342 



Missouri Agricultural Report. 



GRAIN FARMING VS. LIVE STOCK FARMING. 

 ILLINOIS EXPERIMENT STATION.* 



It will be seen that the growing of legumes as catch crops 

 and returning all crop residues has maintained the yield and 

 when in the form of manure has increased the yield. When 

 minerals have been added the yield in both cases has been ac- 

 tually increased about twenty per cent. We may, therefore, 

 conclude that it is possible to maintain and actually increase 

 the yield of corn in a system of grain farming by the proper use 

 of green manures, crop residues and mineral fertilizers, the final 

 result being practically the same as under a system of live stock 

 farming where manure and fertilizers were used. Where fer- 

 tilizers are not used, however, the live stock system is to be 

 preferred. It would seem, therefore, that the most successful 

 scheme of soil management for the corn belt farmer and the one 

 which will best enable him to increase the yield of his corn crop 

 is that which combines a good cropping system with the use of 

 manures and fertilizers. 



The Use of Manure. — It is not only important that the 

 farmer practice a systematic crop rotation in order to maintain 

 the yield of his crops, but such a system must be supplemented 

 by the use of manure or fertilizer if the greatest returns are to 

 be had. Unfortunately, not every farmer realizes the value of 

 manure, and many others do not take the care of it that its value 

 in increasing crop yields justifies. In fact, it may be said that 

 fully one-half of the value of the manure produced on the farms 

 in the corn belt is wasted. The value of manure in maintaining 

 the yields of crops is no better illustrated than by the work of the 

 Ohio Experiment Station, where its effects upon the corn crop 

 as well as upon other crops in the rotation have been studied for 

 a period of years. f Where corn has been grown continuously 

 for nineteen years at this station, an application of two and one- 



* Illinois Experiment Station, Bulletin 125, 1908. 

 t Ohio Experiment Station, Circular 131, 1913. 



