Bigger Corn Yields 

 Depend On Soil Building 



FURTHER increase in corn yields is 

 more dependent on improvement of 

 the soil than in the improvement 

 of hybrids. Hybrids are doing just 

 about as much as the soil can do. 



Such was the opinion expressed by 

 Prof. J. C. Hackleman, agronomy de- 

 partment, U. of I. College of Agricul- 

 ture, at the recent Farm Bureau-Farm 

 Management tour held on the Gerald 

 Smith farm, LaSalle county. 



This was one of the many farm man- 

 agement tours held during the past 

 months over the state under the spon- 

 sorship of county Farm Bureaus and 

 the U. of I. Extension Service. , 



The Smith farm tour which attracted 

 more than 500 farmers from LaSalle, 

 DeKalb, Kendall, Grundy, Bureau, 

 Marshall-Putnam and Lee counties in- 

 dicated the tremendous interest of 

 producers in increasing operating effi- 

 ciency as they head into the postwar 

 adjustment period. 



Professor Hackleman advised farm- 

 ers to make an inventory of their soil 

 through mapping and testing. "Get 

 the land in shape," he said, "so that 

 you can grow alfalfa anywhere. Al- 

 falfa is the best crop a livestock pro- 

 ducer can grow. Since seed is a little 

 tight, stretch it with sweet or red 

 clover." 



Professor Hackleman also cited the 

 tremendous progress made in oat vari- 

 eties which equals that of corn. In- 

 crease in oat yields from improved vari- 

 eties is something like 20 per cent as 

 compared with a 25 per cent increase in 

 hybrid corn yields over open polli- 

 nated. 



The university has found* it neces- 

 sary to work out an allocation plan for 

 Clinton oats seed. Professor Hackleman 

 said. Some 200 acres of Clinton oats 

 were seeded in 1945. Clinton seed will 

 be allocated to counties on a historic 

 acreage basis, and then allocated with- 

 in the county to those who have made 

 applications. Clinton oats will only be 

 available to the counties with dark soils 

 to which it is best adapted and not to 

 the southern counties. 



Thos« attending the tour to the 

 Smith farm of l60-acres near Leland 

 were presented with some amazing 

 figures. The farm is probably best 

 known for its pork production rec- 

 ords. For the 'ast seven years 



8.1 pigs were weaned per litter with 

 an average of 64 litters per year. This 

 is almost two pigs more per litter than 

 other farm record keepers, according 

 to M. P. Gehlbach, fieldman for the 

 Illinois Valley Farm Bureau-Farm 

 Management Service. ' ■,' 



How does Smith do it? Here are 

 some of the important reasons for his 

 record : 



He studies his records and his "busi- 

 ness. 



He selects gilts for breeding stock 

 with great care noting carefully the size 

 of litter, uniformity of pigs, rate of 

 gain, the type of finished market hog, 

 and also the disposition of the sow. 



Boiling lye water is not spared in 

 scrubbing of houses. Pigs are farrowed 



in these clean individual houses on 

 clean alfalfa pasture. 



Good pasture and balanced rations 

 enable Smith to produce pork with a 

 lower feed cost and his hogs are ready 

 for market at an earlier age thus en- 

 abling him to get a higher price than 

 is received by the average of account 

 keepers. During the past six years, 

 part of which had price regulation. 

 Smith received on the average 60 cents 

 more per hundred pounds for all hogs 

 sold than the average of account keep- 

 ers. 



Corn yields from 1941 through 1944, 

 a four-year period averaged 102 bush- 

 els per acre as compared with yields 

 ranging from 79 to 94 bushels per acre 

 from 1938 through 1940. 



Other farms visited on the Illinois 

 Valley tour where efficient operations 

 were studied included Edward H. Saf- 

 ford farm, west of Sycamore ; Chase 

 Brothers farm, north of Princeton; 

 Howard Fiedler farm, near Tonica; and 

 Chester H. Rasmusen farm, north of 

 Millington. 



Keen interest is maniiested by icmners at 

 the niinois Valley Fann Bureau-Farm Man- 



agement tour to the Gerald Smith farm 

 in LaSalle county. 



Viaitora study the swine sanitation pro- 

 gram carried on by Gerald Smith on his 



farm near Leland in LaSalle county. This 

 was one oi many such tours. 



12 



L A. A. RECORD 



