58 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



acre. Where iiu-nure was r deled we got 3.4 bushels, and where 

 we added 5 tons per acre of ground limestone five years ago, 

 and then have returned what manure we could return from 

 crops grown on that land, we got 16.2 bushels of wheat. When 

 we put in the manure raw ground phosphate, we got 22.5 bush- 

 els of wheat per acre. I repeat I know of nothing else that 

 pays so well as the improvement of the soil. If a man is merely 

 rotating his crops he produces 1.7 bushels. If he is only using 

 manure he gets 3.7 bushels, and when he puts on limestone and 

 phosphate with the manure, he gets 22.5 bushels of wheat. 



At Raleigh, Saline County, the wheat yield this year was 



11. 8 bushels on untreated land. It happens to have been only 



10.9 bushels w^here farm manure was used. It is not much 

 manure you make from this kind of crops, but with limestone 

 and manure we raised 27.5 bushels per acre of wheat. With 

 phosphate added we produced 28.6 bushels. Phosphate has not 

 yet been profitable on those lands. It is beginning to show an 

 effect, as a rule. 



In the other system of farming we use no manure, but use; 

 the method of turning under corn stalks, and straw, and all the 

 clover that we can make, excepting the seed. We also sow cow 

 peas and soy beans with the corn at the last cultivation, and 

 turn that back and try to maintain the fertility of the soil with- 

 out live stock. Not at all that we think it is a better system, but 

 three- fourths of the farmers of this state are not live stock farm- 

 ers. When you burn up stalks you lose about i^ tons of farm 

 manure with a ton of stalks — that is, as much value, though not 

 as readily available. The stalks turned under in the spring will 

 not produce much benefit that year, but they won't do any dam- 

 age in a normal season, though in a dry spring a big crop turned 

 down may cause the soil to dry out. 



In answer to the question, we have not had very good suc- 

 cess sowing vetch with the corn at the last cultivation, but I 

 think on soils that do not produce a very large yield of corn and 

 have only moderate productive power, and where you have a 

 fair amount of moisture in the soil at the time of seeding, the 

 vetch does very well, though a mixture of legume crops is prob- 

 ably better to sow in corn, provided you are far enough south 



