Above ar« the five purple ribbon theme winners, front row, feft 

 to right, a* follows: Mary Beth Manning, Hollendeck school; Vir- 

 ginia Hexdall, Wally'; Howard Schock, Roblson; Joyce Decker, Car- 

 bon Hill, and lllomay Lyont, Ooose lalie. Back row are Mhi lllllat 

 K. Walker, atthtant county tuperlntendent of Orundy schools; M. 

 E. Tascher, farm advlter and Miss Anna Ondesco, county super- 

 intendent. 



'^ Cjdim^^is^:" 



'• ' ^ Mid'-i'^'''! 













1 



mF^ L±fi 







Top right photo shows a tree planting machine uted to plant 

 multlflora rose. Below Is a view from the speaker's plaHorm of « 



the crowd at the Orundy Held day climaxing Soil Conservation | l 



Week. I « 



'^9^' ^ 



SellUta Gand^ndjiatiafi 



IN GRUNDY COUNTY they figure 

 that folks can't know too much 

 about soil conservation. That's why 

 this year they enlarged their pro- 

 gram and had a soil conservation 

 week instead of just one day. And ail 

 the important people in the county got 

 behind the idea and really put it over. 

 Starting on a Sunday, church-goers 

 throughout the county heard a sermon 

 on "Stewardship of the Land." The 

 county board of supervisors made it 

 official by declaring the week of Sept. 

 25 as "Soil Conservation Week in 

 Grundy County." 



All city and town grade and high 

 schools, both public and parochial 

 held assembly programs on soil con 

 servation. All theaters gave a three 

 day run to "The Flood." a motion pic 

 ture telling of the importance of soi 

 conservation to urban people. 



Five civic organizations held "farmer 

 nights" in which a member brought a 

 farmer as guest. Businessmen of the 

 community of Morris sponsored a corn 

 festival with $300 in awards for the 

 best ears of corn. The contest was set 

 up so that the closing date was at the 

 end of the soil conservation week. The 



26 



Grundy County Folks Get Story of Soil Care 

 From Church Pulpits, Theaters, Clubs and Schools. 



businessmen reminded contestants that 

 it took good soil care to produce top 

 crops. 



All in all, the Grundy County Soil 

 Conservation district directors got the 

 cooperation of 25 groups in sponsoring 

 the week's program. 



Not a small part of the program was 

 the participation of pupils from 44 

 county schools in a theme writing con- 

 test on the topic, "Why Each Farmer 

 Should Practice Soil Conservation on 

 His Farm." With the cooperation of 

 Miss Anna Ondesco. the afternoon of 

 soil conservation field day was declared 

 a holiday and presentation of purple 

 ribbons to five of the top essay writers 

 was made during the program. Pre- 

 siding at the award ceremony attended 

 by 450 school children were James 

 F. Holderman. Farm Bureau president, 

 and M. E. Tascher, farm adviser. Blue 

 ribbons were given to each of the win- 

 ners in the 44 schools. 



The field day was held on a rented 

 farm in keeping with the Grundy pro- 



gram to emphasize the benefits of soil 

 conservation to both renters and land- 

 owners. As farmers and school chil- 

 dren toured the farm they were shown 

 the response of alfalfa to phosphate 

 and to potash. These materials had 

 been applied to the alfalfa only a few 

 weeks before, but it was easy to tell 

 where they were applied. 



A contour line had been marked out 

 across the alfalfa field to show how 

 plowing would be done in the spring 

 when the alfalfa is plowed under for 

 corn. 



Ben Muirhead, extension agricultural 

 engineer, pointed to the use of surface 

 drainage to carry water out of low 

 places and grass waterways to lead 

 the water down to the drainage ditch 

 which had been shaped for maximum 

 capacity and use. 



Much interest was shown in a tree 

 planting machine which is pulled by a 

 tractor at the pace of a moderate walk. 

 One man on the machine placed multi- 

 flora rose plants about 14 inches apart. 



L A. A. RECORD 



