16 



Now the average yield on the grain farming system has been quite a 

 little better than in the stock farming system. These are field weights in 

 round numbers which I will give you. The average gain per acre on the 

 treated plots over the non-treated plots for the six years in corn was 20 

 bushels; the average gain for the six years in wheat was 18 bushels; the 

 average gain for six years in oats was 15 bushels; the average gain for 

 six years in alfalfa was a ton and half per acre. The gain for clover and 

 soybean hay is about one ton per acre. 



WHAT THIS MEANS ON 160 ACRES. 



Now I am going to take a field of 160 acres and farm it in this way, 

 using this same rotation. I am going to apply 4,000 pounds of limestone 

 per acre on the whole 160 acres, and that will cost us at the present prices, 

 spread over our land, $800 for the 160 acres of course it makes some differ- 

 ence where you are located as to the cost for treatment. Then I will apply 

 2,000 pounds of rock phosphate per acre to the entire 160 acres, and that 

 will cost us at the present price $1910. This makes a total cost of $2710 

 for treatment. Now I am going to figure that that will last for ten years, 

 and it will last longer. Figuring corn at fifty cents a bushel, wheat at a 

 dollar per bushel, oats at thirty-five cents a bushel, clover and soybean 

 hay at fifteen dollars a ton, alfalfa hay at twenty dollars a ton, pasture 

 gain from treatment two dollars and a half an acre, we get a total gain 

 from the treatment on 160 acres for one year of $1,896; for ten years we 

 will get $18,960. Subtracting the cost of the treatament for the ten years, 

 which was $2710, we have a balance of $16,250 in gain for our treatment 

 in the ten years. 



Now, if we go on and put the same treatment on at the same cost 

 and carry it on for another ten years, figuring grain at the same price, 

 we will then have for the twenty years $32,500 gain for treatment over 

 and above cost of treatment. In other words, we would pay the principal 

 on 160 acres of land in twenty years of $203 per acre, or in twenty-five 

 years we would pay the principal of $254 per acre. If we figure the cost 

 of material for soil treatment at what it was about seven years ago that 

 would reduce it nearly one-third, or from sixteen years to twenty-two years 

 to pay for a farm at those prices. 



RESULTS ON HOME FARM. 



Now about the results from soil treatment on our own farm, telling 

 how the farm has been farmed from year to year. We had in 1915 one 

 field of pasture in mixed clover, consisting of mammoth clover, red clover, 

 alsike, alfalfa and a little timothy. We used a little timothy in the field 

 to hold up the alsike. Alsike grows close to the ground, but when held 

 up by the timothy, it makes a much better pasture. In the fall we plowed 

 this field from six to six and a half inches deep. In the spring of 1916, 

 and fall of 1917, we applied 2,000 pounds of rock phosphate per acre to this 

 field and also to our entire farm. We put a great deal of work on the 

 field to get the right kind of seed-bed. We disked it deep and rolled it 

 several times with a corrugated roller to get a good compact seed-bed. If 

 you have a tin Lizzie and can run over it on high you will then have a 

 good seed-bed. We then seeded 10 pounds of scarified alfalfa seed per acre 

 with a bushel of barley as a nurse crop, seeded with a drill, then rolled 

 with a corrugated roller both ways. We had intended to cut the barley 

 for hay. After the barley was headed I went into it to see if it was ready 

 to cut for hay, and found the alfalfa was from twelve to eighteen inches 

 high, a good stand, good dark green color. Barley was a good price that 

 year. The barley seemed to be filling fine, the heads were large and they 

 hung over, so it looked to me as though they were filling well. I might 

 illustrate that by telling a story: 



There was a darkey walking along stooped over, head hanging down. 

 He met his young master. His master said to him, "Sambo, why don't you 

 strainghten up and hold up your head?" The darkey said "Massa, see 



