approaching a bus from the front? 

 \ Hiigher. JTbertrTfiust be more pub- 

 htity rcgartfing this. 



^/^*t^j__.Stattstics show that^jnOre cars 



-StrflJe'achild when appteatmng Irom the 



front than fronMkCrear btiause children 

 run beijiad'nius, dircvtly^-rffTront of any 

 ,-appro.uhmg car. 



i\{ary EiiJres. AhHeiir) couiily: If the 

 driver does not put the "Stop" arm out, 

 It is still the state law that an approaching 

 driver .^top when a school bus js stopped. 

 The laws should be coordinated 

 each state has the same laws. 



ClyJe C'illin>"n, Knox count): In 

 Knox County, several arrests were made 

 because bus drivers were to take the num- 

 bers 01 any car passing a stopped school 

 bus. 'Ihc community put an end to that 

 because there was a great deal of em- 

 barrassment to a good many people. 



^\r.. Lym.iii, Sbtlby co«niy. One of 

 the rec|uirements is that when the child is 

 let off the bus, he'must wait till the bus is 

 400 feet down the road before crossing. 

 Is it a good thing to let the child get 

 ai.ross the road alone, perhaps in the 

 midst of heavy traffic.-' 



BLjik: It IS my personal opinion that 

 it might be better lor the bus driver to 

 remain stopped until the child gets across 

 the road. (There seemed to be general 

 approval of this point of view.) 



Ly >n J >r. ^Thil was the practice in 

 Shelby county because such a small child 

 does not know when the bus is -1 00 feet 

 down the road, and it seemed better to 

 have the child cross the road while the 

 traffic was stopped. In some counties an 

 older child accompanies the child across 

 the road in the evening. Also, in the 

 morning an older child meets tiiem. 



Thurman Wright, Macon county farm 

 adviser, suggested some kind of a flasher 

 • signal in addition to the "Stop" arm on a 

 school' bus So that a car behind another 

 carc^an see it if he cannot see the arm. 

 -^/o/);; Sroll, Foril corntty: If a bond 

 issue has been passed after the formation 

 of a district, can a part of the district 

 petition out and relieve itself_o£-thc new 

 bonded debt.' 



Bl.uJc^ PJo^ they must assume their 

 ^ sliare of the bonded indebtedness, but the 

 district into which they go usually assumes 

 that responsibility. The amount taken 

 out would be spread over the entire dis- 

 trict into which the petitioned district 

 went. 



Following this discussion, Hughes in- 

 troduced John K. Cox, lAA director of 

 rural school relations. Cox then intro- 

 duced Roy Fetherston, field secretary of 

 the Illinois Association of School Boards, 

 who showed some slides on school con- 

 struction and costs. In a few preliminary 

 remarks he suggested that it would be a 

 good idea to begin now to plan for any 



(Continued on pa^e 4.^) 



Speaking from a wide variety of experlenteM, fhese three farm advltmrt offar (ome 

 tips on soil Mavirtg at the soil ronservaflon conference of fhe lAA annual meeting. Lett 

 to right: Charles Yalet t-ee) frank Shuman, Whiteiide; and W, C. Mummert, DeKalb. 



Plant Foods Conference 



Farm Advisers Warn Against Handling 

 Commercial Fertilizers On a Hit or Miss Basis 



Too often when we buy fertilizers. 

 we buy -blindly-. First, let's take 

 an invervtory of the soil.' ' 

 This was the advice of 'Charles 

 E. Yale. Lee county farm adviser, 

 during a panel discussion hv farm ad- 

 '^•isers on soil testing laboratories at the 

 soil co'nference held during the con- 

 vention of the Illinois Agricultural As- 

 sociation. . 



"^X'hen we bu.y a manufacturing 

 plant, we m.il^e a careful inventory. 

 We should do the same before spread- 

 ing expensi\e commercial fertilizers." 

 Yale said. 



The growth of soil laboratories in Il- 

 linois shows that farmers appreciate the 

 need for accurate testing, Yale indi- 

 cated. 



These cost from S250 to SI. 000 e.ich. 

 About 7i per cent of them are on a 

 pay-as-you-go basis. A nominal test- 

 ing charge, Yale said, would be S3.S5 

 for testing -lO acres. 



During the panel talks on the county 

 soil labs, three other farm advisers ex- 

 plained programs for their counties. 

 These men were Frank Shuman. White- 

 side. W. C. Mummert, De Kalb, and 

 George Trull, La Salle county assistant 

 farm adviser. 



The importance of accurate soil tests 

 and scientific research was emphasized 

 by Cicorge D. Scarselh, director of the 

 American Farm Research Association, 

 an organization of the American Farm 

 Bureau Federation. 



- "Through research in impro\ing soil, 

 corn yields have increased in the South 

 from 12-20 bushels to 65-100 bushels 

 an acre, and in the North from -iO-50 

 bushel averages to 100-150 bushels." he 

 said. 



"Farmers." he said, "must (.ontinue 

 to use plant food to replace what has 

 been taken from the soil. Illinois soils 

 are low in the element phosphorous. 

 And rotash exhaustion is more serious 

 than manv realize." 



So far the nation's farmers are doing 

 their share to feed the increase in pop- 

 ulation. This was pointed out by F 

 .\I. At^hlev. director of research for the 

 lAA. 



"We arc proiiucin<: al^out a third 

 more than in the years Ix-fore the war." 

 Atchley said. "And our production is 

 still upward." 



To get the most out of vour fer- 

 tilizer dollar. Atcljky suggested a four 

 point program: test your soil, fertilize 

 acvorciing to test, buv high-test straight 

 materials when possible, and follow the 

 recommendations of the state experi- 

 ment station and vour tarm adviser. 



The liemands for food during and 

 following the war. coupled with the 

 establishment ot soil tcstinc labora- 

 tories have sky-rocketed the use ot 

 plant food in this state. 



.Atchley said there was an average 

 of 33. ("0 tons of fertilizer used in Il- 

 linois each vcar during iy3^-39. This 

 increased by 12 times to ^".(UJO tons 

 in 19t~-ifs. more than 2 tons for e\.er\ 

 Illinois farm. 



Roger Gish. lA.A. director of soil con- 

 servation activities, outlined some or 

 the projects he plans for the coming 

 year. This department was reactivatec^ 

 this year. 



He plans to continue the depart- 

 ment's inspection of limestone quarries 

 and will spot check samples for line- 

 ness of grinding and calcium carbonate 

 equivalent. 



JANUARY, 1949 



31 



