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Starting on a day's trip around ttie county tlie 

 farm adviser gets Ills tank filled by Farm 

 Supply Service Company man, Lester Henne. 



Visiting the farm of Dean Seals, the farm ad- 

 viser discusses dairying conditions with Beals 

 (right) and his son, Harold Seals (center). 



Inspecting a prixcd brood sow and its health 



litter of pigs owned by Harold Seals, the farr i 



adviser voices his encouragement. 



Discussing labor conditions with Farm Labor Assistant Bill Williams. 



The diversity of Marion county agriculture is evident 

 in the fact that last year it had 58,000 apple trees, 200,000 

 peach trees, and 15,000 pear trees in production. Forty 

 thousand of its acres were in soybeans, 30,000 acres in corn, 

 25,000 acres in alfalfa and sweet clover, and 10,000 acres 

 in winter wheat. Beef and dairy cattle are common and 

 hog-raising is widespread. 



Blackburn has echoed the cry of the farm adviser for 

 three decades: "Farming has no future unless the land is 

 taken care of." 



Going even further, he tells Marion farmers that their 

 land will produce as mucli as the higher-priced land in 

 northern Illinois if it is cared for. Building the soil is and 

 has been his major project. 



One of his proudest achievements is his pioneer efforts 

 in the field of potash deficiency in southern Illinois. Rec- 

 ognizing his experience and knowledge of the subject, the 

 American Potash Institute has given his field work and in- 

 vestigation wide publicity through published articles. 



His years of effort are beginning to pay off. "I doubt 

 that any farm in the county was completely limed 10 years 

 ago," Blackburn said. "Now many are completely limed, 

 phosphated and potashed. Two hundred tons of straight 

 potash were used last year and more would have been used 

 had it been available." 



Agriculture, like history, will move on into the long 

 years ahead but now and then the farmers of tomorrow will 

 look back to say of the farm advisers of our day: "They 

 built us a solid foundation." 



Encouraging the activities of farm youth, the fore 



adviser admires a pair of sleek Herefords raised b 



Donald Shanafelt, a 4-H club vice president. 



Getting a first- 

 hand report on 

 the prospects 

 for a bumper 

 peach crop, he 

 examines Fruit 

 Fa rmer Joe 

 Hale's peach 



Examining the 

 results of 3-D4 

 weed killer 

 with Glen Key, 

 soil conserva- 

 tion service 

 technician, he 

 sees for him* 

 seH. 



