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By John R. Spencer 



Food for plants is just as necessary as 

 food for animals but we still have to make 

 people conscious of the fact. Wartime pro- 

 duction /;oals to increase food, feed and 

 fiber have sapped our soils of vital fertility 

 elements. Crops have removed annually for 

 the last three years approximately 416,000 

 tons of nitrogen, 168,000 tons of phosphoric 

 acid and 160,000 tons of potash from the 

 20,000,000 acres of harvested crop land in 

 Illinois, according to Prof. A. L. Lang, U. 

 of I. College of Agriculture. 



Seven locations in Shelby county have 

 been designated for lime storage bins as a 

 means of minimizing transportation prob- 

 lems, states W. S. Batson, farm adviser. 



Farm account books have pointed out to 

 Logan county farmers the economic im- 

 portance of adding lime and phosphate, the 

 utilization of crop residues, planting of good 

 crops and the application of commerical 

 fertilizers when necessary, asserts N. H. An- 

 derson, farm adviser. 



Kankakee county applied 64,000 tons of 



limestone, 3200 tons rock phosphate, 3200 

 tons mixed fertilizer and 800 tons super- 

 phosphate last year according to George 

 Swaim, farm adviser. 



Lee county applied 126,000 tons of agri- 

 cultural limestone last year according to 

 C. E. Yale, farm adviser. This is a sub- 

 stantial increase over the 77,000 tons of the 

 1943 year. 



The use of agricultural limestooe for the 



state as a whole has "come a long way" in 

 the last ten years when slightly under 500,- 

 000 tons was applied in 1935, compared 

 with the present annual usage of approxi- 

 mately 3,500,000 tons. If labor shortage 

 does not nullify the addition to crushing 

 equipment at established quarries plus the 

 new operators the supply of available lime- 

 stone should be greater in 1945 than last 

 year. 



According to college authorities it would 

 cost approximately 10 cents a bushel, at 

 present prices for fertilizers, of soybeans 

 to replace the phosphorus and potassium 

 removed by them from soils. This is based 

 on the results of a five year test at the 

 Joliet experimental field. H. J. Snider 

 states, "From the most part the beans are 

 sold from the farm and since they contain 

 such a large proportion of the total nitro- 

 gen (in the entire crop) there is little prob- 

 ability that soybeans contribute anything 

 toward building up permanently the nitro- 

 gen content of soil." 



The use of grasses and clover with alfalfa 

 makes it possible for more farmers to get 

 alfalfa seed and provides a good rotation 

 hay or pasture mixture. 



Unloading and bagging 50 per cent muri- 

 ate oi potash at the Morgon-Scott bulk 

 plant, left to right: I. E. Barnes, inside car. 



Farmers Save On Carload 

 Mnriate of Potash Buying 



Savings to farmers of more than $2000 

 per carload are reported by Illinois Farm 

 Supply Company through carload ship- 

 ments of high-grade muriate of potash 

 to a number of county Service G>mpanies. 



Shipments have been made to Wood- 

 ford, Whiteside, Grundy, Morgan-Scott, 

 Christian, Bond, and Jackson-Williamson. 



According to IFS officials, for the 

 farmer whose soil needs potash, this 

 muriate of potash is a real bargain com- 

 pared with the potash contained in mixed 

 fertilizer. For example: for each pound 

 of KjO in 2-12-6, the farmer pays 8.7 



McLean county's supply oi milkweed pods 

 mores to war. Left fo right are Dr. W. 

 I. OeWesa, Normal, in charge oi collection 

 program in the state: Ooren Young and 

 Lloyd Crichton, helpers, and T. R. Trigger, 

 assistant supervisor. 



Russell Chapman, assistant manager, lohn 

 Ryman and Harold lames. Unloading this 

 50-ton car took two days and a hall. 



cents per pound. For one pound of KjO 

 in 50 per cent muriate of potash, the price 

 is only 4.4 cents per pound, and for 60 

 per cent muriate of potash only 4.1 cents 

 per pound. 



Leading county in the sale of potash is 

 Whiteside, report IFS officials. More 

 than 320 tons have been sold for spring 

 application. 



Orders for more than 2000 tons of 

 muriate of p>otash are now on hand, and 

 as of March 15, 530 tons had been de- 

 livered. The remainder was scheduled to 

 go out within 60 days. 



Former Randolph Adviser's 

 Son Dies On Western Front 



Pfc. Eugene Secor, 20, son of E. C. 

 Secor, former farm adviser of Randolph 

 county, was killed in action Feb. 17 while 

 serving as a machine gunner with the 

 Seventh Army in France, according to 

 word received by his parents from the 

 War Department. 



The last letter received from the young 

 soldier was dated Feb. 15 and at that 

 time he was preparing to go back to 

 the front lines after spending about two 

 weeks in a rest camp. He went overseas 

 last November and his division became 

 part of General Patch's Seventh Army. 



Mr. Secor was farm adviser in Ran- 

 dolph county for 20 years and last July 

 was employed in 4-H club work by the 

 extension service of the U. of I. College 

 of Agriculture. 



Besides his parents, Private First Class 

 Secor leaves one brother, Cpl. Clay Se- 

 cor, ser\'ing overseas with the Army Air 

 Forces as a tail gunner and assistant en- 

 gineer on an Army bomber. 



Wind erosion can be reduced by tree 



windbreaks and such mechanical windbreaks 

 as snowfence or other similar materials. 

 Rows of small grain such as r)'e help to 

 slow the wind also. 



APRIL 194S 



