20 YEARS OF SOIL IMPROVEMEIVT 



Jersey County Farmers Get Big Returns on 

 Limestone and Rock Phosphate 



By JOHN R. SPENCER 



\^*\^WENTY years ago, the an- 

 i^ nual report of the county farm 



^^_/ adviser in Jersey county men- 

 tioned 18 farmers who were growing 

 alfalfa. 



Today, county soil conservation fig- 

 ures show that 33,500 acres or 28 per- 

 cent of the 120,000 crop acres in Jer- 

 sey county are in sweet clover, (18,000 

 Acres) alfalfa, (7500 A.) and red 

 and alsike clover f8;000 A.). This 

 tremendous achievement in soil im- 

 provement is a tribute to the effective- 

 ness of successive county agricultural 

 advisers and the cooperative educational 

 program of the Jersey County Farm 

 Bureau and state extension service. 



Jersey County farmers get about 63 

 per cent of their income from livestock 

 and livestock products and 22 per cent 

 from crops. They grow about 37,000 

 acres of corn, 10,000 of oats and 30,- 

 000 to 35,000 acres of wheat annually. 



Abundant feed is necessary in this 

 county and here we get our first hint 

 as to the large acreage of legumes. 



When we think of livestock and 

 Jersey County, the genial, round face 

 of "Uncle Joe" Fulkerson, president of 

 the St. Louis Producers appears. Visit- 

 ing his farm with Farm Adviser Kibler, 

 we found him looking over his hogs 

 in a mixed legume pasture and inspec- 

 ting the sheep in the sweet clover 

 "brush". He led us to a beautiful field 

 of mini soybeans waist high. Uncle 

 Joe operates two farms totalling about 

 400 acres, the west farm of 120 acres is 



all limed, while the other one soon will 

 be. He has found in his long experi- 

 ence that limestone is necessary to grow 

 clovers. 



Ben J. Kallal who farms 206 acres 

 was cutting alfalfa hay, and more than 

 willing to praise limestone. The home 

 place is all limed. He had just ordered 

 250 tons to go on 100 acres of his sec- 

 ond farm. Limestone costs him $1.60 

 per ton spread. He started liming 12 

 years ago. 



Joe V. Kallal with his sons, was ap- 

 plying asbestos shingles on his house 

 siding "I started liming 27 years ago. I 

 think it's a good investment" he said. 

 Joe farms 400 acres. He has reasons to 

 feel proud of the 118 thrifty shoats on 

 red clover pasture. 



The Grimes's estate of 500 well kept 

 acres is farmed by F. W. Schultz and H. 

 C. Krueger. They were busy combining 

 a heavy crop of sweet clover for seed. 

 Here 1,300 tons of limestone had been 

 applied last year at 21^ to three tons per 

 acre — the largest one year's use we 

 found that day. Some of this limestone 

 was applied as a top dressing on red 

 clover. 



Wm. Quirk on the Fred Jacobs place 

 of 240 acres said, "It's no use trying to 

 farm without limestone. This place pre- 

 viously had no clover for 20 years." But 

 it's a different story since Quirk and his 

 new landlord started working together 

 four years ago. Now all crop land is 

 limed plus 40 acres of permanent pas- 

 ture. When the 80 tons on the way is 



WM. TOETKEN AND SON 



"Why I wouldn'l run a team without 

 limestone." 



spread, a total of 705 tons will have 

 been applied in four years. There are 

 100 acres of clover on the 240 acre farm, 

 an exceptionally high percentage. 



Wm. Tuetken postponed his dinner to 

 show us his tame squirrels. "What's 

 that," he said, "why I wouldn't run a 

 farm without limestone. All of my land 

 has had from 3I/2 to 5^/2 tons per acre." 

 He had 53 acres of clover and alfalfa on 

 his 96 acre farm. 



Geo. Fritz and his son Gene told us 

 that all their 428 acre farm except 30 

 acres has been limed. When asked why 

 he started liming, Mr. Fritz replied, "I 

 sowed about $100 worth of clover seed 

 each spring and it didn't stand, so I 

 knew something was wrong. I was one 

 of the earliest limestone users here. No, 

 I've never been disappointed in my re- 

 sults from limestone." 



H. J. Steinkuehler who farms 180 

 acres with his son, said, "I've been using 

 limestone for 24 years and figuring con- 

 servatively, I'm getting a 20 percent re- 

 turn annually on it. I started to grow 

 alfalfa 28 years ago. I didn't know my 

 land was sour nor did I get anything un- 

 til I started liming. We haven't been 

 without alfalfa for 20 years." 



Lawrence Finkes, busy combining 

 (Next page, Col 1) . 



WnJUAM QUIRK 

 "This place hod no clover ior 20 years." 



•»'^-* r^. :^4e.'^ja^fi".;\^-^?'rMr/^»rtM»s«)«r'> 



LAWRENCE HNKES COMBINING SWEET 



CLOVER SEED 

 "Every acre in '38 had alialia or clover." 



H. I. STEINKUEHLER AND FARM ADVISER C. T. KIBLER 

 .... getting a 20 per cent return annually on limestone. 



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