314 



SOILS 



APPROXIMATE LOSS OF PLANT FOOD IN ONE YEAR FROM 



160 ACRES OF LAND UNDER DIFFERENT SYSTEMS 



OF FARMING 



Commenting on these results the report says, 

 "With stock farming, when all the crops are fed to 

 the stock on the farm and a small amount of milled 

 products is purchased, there is practically no loss 

 of potash and phosphoric acid except in handling 

 the manure. When the manure is well cared for 

 the loss of these plant foods is less than is stated. 

 When all the skim milk is fed on the farm and a 

 part of the grain exchanged for more concentrated 

 mill products, there is no loss but a constant gain 

 of fertility." 



These figures are, of course, only approximate 

 and subject to much variation; but they show 

 where the heaviest drafts fall on the soil under 

 different systems of farming. 



The type of farming followed, whether stock, 

 fruit, grain, hay or otherwise, is usually determined 

 by economic conditions that are of far greater im- 

 portance than the question of maintaining soil 

 fertility. A farmer grows the crop or rears the 

 stock that he thinks will be most profitable in his 

 situation as regards soil, climate, market and sim- 

 ilar factors. He is more concerned about growing 

 crops that pay this year and next, than about hand- 

 ing down to his son a farm on which the soil has not 



