THE STORY OF A KING AND QUEEN 257 



of com on Field A was only 58 bushels, but the limestone and phos- 

 phorus together increased the yield of com by 29 bushels, the yield of 

 oats by 10 bushels, and the yield of clover seed by nearly one bushel 

 per acre. The total value of these three increases is $19.40, counting 

 40 cents a bushel for com, 30 cents for oats, and $6.00 a bushel for 

 clover seed. The increase has paid for the cost of the limestone and 

 phosphorus and given in addition a net profit of more than 100 per 

 cent., and besides this the soil of Field C is grovdng richer and richer, 

 while the soil of Field A and Field B is growing poorer and poorer. 



As an average of the three years 1905, 1906 and 1907, the yield 

 of air-dry clover hay in the first cutting was as follows : 



Field A 8 ton. 



Field B 9 ton (with limestone applied) . 



Field C 1.8 tons (with limestone and phosphorus) . 



These clover crops were harvested and removed, thus removing much 

 more phosphorus from Field C than from A or B, but since 1907 all 

 clover except the seed is returned to the land, on all three fields; and 

 hence this story is to be continued. 



Nota bene. — Once upon a time a young man came into what is now 

 the heart of the Illinois Com Belt and found the green grass growing 

 luxuriantly upon the dark prairie soil as far as the eye could see. He had 

 very little money, but the land looked good to him and since it could 

 be obtained from the government at small cost he decided to buy a 

 farm. He began to raise com and cattle, and even though the price 

 of those products was very low he was soon able to buy more land, 

 and by continuing as he began he became the owner of twenty-seven 

 thousand acres of land before his death. His children and his grand- 

 children are still living upon the land, which is now worth $200 an 

 acre, even though it requires fertilizing to maintain its productiveness. 



While there are eight times as many people in the United States in 

 1910 as there were when that young man came to McLean County, 

 Illinois, there is now no cheap land anywhere on which com can be 

 grown with success and profit. Thus the farmer of the present and the 

 farmer of the future must make his success and profit by improving 

 the land now occupied. 



VOL. Lxxnii.— 18. 



