the producer and has established a ceiling 

 price therefor as follows: 



Effective July 30, 1945, the ceiling price 

 that can be charged to patrons for grad- 

 ing is 121/2C per 100 pounds of meat 

 graded, computed to the next highest 

 multiple of 5c. 



"For example", the ruling states, "if 

 a farm slaughterer requests the locker 

 plant to grade 150 pounds of meat, the 

 ceiling price for grading this meat 

 would actually figure out at 18^c. Ad- 

 justed to the next highest 5c multiple, 

 however, the final ceiling price would 

 be 20c on this particular operation." 

 According to published reports, meat ra- 

 tioning will be lifted within the next few 

 months and it is assumed that grading of 

 meats processed in lock,;r plants will not 

 be required if meat becomes point free. 



By JOHN R. SPENCER 



According to recent soil tests of the Ford 



County Farm Bureau laboratory 45 per cent 

 of the samples needed two tons or more of 

 limestone per acre, 80 per cent needed rock 

 phosphate and only 15 per cent of the 

 samples showed adequate amounts of potash 

 present. 



About 75 per cent of the fertilizer that 

 will be handled by Illinois Farm Supply 

 Company in the next fiscal year will be 

 "straight materials" (carrying one plant 

 food element) such as rock phosphate, 

 muriate of potash and superphosphate. This 

 will seem to be carrying out the three 

 fundamental principles in a rational program 

 for soil fertility restoration or crop fertiliza- 

 tion of economy, sufficiency and permanency 

 as recommended by A. L. Lang of the U. 

 of I. College of Agriculture. 



A trucker in Fayette county is developing, 

 with the active help of the Farm Adviser 

 J. B. Turner, an elevated hopper bottom rail 

 car unloading device for limestone. It is in 

 a building formerly used by the Vandalia 

 light plant in which coal was unloaded 

 from rail cars. A sizable covered storage in 

 the building will be utilized to facilitate 

 handling of dry material during wet weather 

 periods. 



About three-fourths of all the Illinois 



farm land or 24 million acres needs phos- 

 phate, according to soil tests, reports C. M. 

 Linsley of the U. of I. College of Agriculture. 

 "The critical shortage of phosphorus in 

 most Illinois soils is not receiving the atten- 

 tion it deserves" he said. 



Soils that test low in available phosphorus 



can produce from 50-60 per cent of a 

 maximum clover or alfalfa crop. This 

 means low yields of corn and other crops, 

 because a 60 per cent clover crop supplies 

 only about 60 per cent of the nitrogen and 

 organic matter that the soil needs for other 

 crops. 



Organic matter binds soil particles to- 

 gether like hair in plaster, which enables 

 the particles to resist the action of run-off 

 water. 



As of last July the list of county soil 



testing laboratories, according to Hugh 

 Brock, chairman of the soil committee of 

 the Farm Advisers Association, was the 

 following: 



Set up or authorized 55 



Contemplating 10 



Doubtful 6 



Potash test in adjoining 



county 1 



Acidity and phosphorus with 

 potash test made at 



University 19 



Counties not heard from .... 7 



98 counties 

 "This development probably puts the ex- 

 tension service in the best soils position of 

 any group in the U. S.", he said. 



Three-fourths of the 62 quarries sampled 



by the lAA soil imp'jvement department 

 in May, June and July were producing ag- 

 ricultural limestone with a fineness of grind- 

 ing of 80 per cent or more passing an 8 

 mesh screen (64 openings per square inch). 

 For effective neutralizing power in the soil 

 agricultural limestone depends upon its 

 fineness as well as its purity. Farmers in 

 purchasing this essential material should in- 

 si.st on a fineness of grinding 80 per cent or 

 more passing an 8 mesh screen. It is pos- 

 sible for all quarries to produce this grade 

 of liming material. 



PEORIA PRODUCERS 

 MANAGER DIES 



W. R. Hembrough, manager of the 

 Peoria Producers Commissioji Association 

 since Jan. 1, 1923, 

 died July 31 at the 

 Methodist hospital, 

 Peoria. He had been 

 a patient in the hos- 

 pital since June 5. 



Funeral services 

 were held at the 

 Ashbury Methodist 

 church and burial 

 was made in Ash- 

 bury cemetery. 



W. H. Hembrough , ^ loyal supporter 

 of the cooperative 

 ideals for many years, Mr. Hembrough 

 witnessed the inception of the producer 

 cooperative sales movement Jan. 1, 1922, 

 at the St. Louis National Stock Yards. 

 In June, 1922, he went to Peoria and 

 helped to organize the Peoria Producers. 

 He served as hog salesman until Jan. 1, 

 1923, when he became general manager 

 and cattle salesman, a position he held 

 throughout the years until his death. 



Well known in livestock circles 

 throughout the state, Mr. Hembrough 

 was generally conceded to be a past mas- 

 ter in the knowledge of cattle, their value 

 and importance in the agricultural pro- 

 gram. 



The cooperative idea implanted in his 

 mind in St. Louis more than 23 years 

 ago never wavered throughout the years. 



lames Thomson 



LaSALLE MAN JOINS 

 PUBLICITY STAFF 



James C. Thomson, formerly of La- 

 Salle county and since 1942 employed 

 by the Chicago bu- 

 reau of the Associ- 

 ation Press, has been 

 hired as assistant edi- 

 tor of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Associ- 

 ation Record and as- 

 sistant in the lAA 

 publicity depart- 

 ment. He started 

 work Sept 1. 



A graduate of the 

 University of Il- 

 linois School of 

 Journalism in 1935, 

 Thomson had wide 

 experience on down- 

 state Illinois newspapers prior to join- 

 ing the Associated Press staflf. During 

 1935-36 he edited two weeklies, the Le- 

 monter at Lemont, and the Herald at 

 Lockport. He was later employed by the 

 Decatur Herald and Review, and in 

 1937 began work as a reporter for the 

 Daily Republican Times in Ottawa. He 

 later worked as farm page editor on the 

 Times. 



While attending the University of Il- 

 linois, Thomson worked on the Daily 

 mini a4 Champaign for three years and 

 during part of this time reported news 

 from the College of Agriculture. In his 

 senior year, Thomson edited the Y.M. 

 C.A. paper at the University. 



Thomson spent his early life near Ot- 

 tawa and attended a rural school a mile 

 south of that community. He was gradu- 

 ated from Ottawa High School in 1931. 

 Thomson is married and has two 

 daughters. His wife is the former Dor- 

 othy Schinz of Ottawa. 



Since the resignation of C. M. Sea- 

 graves, director of advertising, in May, 

 1945, the personnel of the publicity de- 

 partment has consisted of the director 

 and two secretarial employees. Seagraves 

 resigned from the lAA sta£F to join a 

 Chicago advertising agency. 



Lt. Merrill Gregory, editor of the lAA 

 Record, is on leave of absence. He has 

 been in the Army since the fall of 1941 

 and according to latest reports was sta- 

 tioned at Pilsen, Czechoslovakia. Prior 

 to assignment to the Eurojjean front in 

 January of 1945, Lieutenant Gregory was 

 stationed in the Southwest Pacific. •- 



The influence of the Indianapolis market 



on the movement of Illinois grains has been 

 moving steadily westward for some time. 

 This year that influence was felt as far 

 west as Morgan county. The Indiana Grain 

 Cooperative was responsible for a stronger 

 demand for west central wheat this past 

 harvest. 



SEPTEMBER, 1945 



