods employed 
 for the preparation of the soil for clifTerent crops. Some crops 
 are sown broadcast, some in continuous drills or rows, some at 
 various intervals in drills or rows, and some in squares, triangles, 
 etc. Implements are in use for the cultivation of all these. The 
 best implement with which to cultivate a crop is one that will 
 best work the spaces between the rows or between the plants in 
 the rows or both. A cultivator should stir all the soil and stir it 
 well, leave a fine earth mulch on the surface, prevent weed 
 
126 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 growth before it begins, and destroy all weeds that have begun 
 to grow. Weeders and harrows will cover a wide surface if em- 
 ployed as soon after a rain as the soil is dry enough and give the 
 best soil condition, incidentally destroying weeds as they are 
 germinating. Later on cultivators with fewer and larger work- 
 ing points must be used so that they may enter the soil which is 
 harder, and cut the roots of weeds that have begun to grow. 
 
 Another type of two row cultivator in funimoii use. Fertile, well prepared and well cultivated 
 soil will produce abundant crops. 
 
 Question: WHY DO PLANTS HAVE ROOTS ? 
 Answer: Roots anchor or fix plants in the soil and supply them 
 with food and water. The roots are the mouths of plants, and 
 the active parts of them are covered with minute root hairs 
 through which the food and water enter. The larger roots are 
 the throats of the plants through w^hich food and water are 
 carried into the plants and then to the leaves which act as both 
 stomachs and lungs for the growing plants. Crops cannot grow 
 without roots, and the more roots each plant has the more food 
 it is capable of taking. It is evident then that cutting or bruis- 
 ing of roots by cultivation is injurious. A very large proportion 
 of the roots of crops is found in the prepared soil near the sur- 
 face. If cultivation is deep the roots are broken and the plant 
 suffers. If cultivation is frequent and shallow the roots are not 
 only unmolested but the stirring of the soil above them holds 
 water where the roots are, admits air and develops conditions 
 favorable to root and plant growth and to the exercise of root 
 and plant functions. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY ISIORE 
 
 127 
 
 Question: WHY IS CULTIVATION SO IMPORTANT IN 
 
 DRY SEASONS? 
 Answer: When rain falls upon the earth it soaks into the soil 
 until the surface is full and any additional rain will run off. As 
 soon as rain ceases to fall moisture begins to evaporate back 
 into the air. Evaporation takes place at the surface of the soil, 
 and the water evaporated comes from down in the soil through 
 the little holes or capillary tubes it descended through. Culti- 
 vation in dry weather breaks up and covers over these tubes 
 so that the water that rises is intercepted below the surface and 
 is there held by the soil particles just where the greatest number 
 of feeding roots are found. Thus it is seen that cultivation in 
 dry weather not only prevents large quantities of water from 
 evaporating but holds the decreasing supply where it is most 
 accessible to the roots of the crop. 
 
 The soil in the bottom of this foot print is not only compacted but the clods are crushed. The 
 darker appearance of the bottom of the foot print is due to the moisture that has risen to the 
 surface of the soil. The roller and other surface compacting implements produce this effect. 
 If the surface soil remains as it appears in the foot print or is left by the roller the moisture 
 will rapidly evaporate into the air. A thorough stirring of the soil surface will form a loose 
 earth mulch and trap or retard the passage of the water into the air thus maintaining a supply 
 for the crop. 
 
 Question: HOW LATE SHOULD CULTIVATION BE 
 
 CONTINUED? 
 Answer: Many farmers make the great mistake of having a 
 certain date in a certain month for ceasing to cultivate their 
 different crops. This is a mistake more often than otherwise, 
 since it is a common practice to "lay by" or stop the cultivation 
 of a crop at just the time when cultivation will do it great if not 
 
128 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORF 
 
 the greatest good. Cultivation is for the purpose of making the 
 soil a better place for the crop to live and grow in. It is more 
 proper to say that the soil is cultivated, not the crop. From the 
 time a crop is in full blossom on until the seeds or fruits are 
 developed is when the crop uses the greatest quantity of plant- 
 food and water, and uses them in the briefest time, consequently 
 
 
 t^ > * £. ^*«. '*^ .^_ _^ ^jf. 
 
 g the soil, 
 with the 
 
 Three horse common plank drag. An excellent tool for crushing clods and compactin 
 which insures perfect capillarity, allowing the seed to come into direct contact 
 moist soil. 
 
 shallow cultivation should be continued for the benefit of both 
 soil and crop. Late cultivation not only benefits the growing 
 crop but leaves the soil in better condition for the next crops, 
 and destroys weeds that would injure the growing crop at its 
 fruiting time, and that would mature seeds that would make 
 other weeds and injure the next crop on that land. 
 
 Rotation of Crops 
 
 Question: WHAT IS ROTATION OF CROPS? 
 
 Answer: The amounts of plant-food removed by different crops 
 varies widely. Grain crops remove phosphorus in excess; 
 tobacco and root crops take large quantities of nitrogen. If one 
 crop is grown on the same land for a period of years the ele- 
 
MAKING S OIL AND CROPS P AY MORE 129 
 
 merits of plant-food used by that crop in the largest amount 
 will be unduly reduced, while elements not used largely will un- 
 duly increase. If another crop follows the first one, and this 
 second crop has little demand for the element most in demand 
 by the first, and a greater demand for the element the first crop 
 consumed the least of, the growing of these two crops alternately 
 would conserve the soil's fertility. While this could not be said 
 to represent a system of rotation, yet it illustrates one of the 
 most important effects of the rotation of crops. 
 
 Some crops feed heavily upon the subsoil, get their food deep 
 down in the soil and raise it to the surface. Their deeply pene- 
 trating roots open the way for the descent and rise of water and 
 for the better penetration of the roots of future crops. Air is 
 more freely admitted and performs its invaluable functions. 
 Other crops feed near the surface and rapidly consume the 
 plant-food within their reach. The system of rotation which 
 employs these kinds of crops will enable the farmer to make 
 better and more profitable use of the plant-food in the soil, and 
 will not exhaust it. 
 
 Some crops are sown broadcast like hay crops, small grain, 
 etc., while some are sown in drills and cultivated. The treat- 
 ment of these two classes varies widely. If crops sown in rows 
 are grown continuously in the same field there will be a loss of 
 humus and water holding power of the soil, washing will be 
 more severe, the surface will become harsh and uncongenial and 
 more difficult to work. 
 
 "Rotation of Crops" does not merely mean the change of 
 crops grown on a given field nor is diversification synonymous 
 with rotation. Rotation of crops means the establishment of a 
 cropping sj^stem by which the several crops grown on a farm 
 may systematically rotate from field to field in such order as 
 to balance and distribute the draft upon the resources of the 
 farm, economize in the utilization of fertilizers and at the same 
 time make them more profitable, avoid the toxic effects of some 
 crops, destroy weeds, lessen the injurious attacks of diseases and 
 insects, regulate, control and conserve the water supply, in- 
 crease the humus supply in the soil, facilitate diversification, 
 distribute and economize labor and at the same time supply the 
 home need and produce money crops for the financial needs of 
 the farm. 
 
 Question: WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF ROTATION? 
 Answer: Rotation aids in rapidly freeing the land of noxious 
 weeds; drives away or starves out injurious insects; gets rid of 
 
130 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 fungus and bacterial diseases; admits of the introduction of a 
 variety of crops and promotes diversified farming; enables the 
 farmer to use cover crops and catch crops to greater advantage; 
 distributes the labor required for preparation, cultivating, har- 
 vesting and marketing through the year; avoids an undue rush 
 of work at one season and idleness at another; and enables the 
 farmer to use fertilizers more wisely and to get greater profits 
 from them, thereby making his soil and crops pay more. 
 
 Suggested Rotations: 
 
 First Year. 
 
 Corn with Cowpeas. 
 Second Year. 
 
 Wheat, oats or rye followed 
 by Soy Beans. 
 Third Year. 
 Crimson or Bur Clover. 
 Cotton. 
 3. 
 First Year. 
 
 Cotton followed by a 
 Legume or Small Grain. 
 Second Year. 
 
 Small Grain followed by 
 Cowpeas or Soy Beans. 
 Third Year. 
 Crimson Clover plowed 
 down for Corn with Cow- 
 peas in the Corn. 
 
 First Year. 
 
 Wheat and Red Clover. 
 Second Year. 
 
 Red Clover. 
 Third Year. 
 
 Corn and Cowpeas. 
 4. 
 First Year. 
 
 Tobacco followed by Clover 
 and Grass Mixture. 
 Second Year. 
 
 Clover and Grass. 
 Third Year. 
 
 Clover and Grass. 
 Fourth Year. 
 
 Corn and Peas. 
 Fifth Year. 
 
 Wheat or Oats cut for Hay 
 and followed by Tobacco. 
 
 CRIMSON CLOVER 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 131 
 
 Question: HOW DOES ROTATION BENEFIT AND REST 
 THE LAND AT THE SAME TIME? 
 
 Answer': While rotation rests the land, at the same time it also 
 produces a crop, conserves plant-food and moisture, adds 
 organic matter to the soil, enables the soil to resist drouth, 
 avoids the robbery of plant-food by noxious weeds, deepens the 
 soil, enables the soil to more judiciously and profitably respond 
 to applications of fertilizers, gives surer crops and heavier yields, 
 distributes labor through the year, enables the farmer to get the 
 most out of his land with the least soil exhaustion, to diversify 
 and make greater profits with less expense and thus keeps the 
 soil so fresh, well fed, healthy and vigorous that the growing of 
 one crop leaves the land strong and ready for the next. 
 
 Question: HOW DOES ROTATION BENEFIT THE CROP? 
 A7iswer: Rotation balances the plant-food supply in the soil 
 and a greater variety of crops may be grown; it supplies the 
 different crops with greater quantities of the kinds of food that 
 each crop needs most; it protects the crop from drouth, insects, 
 diseases and weeds; makes the home of the crop more congenial; 
 gives better opportunity to prepare the soil best for each crop; 
 gives each crop the best chance; and, larger, better and more 
 profitable crops are produced at a minimum cost, with the least 
 injury to the land, and there is less danger of crop failures. 
 
 MELILOTUStSWEET CLOVER) 
 
 HAWY VETCH 
 
 \/EL\/ET BEAN 
 
 Question: HOW DOES ROTATION CONSERVE AND 
 
 RESTORE FERTILITY? 
 Ansiver: Rotation aids in maintaining good soil conditions and 
 conserves fertility in addition to aiding in checking the damage 
 done by weeds, insects and diseases. Growing the same crop on 
 
132 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 an area of land continuously unfits the land for the crop grown 
 or for crops of similar character or habits and requiring the same 
 cultural treatment. If a legume crop is grown continuously for 
 several years on the same land and the crop harvested there 
 will be an accumulation of nitrogen in the soil and diminished 
 supply of phosphorus, potash and lime. If clean culture crops 
 like cotton and tobacco are grown continuously the nitrogen 
 supply in the soil will be seriously decreased. Clean culture 
 crops tend to decrease the humus supply of the soil and the 
 soil becomes poor on account of the loss of humus and the con- 
 sequent deterioration in the physical properties. It is obvious 
 that a system of rotation planned for the purpose of (1) checking 
 weeds, insects and diseases and cleansing the land; (2) of resting 
 and restoring the land by leaving it in sod or growing legumes; 
 and (3) growing a money crop will not only check the loss of 
 fertility but actually make the land more and more fertile and 
 at the same time use the plant-food in the soil rationally. 
 
 Question: WHAT CROPS SHOULD BE GROWN IN 
 DIFFERENT SECTIONS AND ON DIFFERENT 
 FARMS ? 
 
 Answer: Successful farming in any section of any country and 
 on individual farms is primarily controlled by the selection of 
 such crops for each farm as are best adapted to the climate of 
 that section, adapted to the soil and to the seasonal distribution 
 
 i.^i 
 
 
 Kentucky tobacco ficM of Mr. 1). W. Myers. Hmse Cave Ky. Mr. Myers is an enthu- 
 siastic user of V-C Fertilizer and says, "V-C lias given me perfect satisfaction from start 
 to finish." 
 
 of rainfall. A Wisconsin farmer would not attempt to grow 
 cotton, nor would a New England farmer attempt to grow 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 133 
 
 oranges. There is quite a number of distinct crop sections scat- 
 tered throughout the United States, and it is a business problem 
 to grow most extensively only the crops that succeed best in 
 the various sections. Sugar cane in Louisiana, cotton in South 
 Carolina, alfalfa in Colorado, rice in Texas, wheat in Kansas, 
 tobacco in Kentucky, corn in Illinois, red clover in Indiana, 
 timothy in New York are examples of special adaption of crops. 
 A number of crops are usually adapted to any one section, and 
 the owner of one individual farm should not only choose crops 
 adapted to his soil and climate but also those for which there is 
 the greatest demand, those that he knows enough about to 
 successfully grow and market, and those that give the highest 
 net profit. 
 
 Question: WHY ARE SOME SOILS ADAPTED TO SOME 
 CROPS AND NOT TO OTHERS? 
 
 Answer: While temperature and rainfall are controlling in- 
 fluences affecting the profitable culture of all crops, yet with 
 both these present there are special soil conditions and com- 
 positions necessary to the profitable cultivation of many soils. 
 Corn probably is the most widely adapted important crop grown 
 in the United States, and tobacco the most specifically exacting 
 crop. The quality of corn only to a slight extent is affected by 
 soil types, while the quality of tobacco is controlled by soil types. 
 The size of the particles which make a soil, the compositions of 
 a soil, a soil's ability to permit water to be freely distributed in 
 it, and the forms and proportions of the elements of plant-food 
 found in a soil may make it suited or unsuited to a crop or 
 several crops. While the unsuitableness of some soils may to 
 some extent be overcome by soil treatment that will alter soil 
 conditions, and soil feeding that will improve its composition, 
 the highest degree of success will come from the selection of the 
 crops in each locality which are best adapted to existing soil 
 conditions. 
 
 Crop Enemies 
 
 Question: ARE PLANTS ATTACKED, INJURED AND 
 KILLED BY DISEASES? 
 
 Answer: Every plant grown is subject to disease. The dis- 
 eases which affect them are nearly all fungi, such as rust and 
 smut, or bacteria, like wilt and blight. Fungi and bacteria 
 live as parasites within the tissues of plants, and always injure 
 and often destroy whole fields. Their destruction of crops 
 
134 
 
 MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 
 
 amounts to millions of dollars in losses each year, a large pro- 
 portion of which could be avoided if the proper precautions were 
 taken to avoid, prevent or destroy the diseases. Losses from 
 diseases may be checked by rotation of crops, by growing re- 
 sistent varieties, and by combating them by the use of sprays. 
 Vegetables, and especially fruits, are often sprayed with great 
 success, and the investment of a dollar in spraying often gives a 
 profit of ten or more dollars, and may save a crop from total 
 destruction. Knowledge of the life history of plant diseases and 
 of the remedial methods best adapted for combating them is 
 necessary to the profitable growing of many crops, and the 
 farmer who is not prepared to successfully fight them runs the 
 risk of losing a part or all of his crops. 
 
 Question: ARE INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CROPS? 
 AnsiDer: Insects are not all injurious for many are of great 
 benefit to crops and to man. Many plants depend largely upon 
 insects for pollination, and many other insects do no harm. 
 There are also many insects which live upon and destroy those 
 
 This illustration shows the life history of the Boll Weevil, from the egg to the mature insect. 
 This insect annually destroys over $20,000,000.00 worth of cotton in our Southern states. 
 
MAKING SOIL AND CROPS PAY MORE 135 
 
 that are harmful. More than $200,000,000 worth of silk is an- 
 nually produced by the silk worm, and in the United States 
 alone the honey bee produces nearly $25,000,000 worth of honey 
 annually. 
 
 Insects may attack every part of every plant. Large areas 
 of forests are annually destroyed by insects, and millions of 
 dollars of damage is done to standing timber. It is safe to place 
 the loss to our various crops from the ravages of insects at ten 
 percent per annum. It is estimated that the loss from the codling 
 moth alone amounts to an annual sum of $12,000,000. The boll 
 weevil annually destroys $20,000,000 worth of cotton, and the 
 chinch bug destroys $40,000,000 worth of grain each year. This 
 is a $72,000,000 loss annually from three insects alone and it is 
 probable that there are half a million different kinds of insects, 
 many of which are destructive to crops. A knowledge of the 
 means effective in the control of insect pests should be possessed 
 by every farmer, orchardist, trucker and live stock man. Control 
 of insects often doubles the income from a crop, while uncon- 
 trolled they may destroy whole crops and always do them great 
 damage. 
 
m. 
 
LIBRARY OF CX)NGRESS 
 
 DD0E5at.Ea75