130 



MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



The one increase of twenty-three bushels in 1905 for the Hme- 

 legume-phosphorus treatment (from 13 to 36 bushels), has more than 

 paid for the whole three years' treatment. Two tons of fine .s^round 

 limestone, costing now about $2.25 per ton, were applied in the beginning 

 (this application should keep the soil in good condition for growing 

 clover during the next five or six years, when another ton may be 

 needed), and the steamed bone meal has cost $2.50 each year, making 



Plate 5.— Wheat Crop with Legume, Lime and Phosphorus Treatment. 



$12 as the total cost of treatment, while the value of the twenty-three 

 bushels for 1905 alone, at 70 cents per bushel, is $16.10. In addition to 

 this we have the increase of nine bushels for 1903, and of fifteen bushels 

 for 1904, as clear gain. But most important of all is the fact that we 

 are putting on more than we are taking off in crops, and the soil is get- 

 ting richer. 



Let me call your attention to the decreasing effect of potassium. 

 We have an abundant natural supply in the soil, but not much decaying 

 organic matter to make it available. But where the rotation has been 

 followed and more and more organic matter worked into the soil, the 

 effect of adding available potassium decreases from five bushels for the 

 first year, three for the second, to an actual loss of four bushels for the 

 third. The potassium is there in very large amounts, and it is better 

 farming to work it out than it is to buy it. 



