By John R. Spancar 



The 175,581 tons of rock phosphate used 

 on lUinois soils last year should get news- 

 paper headlines all over the state for it is a 

 new hi>;h record amount. It indicates that 

 farmers are taking; definite action to restore 

 this necessary fertility element phosphorus 

 to their soils along with nitrogen and potash 

 in the well established limestone and clover 

 program. Some 117,7}5 tons were distrib- 

 uted -commercially and 57,846 tons by the 

 AAA program according to E. E. DeTurk, 

 professor of soil fertility, XJ. of I. College of 

 Agriculture. 



The sute geological survey in a prelim- 

 inary report announce that 3,113,248 tons 

 of limestone were used in Illinois last year 

 which indicates a reduction of 19.5% from 

 the previous year. Quarries reporting pro- 

 duction dropped an even 40 in number from 

 143 in 1942 to 103 last year. 



Illinois Farmers face a serious clover and 

 grass seed shortage according to ). C. 

 Hackleman, of the U. of I. College of Agri- 

 culture agronomy department, who says, 

 "Unless all potential seed production is 

 saved in 1944, we face one of the most 

 critical seed shortages in recent history." 

 Harvest time for seed is coming soon and 

 farmers can help by harvesting red clover, 

 alsike clover, sweet clover and mammoth 

 clover seed. 



Rock phosphate shipments continue in 



large volume all over the state, with Farm 

 Adviser H. D. Van Matre of Iroquois coun- 

 ty reporting more than 3.000 tons delivered 

 to farms during the first four months of this 

 year. 



"Soybeans are no more soil depleting in 



minerals than are corn, alfalfa or some 

 other crops on an equivalent yield basis," 

 say Purdue agricultural authorities in re- 

 viewing the results of eight years of test 

 work. They recommend that extra amounts 

 of phosphorus and potash as well as lime- 

 stone and clover be used in the crop rotation 

 where beans and other grain are sold as a 

 cash crop. 



year are approximately 1,500,000 bushels. 

 This could be considerably increased how- 

 ever if timely rains come in July. 



The quality in general is excellent, as of 

 July 10. Better care of orchards is partly 

 responsible, but a favorable season has also 

 been important. For some unexplained 

 reason, damaging insects have been less 

 prevalent this year. 



Indications at present are that the con- 

 sumer will get good peaches this year and 

 at a satisfactory price. Grower costs are 

 of course extremely high, but with a large 

 crop of good quality, they will not expect 

 the exorbitant price of last year when most 

 growers had no crop to sell. 



Farmers in Illinois who will be buying 

 peaches this yeari will in many instances, 

 buy direct from the grower. They can help 

 the package situation by remembering to 

 bring containers when making purchases. 

 New baskets are very scarce and those avail- 

 able will be needed for shipments to more 

 distant markets. 



Those consumers who were disappointed 

 with the price and quality of strawberries 

 this season should not assume that this one 

 crop represented a true picture of the fruit 

 situation. Weather conditions were un- 

 favorable for strawberries, and because of 

 the large amount of hand labor, acreage 

 was at an unprecedented low level. 



The high price and poor quality of 

 berries did not occur because of high pro- 

 fits to the grower. On the contrary, most 

 growers lost money because the production 

 was so extremely low. 



The modem cold storage plant planned 

 by the Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange will 

 not be built this year. WPB did not ap- 

 prove the application for construction, 

 though it admitted the need for the storage 

 space. WPB reported that the building was 

 in excess of absolute minimum require- 

 ments. The Exchange plans to reconsider 

 the project as soon as wartime conditions 

 permit. 



By L L Colvis 



The 1944 Illinois peach crop might well 



be the largest since the bumper crop of 

 1931 when more than 21/2 million bushels 

 were harvested. Present estimates for this 



Home Bureau Conference 

 At Jacksonville July 18 



HOME BUREAU leaders representing 

 25,000 women in 75 Illinois counties 

 will meet July 18-21 at MacMurray 

 college, Jacksonville, for their eighth 

 annual conference on citizenship and 

 Home Bureau organization. 



The conference is planned to empha- 

 size the Home Bureau woman's respon- 

 sibility as a citizen and to help improve 

 her county organization. It is sponsored 

 by the Illinois Home Bureau federation 

 and extension service in agriculture and 

 home economics, University of Illinois 

 College of Agriculture. 



Presidents and vice presidents of 

 county Home Bureau organizations are 

 delegates to the conference, and other 

 Home Bureau women may attend. Each 

 day's session will open with a chapel 

 period conducted by Clarence P. Mc- 

 Clelland, president of MacMurray col- 

 lege, and will continue with discussions 

 by speakers widely known in their fields 

 and with recreational programs. 



The program is being arranged by 



Mrs. Kathtyn Van Aken Bums, Mrs. 

 Elsie Mies of Champaign county, and 

 Mrs. John Clifton of Irot^uois cotinty. 

 Recreation is in charge of Mrs. Fred Sass, 

 Livingston county, and Mrs. R. E. Milli- 

 gan, Champaign county. .^ 



Former lAA Employee - - m» 

 ?■ - "Missing In Action" 



"Well, I'm finally at my ojjeration 

 squadron," wrote former lAA and Coun- 

 try Life employe Lt. Harry Jtist, "and so 

 far I have 36 missions to my credit. I'm 

 flying with a great bunch of fellows and 

 boy they really treat me grand. I have 

 my own plane now, and have named it 

 "By Babes.' Babes is my wife's nick-, 

 name. 



"My pal in civilian life, who enlisted 

 with me, is stationed close by here so we 

 get together once in a while. I intend 

 to spend my next 48 hour pass with him. 

 I ought to have a ring-side seat at the 

 coming invasion." 



At that time Harry had already received 

 the D.F.C. and two Oak Leaf Clusters. 

 And he kept up his outstanding work. 



On the day following the invasion, 

 Chicago papers carried items praising 

 his work curing the invasion. "A Chicago 

 Mustang pilot," said the article in the 

 Herald American, "was revealed by an 

 Associated Press dispatch as one of a 

 group of U.S. Eighth Air Force fliers 

 who lashed at Nazi gasoline trucks rush- 

 ing to bring supplies to the invasion bat- 

 tle area. He is Lt. Harry Just, Jr. of 

 1926 S. Sangamon Street. The report 

 said he dived with his flight and strafed 

 a truck filled with German soldiers, as 

 his companions set the gas trucks a- 

 flame." 



The following week the papers carried 

 a short statement that Harry was missing 

 in action, as of June 7. i 



Killed In Action 



Tech. Sgt. John R. Paarlberg, a me- 

 chanic with the Army Air Forces and a 

 crew chief of a B-25 bomber, was killed 

 in action May 13 over the island of 

 Corsica, while serving as a co-pilot, ac- 

 cording to word received from the War 

 Department by his father, Teunis P. 

 Paarlberg, Cook County Farm Bureau 

 member. 



"Bob", as the youth was known to his 

 friends, was active in 4-H club and 

 Rural Youth activities in Cook county. 

 After having been graduated from high 

 school he had been farming with his 

 father prior to joining the Air Force in 

 1942. He had only been stationed at 

 Corsica for a jjeriod of two or three 

 weeks. Prior to that he had been in the 

 North African, Sicilian and Italian cam- 

 paigns. 



24 



L A. A. RECORD 



