706 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



It builds lean meat and muscle; also the hide, hair, etc., or, in other words, 

 the growth of the animal. ■ 



Now, after studying out an intelligent rotation of crops especially 

 adapted to our particular soil, and feeding it to farm animals that are 

 adapted to give us the largest return for the money invested, both in 

 money and fertilizer, then, if any foods are purchased which cannot be 

 grown at home, buy those which are known to return, after being fed, 

 the largest amount of fertilizer for the money invested in the feed. 



Then, after doing all this, see to it that every particle of manure is 

 saved and applied back to the soil, the quicker the better. Draw it out 

 every day if possible, and if it is undertaken you will be surprised to find 

 how nearly you can accomplish what you undertake. And another point 

 in this connection: Commercial fertilizers if purchased and applied fall 

 short of the benefits to be derived from farm manure. They supply ele- 

 ments of fertility, nothing more, while barn manure contains the same 

 elements of fertility (if properly taken care of or applied when first made), 

 besides having the additional effect of being mechanical in its action, 

 inasmuch as it adds huynus or vegetable matter to the soil, which, by 

 the way, is what is lacking in the most of our depleted soils, rather than 

 the fertility. The humus makes a heavy, compact soil light and pliable, 

 lets in the air, enables it to take up more water, also to hold moisture 

 longer during drouth, etc. 



If you will bear with me a few minutes longer I will try to give you 

 a working plan as to how the above theories, or truths, rather, are applied 

 to one Iowa farm. Said farm is divided into three fields where all tilled 

 crops are raised, besides there being a permanent pasture for cows and 

 horses; also hog pasture which will enter into the rotation if need be. 

 Every morning, when the weather permits, which is, happily, most of the 

 time, the team is hitched to the spreader, the barn is cleaned into it 

 and the manure hauled at once to the field, which is in meadow to be 

 followed by a crop of corn the following year. We have a field of corn 

 each year, one of oats or barley and one of clover. It takes three years 

 to complete the rotation. We find that first the oats, being a shallow-rooted 

 crop and drawing lightly on fertility, do fairly well on a run down soil; 

 the clover crop which follows takes nitrogen, a very essential element of 

 fertility, from the air and deposits it in the soil; the roots also grow to 

 a great depth and aid greatly in opening up the subsoil so that drainage 

 is increased; then, when this field receives its coat of manure we have 

 added all the elements of crop growth, also the much needed humus. 



We feed everything raised on the place, besides buying considerable 

 supplementary feeds whic"h we find have the most protein and manure 

 value. We stable or house all animals and save all the manure possible, 

 with the result that in a comparatively short time our farm, from being 

 called the worst f armed-out farm in the country (it being one of the 

 oldest) will now produce crops with the newer farms, and while still 

 gaining in fertility, under the present system, it has and is producing 

 an income equal to the best. 



