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four years 1940-43 show that pow- 

 er and machinery costs and labor 

 costs per crop acre were practically 

 the same on the two groups of 

 farms averaging 15 ana 47 cents 

 less, respectively, on the contour- 

 operated farms. 



Records of individual farms having 

 a good conservation and improvement 

 program showed that such a program 

 increased yields from 10 to 50 per cent, 

 compared with neighboring farms not 

 operated under a good farm plan. 



The planned farms had a slightly 

 smaller proportion of their land in 

 grain crops and a larger proportion 

 in soil-building legume hay and pas- 

 ture. They used more limestone, rock 

 phosphate, and the quick fertilizers, 

 such as super phosphate and mixed 

 fertilizers. These farmers also found 

 that such a* common practice as the 

 using of all available farm manure 

 greatly helped to increase production. 



The adoption of a pasture improve- 

 ment program (especially for old per- 

 manent pastures) offered one of the 

 best possible means of increasing live- 

 stock production from the use of 

 otherwise unmarketable feed. This is 

 well illustrated on a number of account 

 keepers farms, where permanent pas- 

 tures have been limed, manured and 

 reseeded, and milk production per acre 

 is now more than double that of ad- 

 joining farms. 



Many of the account keepers who 

 have adopted a good land use program 

 are utilizing legume hay and pastures 

 to boost production of needed dairy 

 products. Some of the account keepers 

 have found that a good succession of 

 animal forage crops and legume mix- 

 tures provides a means of reducing the 

 acres needed in pasture. 



Those farms with a planned 

 program of good land use and soil 

 conservation and improvement 

 had higher average returns per 

 $100 of feed fed to livestock com- 



pared with farmers not having 

 such a plan. The good land use 

 program not only increased grain 

 production, but provided more 

 and better quality hay and pasture, 

 and the rotation pastures aided 

 in livestock sanitation. 



While the conservation and non- 

 conservation farms in the study are 

 matched as nearly as possible from the 

 physical standpoint, the human equa- 

 tion naturally varies from farm to 

 farm. However, it should be pointed 

 out that the conservation cooperating 

 farms were generally in rather bad 

 shape when they started the program 

 and that many of the non-conservation 

 farms have been following good farm- 

 ing programs for a number of years. 



The soil conservation plan used by 

 the cooperating farms in the study gen- 

 erally included one or more of the fol- 

 lowing : 



(1) Changes in land use such as 

 shifting some cropland to hay or pas- 

 tureland, some rotation pasture or 

 cropland to permanent pasture, and 

 possibly some pastureland to wood- 

 land. 



(2) The addition of necessary soil 

 treatments such as limestone, phos- 

 phate, etc. 



(3) The adoption of a sound rota- 

 tion on the cropland, including the 

 use of deep-rooted legumes such as 

 clover and alfalfa. 



(4) The use of supporting erosion 

 control measures, such as grass water- 

 ways, contour farming, terracing, strip 

 cropping and buffer strips. 



(5) A pasture renovation or pasture 

 improvement program. 



(6) A tree planting or woodland 

 management program. 



(7) The utilization of roughages in 

 the efficient production of livestock. 



In order to make comparisons be- 

 tween conservation and non-conserva- 

 tion farms, these farms were matched 

 in so far as it was possible to do so 



Table 1. — Land Use, Production, Income and Expenses, Soil Conservation and 

 Non-conservation Farms, McLean County, Illinois 



McLean County, 9-year 



;•.: ' . • :' : : ■^ Averagc. 1935-43 



-' ": 20 conserva- 20 non-conserva- 



Item "^ tion farms tion farms 



Per cent of tillable land in legumes 18 10 



Per cent of tillable land in hay and pasture 27 19 



Per cent of tillable land in grain crops . 73 81 



Corn yield, bu. per acre _ _ 55 50 



Crop yield index (County average — 100) 104 94 



Gross income per acre _ _ $27.85 $24.40 



Total farm expense per A. 13.02 l5.80 



Net farm income per A _ _ 14.83 11.60 



Difference in net income per acre _ $ 3.23 



on the basis of the following factors: 

 (1) land-use<apability, (2) per cent 

 of land area tillable, (3) size of farms 

 — acres, (4) type of farming, and (5) 

 land valuations. 



The land-use-capability rating figure 

 is an index or composite rating of the 

 physical characteristics of the land, 

 considering (1) soil type, (2) slope of 

 the land, (3) degree of erosion, and 

 (4) permanence of the soil if culti- 

 vated. 



These records of conservation and 

 non-conservation farmers are proof 

 that farmers in general can secure the 

 most profitable farming returns by fol- 

 lowing a sound, well-planned soil and 

 water conservation and erosion control 

 program. 



NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING 



ILLINOIS AGRICULTtJRAL 



ASSOCIATION 



Notice is hereby given that the 

 cmnucd meeting oi the members of 

 Illinois Agricultural Association will 

 be held in the Sherman Hotel, Chi- 

 cago, Illinois, on the 30th day of 

 November, 1944 at 9:00 o'clock A.M. 

 for the following pxurposes: 



To consider and vote upon the ap- 

 proval and ratification of the reports 

 of the president, secretary and . 

 treasurer oP the Association and the 

 acts of the Board of Directors and 

 officers in furtherance of the matters 

 therein set forth, since the last an- 

 nual meeting of the members ol the 

 Association. 



To afjprove, ratify and confirm the 

 several purchases heretofore made 

 by this Association of stocks and 

 evidences of indebtedness of cor- 

 porations whose activities will di- 

 rectly or indirectly promote agricul- 

 ture or the interests of those en- 

 gaged therein. 



To secure consent and authoriza- 

 tion to acquire on behalf of the As- 

 sociation, by purchase, certain 

 stocks and evidences of indebted- 

 ness of corporations whose activities 

 will directly or indirectly promote 

 agriculture or the interests of those 

 engaged therein. 



To elect eight members of the 

 Board of Directors for a term of two 

 years and one member, to fill a 

 vacancy, for a term of one year. 



To elect a president and vice- 

 president, who shall also serve as 

 directors, for a term of one year. 



To consider such proposed amend- 

 ments to the Articles of Association 

 or of the By-Laws oi Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association as may be 

 properly submitted. 



For the transaction ol such other 

 business as may properly come be- 

 fore the meeting. 



Dated at Chicago, Illinois, Octo- 

 ber 30, 1944. 



Paul E. Mathias, Secretary. 



NOVEMBER. 1944 



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