Two Generations 



of Soil Builders 



Care in Handling of Manure Helped to Double Crop 

 Yields on this Clinton County Farm. 



By LAWRENCE A. POTTER 



rA OU may think that the kind of 

 xj/ barn you build has nothing to 



j^^ do with soil improvement. \Vell 

 ti"t again. It does make a difference. 

 'li»ke it from Alphonse Kampwerth of 

 Clinton county. He is the second genera- 

 tion of a Clinton county family who have 

 doubled wheat and corn yields by using 

 old tried and true methods. 



How the Kampwerths have succeeded 

 in converting poor rolling land into a 

 thriving farm business is typical of the 

 success thousands of farmers have carved 

 out of the thin gray silt loam soils of 

 southern Illinois. 



Alphonse Kampwerth was setting a 

 new post near his barn yard gate when 

 C. E. Twigg, Clinton county farm ad- 

 viser drove up. Twigg had come to see 

 why I'honse couldn't enroll his nine 

 high-producing Holstein cows with the 

 Dairy Herd Improvement association. 



The weather was hot and the men took 

 to the shade of two old trees near the 

 front yard. As they talked, Twigg drew 

 forth his pocket knife, thrust an inquir- 

 ing blade into the bark of one of the 

 trees. A piece qf bark came off and the 

 adviser examined it closely. Suddenly 

 he exclaimed; 



"Termites!" 



Cow testing was forgotten as the farm- 

 er and the farm adviser searched for 

 further evidence of the house-wrecking, 

 wood-eating pests. True to form, the 

 white ants had invaded supporting beams 



MRS. KAMPWERTH AND HELPERS 

 "She cares for the hens — they step up the 

 farm income." 



of the modern Kampwerth house. 



Hurried plans were laid to rout the 

 enemy. The old trees, each harboring 

 communities of the pests, were to be cut 

 and burned. Repellents were to be ap 

 plied to the surfaces of the damaged 

 beams. Other buildings too. were to be 

 protected by applications of chemicals. 



Three days later the old trees were 

 ashes, the termites were on their way to 

 more friendly locations and Phonse was 

 on guard in the event that the house- 

 wreckers should return. Twigg s timely 

 arrival anil Phonsc's prompt action saved 



ALPHONSE KAMPWERTH — 

 "the second generation has new problems to 

 solve." 



manure .-Xs -.oon as he bought the farm 

 Ik- started (he practice of manuring ever}' 

 crop aire each year. To suj^port this 

 program Kampwerth started a ilairy herd. 



COWS SUPPORT THE SYSTEM 

 "Every crop acre gets a coat of manure 

 every year." 



a repair bill that might have grown to 

 several hundred dollars before the sum- 

 mer was over. 



Here was an example of cooperation 

 typical of the relationship maintained be- 

 tween the farm adviser and the operator 

 of the Kampwerth farm during the past 

 1 8 years. 



Since 1913, when Alphonse's father 

 bought the 1 20 acres, there has been a 

 continuous effort to build up the fertility 

 of the soil. It is one of the few rolling 

 farms in Clinton county and for that rea- 

 son many neighboring farmers consider 

 it somewhat inferior land. But soil build- 

 ing has had its influence and instead of 

 the nine or ten bushels of wheat per acre 

 it produced in 1915, the soil now grows 

 from 20 to 25 bushels in average years. 



Like many others in Clinton county, 

 the elder Kampwerth knew the value of 



MARY MARGARET, AGE I 'A 

 "Her interests run more to cats than to 



soils," 



A few years after he had purchased the 

 place, the barn burned. With the hel]^ 

 of Charles Rehling. the farm adviser, 

 Kampwerth began at once to (.Iraft plans 

 for a new barn. At that time <iairymen 

 in the St, Louis milk shed were installing 

 concrete gutters and steel stanthions in 

 their barns. Rehling advised Kampwerth 

 against that type of construction. He 

 said that muih of the fertility m the 

 liquid manure would be lost in the daily 

 cleaning so necessary whert gutters 3.x^: 

 used. Since Rehling s plan would con 

 serve almost 100 per cent of the original 

 fertility of the manure. Kampwerth' de- 

 cided to follow his advice. 



The plan on which the barn was event- 

 ually built called for a two-.story, hip- 

 rooled frame with plenty of loft space. 

 There was a central leed alley running 

 the loni; «av of the barn On the we.st 



JULY. 1937 



11 



