THIRTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 331 



already the limiting factors in most soils, System No. i is a ru- 

 inous practice to pursue, while with Systems No. 3 and No. 4 

 the dairymen are not only making money, but the farm is gradu- 

 ally becoming more productive year after year, so that as time 

 goes on their profits continually increase, provided only that at- 

 tention be given to depleted mineral constituents. With System 

 No. 4 there is an annual increase of 38 pounds of nitrogen per 

 acre, while with the poorest system there is a loss of 12^ pounds 

 per acre annually. Yet poor as System No. 1 is, it does not com- 

 pare in depleting the soil with the practice of selling a 55-bushel 

 crop of corn from the land and then burning the stalks, as is so 

 frequently practiced through the corn belt in this day of prog- 

 ressive agriculture. Few yet realize the full meaning of such 

 practices to the future agriculture of our state. 



Growing large quantities of legumes, as is done in Systems 

 No. 3 and No. 4, not only increases the nitrogen, but if all ma- 

 nure is carefully preserved and applied to the soil, the humus 

 will also be increased, and by paying special attention to good 

 tillage the physical condition of the soil will without doubt be 

 greatly improved, making the farm more productive year after 

 year. Without the soil in good physical condition, no farm can 

 do its best. There is scarcely a farm in Illinois on which the 

 productive power cannot be greatly increased by the growing of 

 more legumes, the intelligent use of manure and good tilling. 

 Ten cents per acre will replace the necessary mineral constitu- 

 ents removed in the milk by System No. 4, and if twice this 

 amount were applied each year the dairyman would be enrich- 

 ing his soil. 



The marvelous difference in the profits derived from these 

 four systems of cropping are best shown by a direct comparison 

 of the profits left by each system. System No. 1 returns $2.43 ; 

 System No. 2 returns $780, or 321 times the profit of No. 1 ; 

 System No. 3, $1,947, or 801 times that of No. 1 ; and System 

 No. 4, $3,928, or 1 6 16 times the profit of System No. 1, besides 

 adding 5830 pounds of nitrogen to the soil of the farm. These 



