Corn Growers' Association. 317 



your land with crops that will determine its lack of one or other 

 element, that some element is lacking and what particular one. 

 Supply that and save the money that would be spent in supplying ele- 

 ments not needed. 



You can grow all the nitrogen you want. If you cannot grow 

 clover you can grow cowpeas, and they are about as good as clover, 

 so far as supplying nitrogen is concerned. Why buy nitrogen, when 

 the air is about four-fifths made up of it, and it, therefore, has no 

 value and cannot be cornered or monopolized? 



There may be portions of your State outside of the glaciated 

 district that may be deficient in potash. It may be necessary for 

 you to apply lime to your exhausted soils before they will grow 

 clover, but I doubt if there is any soil in Missouri so far worn out 

 that it will not grow alsike clover, even if it will not grow the com- 

 mon red or the mammoth. 



While you are following the suggestions I have made, I advise 

 you to take a live interest in the discussion going on betwixt Pro- 

 fessors Hopkins and Whitney. They are both able men, and I am 

 sure both realize the importance of getting the soil in first-class 

 physical condition, and in order to do so keeping up the supply of 

 humus, and in order to do that adopting a rotation of crops, and in 

 order to use the crops, growing live stock. I am sure they will 

 say "amen" when I urge you to haul out the manure every day and 

 put it on grass land, and that they will not file charges against 

 you in the church, even if you should haul out the Sabbath's supply 

 on the Sabbath day. You had better do that than go hunting or to 

 see a game of baseball. 



The objection will perhaps be made : How am I to secure this 

 vegetable matter necessary to put my lands in first-class physical 

 condition, and especially on soils that wash badly and show signs of 

 declining fertility? It is usually not possible to readily put lands 

 of this kind in first-class physical condition without humus material, 

 nor is it practicable even for the stock farmer to cover a very great 

 portion of his land with the manure on hand. It must, therefore, 

 not be expected that the best physical condition can be secured at the 

 outset. It will require more labor, and consequently greater ex- 

 pense, to get this kind of land in good physical condition ; but, as re- 

 marked at the outset, the first thing needed by these lands is a dose 

 of good farming. With thorough plowing and cultivating these 

 lands can be put in much better physical condition, even without ad- 

 ditional vegetable matter, than most farmers believe. This will en- 

 able them to grow better crops and thus lay the foundation for 



