248 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



the composition of the grains will explain why this is true. A bushel of 

 wheat removes 20 cents worth of fertility from the soil, figured at the 

 prices we pay for the elements removed when we buy commercial fertiliz- 

 ers. A bushel of corn removes about 19 cents worth of fertility. At 

 25 bushels per acre wheat removes $5.00 worth of fertility in the grain and 

 about the same amount in the straw. At 50 bushels per acre corn removes 

 $9.68 worth of fertility in the grain and $10.68 in the fodder, or more than 

 $20 per acre in the corn and fodder. When land is new and responds 

 readily to tillage there may be a profit in growing these grains for sale 

 where labor only is considered, but there comes a time sooner or later 

 when such farming ceases to be profitable even from a labor standpoint 

 and men are driven into stock raising or else out of the business of farm- 

 ing entirely. Dairying is the most highly specialized branch of stock 

 raising with respect to the fertility of the soil. By selling soil in the form 

 of corn or wheat we obtain about 15 cents per pound for it, but b_v sell- 

 ing it in the form of butter fat we may obtain from $75 to $90 per pound 

 for it. While an average Missouri soil would produce 25 bushels of wheat 

 per acre worth $15. for only 213 years, it would produce 100 pounds of 

 butter per acre worth at least $20. for over 50,000 years before its fertil- 

 ity would be exhausted. By engaging in the dairy business and hauling 

 out all barnyard manure, a completely worn out farm may be made highly 

 productive if the feed for the animals the first two or three years is pur- 

 chased and a system of rotation of crops is adopted in which clover, alfalfa 

 and cow peas play a prominent part. 



IMPROVEMENT BY MEANS OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 



There is no doubt that where quick returns must be secured and the 

 crops being on the market at the proper time determines its value, com- 

 mercial fertilizers may be used at a profit. It may also often be true that 

 the returns secured by the application of commercial fertilizers are more 

 profitable than equal returns secured by an increased amount of tillage. 

 As stated elsewhere in this article, when potash or phosphoric acid are ex- 

 hausted there is practically no other way of replenishing the supply except 

 by the use of commercial fertilizers. 



From my conversation with farmers in this State while out on in- 

 stitute work, I am convinced that there are many localities in Missouri 

 where the supply of phosphoric acid is either down to the danger line or 

 else it is locked up in the soil and cannot be set free on account of a de- 

 ficiency of humus. Such soils respond readily to a phosphate fertilizer. 

 But the user of commercial fertilizers who relies solely upon this as a 

 means of soil improvement will be a loser in the end. There will come a 

 time when the price of the fertilizer will far over-balance the value of the 



