the job of building Clinton county soils 

 he knew that if any plan would succeed 

 in improving the fertility of that rubbery 

 ■ tight, gray land there, limestone, legumes, 

 rotations and manure would do the job. 



As soon as he arrived, Rehling began 

 to talk limestone. Many of the members 

 of the soil improvement association 

 thought that putting stone on the land 

 was a little far-fetched and would not 

 listen to his teaching. One by one the 

 scoffers dropped out but those who saw 

 some good in his plan and abided by 

 the rules of soil building he laid down 

 were soon repaid a hundred fold. 



Bad weather and sticky roads failed 

 to deter Rehling. When he couldn't 

 drive out to talk with farmers or test 

 their soil, he walked. Like the circuit 

 riding preachers of pioneer days, Rehling 

 had a message to deliver and he was 

 determined to see it through. It was his 

 almost fanatic zeal that earned for him 

 the nick name "Limestone Red," a title 

 he carried during the eight years he 

 worked with farmers in the county. 



Henry Renschen was one of the first 

 to support the system of soil fertility 

 Rehling advised. He bought some lime- 

 stone, 60 tons of it, and spread it on 15 

 acres. He got some sweet clover and 

 inoculated it with soil from a patch 

 of sweet clover that grew along the road. 

 That fall the stand was good. Henry 

 allowed it to grow two years before he 

 plowed it down. 



When he did plow it, the soil looked 

 like a Swiss cheese. It was full of 

 holes made by the tap roots of the plants. 

 The holes allowed water to run into 

 the soil and thus provided better drain- 

 age. The following year corn thrived on 

 this land and the soil seemed to be a little 

 more mellow than it had been. 



Renschen was "converted" and set 

 about to lime the entire farm in order 

 to establish a crop rotation with legumes 

 which would increase the nitrogen con- 

 tent of his fields. After several ex- 

 periments and conferences with Rehling, 

 a rotation of wheat, wheat, alfalfa, corn, 

 oats and clover was worked out. This 

 is the plan still followed on the Renschen 

 farm. 



With this system, every crop acre is 

 manured every year. The manure is se- 

 cured from ten to fifteen head of dairy 

 cows which is about one cow to each ten 

 acres. 



While Renschen was exjjerimenting 

 with limestone and sweet clover and 

 alfalfa Ben Swagler who lives in the 

 east end of Clinton county was doing the 

 same thing on his 280 acre farm. The 

 results he was able to get were similar 

 to those secured by other farmers in the 

 county. 



Clinton county has had nearly twenty 



MAY. 1937 



Farm Bureau Leaders in 

 Washington Plan New Bill 



M S this is written, members of 



, J-L the executive committee of 



^^^y I the American Farm Bureau 

 Federation are leaving for Washington 

 to consider the initial drafts of amend- 

 ments to the Soil Conservation Act. 

 President Earl C. Smith and Donald 

 Kirkpatrick are meeting with the com- 

 mittee. The Federation is working for 

 a program designed to stabilize farm 

 prices at parity levels. Such a program 

 has been under development since the 

 recent A. F. B. F. convention, and the 

 bill under consideration will embody 

 principles adopted at the Pasadena meet- 

 ing. 



It is understood that the proposed 

 legislation will provide a practical ap- 

 proach to the ever-normal granary, better 

 known in Illinois as commodity loans. 



years of soil improvement work, first 

 directed by Rehling, then W. A. Cope 

 who succeeded him, and now Farm Ad- 

 viser Twigg. During this period the 

 wheat yields have increased about 100 

 per cent. But a new problem is now 

 facing some Clinton county farmers. 

 All of the rotations designed by Rehling, 

 and there were more than 400 of them, 

 pointed toward adding more nitrogen to 

 the soil. Now there is too much of this 

 element on many farms and wheat grows 

 so tall that it often lodges badly. The 

 new problem is one of relieving phos- 

 phorus deficiency. 



C. E. Twigg, the present farm adviser 

 for the Clinton Farm Bureau, is taking 

 steps to overcome this trouble. In ad- 

 dition to advising farmers to use rock 

 phosphate on their land, he is experi- 

 menting with Trumbull winter wheat. 

 This variety originated in Ohio, grows 

 on a stiff stem and is not subject to 

 lodging. 



When Clinton county farmers have 

 supplied the phosphorus their crops need, 

 their land is likely to be as fertile as any 

 in the state. Already they have molded 

 a beautiful agricultural country from a 

 flat, clay-soil plain. What they will be 

 able to do in the next twenty years 

 remains to be seen. Judging from the 

 number of farms which are already served 

 by electric power lines, it seems that 

 the next step will be to improve the 

 already high standard of rural living 

 through organized effort. 



so as to keep seasonal surpluses from 

 depressing price levels. 



The A. F. B. F. is insisting on such 

 amendments as are necessary to provide 

 through definite contracts with producers 

 the necessary adjustments to keep pro- 

 duction in line with existing outlets at 

 fair prices. The Federation recognizes 

 that farmers must know in advance what 

 is expected of them so they will not have 

 to guess at planting time what they 

 must do to come within the requirements 

 of the program. The Federation also 

 believes that uniform contracts should be 

 worked out for farmers throughout the 

 country to avoid, for example, increases 

 in corn acreage in the South as a result 

 of acreage reduction there in cotton and 

 tobacco. 



Another safeguard that leaders hope 

 to write into the new legislation is 

 a provision to protect contracting farmers 

 against possibility of non-co-operators 

 increasing their acreage and so breaking 

 down the entire crop adjustment pro- 

 gram. 



C. H. Snyder, Brown County 

 Leader, Passes On 



Charles H. Snyder, charter member of 

 the Brown county Farm Bureau and a 

 member of the board of directors since 

 its formation, died March 23. Other 

 members of the board were pallbearers 

 at the burial. 



During the , last 1 3 years, Charlie 

 Snyder attended 165 out of 171 regular 

 and sf>ecial meetings of the board of 

 directors. This record is an exceptional 

 one because all of the 15 miles of road 

 between Snyder's home and Mt. Sterling 

 are, during most of the year, mud. 



In 1928, Snyder received recognition 

 as a Master Farmer. In addition to his 

 reputation as a good farmer, he was also 

 active in many community activities. At 

 the time of his death he was treasurer 

 of the Brown County Farm Bureau. 



His son, Wayne Snyder, has been 

 selected to serve as Farm Bureau director 

 from Cooperstown township for the re- 

 mainder of the year. 



A 4,428 acre tract in the Illinois 



River bottoms in Mason County is be- 

 ing restored by the U. S. Biological Sur- 

 vey for the use of wild ducks and geese. 

 It will be known as the Chautauqua 

 Migratory Waterfowl Refuge. 



II 



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