;d 



* 4 * 



•1- 



i 



] 



I 



extending the teachings of the College, 

 the Experiment Station, and the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture that have 

 greatly enhanced the value of the exten- 

 sion worJc of the farmers of this state. 



. . . The public often does not dis- 

 tinguish between the teaching function 

 of the Extension Service and the facilities 

 of the Farm Bureau for putting improved 

 methods into practice. While the educa- 

 tional work of the Extension Service 

 must be available to all rural people, 

 certain service functions of the Farm 

 Bureau and its subsidiaries may very 

 properly be limited to Farm Bureau 

 members who, through membership dues 

 and often personal effort, contribute to 

 the support of that service. 



No amount of iformal memorandum or 

 agreements between the Extension Service 

 and the Farm Bureaus will make the 

 public distinguish between these two 

 important functions. In this case action 

 not only speaks louder than words — it 

 is the only thing that counts. Our ac- 

 tions, therefore, must make clear the fact 

 that the educational work sponsored by 

 the Farm Bureau cooperating with the 

 Extension Service is available to all rural 

 people. 



... I question whether the Extension 

 Service of any other state has a firmer 

 anchorage with the farmers than has the 

 Extension Service in Illinois; and this 

 anchorage is furnished pretty largely by 

 the Farm and Home Bureaus. I doubt 

 whether the Extension Service of any 

 other state has been more effective in in- 

 fluencing farmers to improve their farm- 

 ing practices thai( has the Extension Serv- 

 ice in Illinois. T can say these things 

 without seeming' too immodest in my 

 claims because th^^cre^ for the develop- 

 ment of the Ext^siori''policies and pro- 

 cedures in Iflinois must be laid to my 

 predecessors — to Davenport and Mum- 

 ford and their immediate associates. 



But we of the College of Agriculture 

 must acknowledge freely that what has 

 been accomplished has been made pos- 

 sible only by the cooperation of other 

 organizations with the College of Agri- 

 culture. A large part of the success of 

 the Extension Service I attribute without 

 reservation to the friendly working rela- 

 tions that have existed between the Ex- 

 tension Service of the College of Agri- 

 culture and that soundly organized and 

 splendidly staffed organization . . . the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association. May 

 we continue to coordinate our efforts with 

 generous understanding of each other's 

 motives and prerogatives, for together we 

 can accomplish tenfold, what neither 

 of us could accomplish alone. 



E. L. Rice, extreme right, and his doss oi 

 13 vocational agricultural boys in Monlius 



High School, Bureau county, compare 

 yield* farom test fields. 



C^uo44J04€ Gidi Go^ut 



rt 

 is 



Contour cultivadoa saves productive top 



soil fertility and moisture. For these 

 reasons, it is logical that contour cultivation 

 of sloping land will increase yields. 



FIELD Studies made by 10 different 

 vocational agricultural classes in 

 Bureau county for two consecutive 

 years show that erosion reduces corn 

 yields by 39.2 bushels per acre. 



Two acres were selected in each of 

 the 15 demonstration fields studied that 

 were of the same soil type and about 

 the same degree of slope. The onjj 

 difference between the two areas beir^ 

 the depth of top-soil remaining. 



The following table shows the differ- 

 ence between the two areas for the 15 

 demonstrations. 



... . / . • - ' Seriously Eroded Slightly Eroded 

 Average for Average for 

 ■42 '-. 



No. of Areas Harvested 



Percent of Sound Corn 



Percent of Unsound Corn 



No. of Stalks Per Hill 



No. of Missing Hills 



Shelling Percentage 



Percent Moisture 



Yield per Acre — computed 



at 15.5 percent moisture 31.67 bu. 70.87 bu. 



Other data obtained from this study 

 show that in each of the areas harvest- 

 ed, the number of stalks per row was 

 less on the lower side of the slope as 

 compared to the upper side of the 

 slope. The reason is that as the 

 length of slope increases the amount of 

 run-off water increases, which in turn 

 washes out more corn when checked 

 and cultivated up and down hill. The 

 results also showed that less corn per 

 row was harvested on the lower slopes 

 than on the upper slopes. This was 

 true on the slightly eroded areas, as 

 well as on the severely eroded areas. 



In both areas, the students harvested 

 and weighed 150 hills of corn under 

 the supervision of their instructors. 

 The corn was sorted as to quality, the 



total number of stalks and missing hills 

 were counted, the shelling percentage 

 and per cent moisture were obtained 

 and the yields per acre computed. 



The average yield of corn from the 

 15 demonstrations on the severely 

 eroded acres was 31-67 bushels per acre 

 as compared to 70.87 bushels per acre 

 on the slightly eroded areas. 



According to the study, the reasons 

 for the lower yield on the seriously 

 eroded areas was due to (1) loss of 

 top-soil, (2) lower quality of corn, (3) 

 lower average stand or stalks per hill, 

 (4) more missing hills, (5) weight of 

 corn shelled out was less, (6) higher 

 percentage of moistuie. 



The vocational agricultural depart- 

 ments that made this study in 1942 

 were: Walnut, Manlius, LaMoille, 

 Ohio, Tiskilwa, Princeton and Nepon- 

 set. The schools that recently com- 

 pleted the demonstrations in 1943 

 were: Bureau Twp., Walnut, Manlius, 

 Buda, Wyanet, LaMoille, Ohio and 

 Tiskilwa. 



Two hundred and fifty-six students 

 and 14 farmers assisted in the demon- 

 strations. These demonstrations were 

 made possible through the combined 

 efforts of the vocational agricultural 

 departments, Paul V. Dean, farm ad- 

 viser, Kenneth P. Zunkel and Elmer 

 Offerman of the Bureau county soil 

 conservation district. 



This is part of the coordinated agri- 

 cultural program in Bureau county 

 which was worked out by the farm ad- 

 viser with the agriculture teachers and 

 personnel of other agricultural agen- 

 cies. 



NOVEMBER. 1944 



