No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 21> 



and the stubble of the clover contain about the same amount of 

 plant food as the top, so that the plant actually takes from the 

 soil twice 80 pounds or 160 pounds of potash. But this is not all. 

 The clover root will not fill all of the soil, but if the plant is to do its 

 best, if it is to raise the largest crop possible, every inch of the soil 

 must be full of plant food, that wherever the clover roots go in 

 search of food they can find a bountiful supply all the time. How 

 much of this surplus supply is needed for the best growth of the 

 plant cannot yet be stated with exactness, but it is known that it 

 must be at least twice as much as the plant is to use. Therefore, 

 if one expects to raise two tons of clover per acre from a given field, 

 he must be sure that each acre contains at least 320 pounds of avail- 

 able potash. 



The proper theory of the fertilization of the crop, therefore, is the 

 addition of so liberal an amount of plant food as to make it certain 

 that the land contains more fertility than the crop will need. This 

 should be continued year after year that the farm may be continually 

 growing richer. 



The opposite plan has been far too often used in this State. 

 Everywhere may be found farms whose owners have endeavored 

 year after year to get as much as possible from the land and return 

 as little. I do not believe a man can be a good Christian, and I know 

 he is not a good citizen, who handles his farm in such a way that 

 it becomes poorer year by year. Each should remember that he is 

 not the owner of the land, but its steward. Other generations and 

 other farmers are to follow him and the land will be used as a 

 source of human food long after he has departed. If he allows the 

 farm to run down, he is entailing an extra amount of labor and ex- 

 pense on his successor, for it requires much more work and cost to 

 bring up an impoverished farm, than to continue a good farm in its 

 present state of excellence. 



In addition, however, to the duty one owes to his posterity and 

 to mankind, no farmer can afford to let the fertility in his land 

 run down, even from the standpoint of present gains. The average 

 crop does nothing more than pay expenses. It is only the large 

 crop that pays a profit and everyone knows that this large crop 

 can be raised on nothing but good ground well supplied with plant 

 food. As with animals, so with plants; if the crop is to do its best 

 it must have at its command all the time all the food it can use. In 

 other words the soil must be so full of plant food that no matter 

 which direction the roots grow they will find an abundance of food. 



This, then, in short, is the proper theory of crop fertilization. 

 Be sure that the crop has at the outset all the plant food it can use 

 and add each year more fertility than the crop has removed. But 

 some one may object: "Will not this be wasteful?" If so much 



