THIRTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 29 



timothy have no power to use this atmospheric nitrogen. It 

 requires a crop like clover, soy beans or cow peas which have 

 the power, by means of bacteria that live in nodules or tubercles 

 on their roots to take the nitrogen of the air and change it to 

 such form that the crop can use it in its growth. It is for this 

 reason that we may call clover a fertilizing crop. The dairy- 

 man who buys feeds rich in protein, such as bran, oil meal, etc., 

 can hope to add three-fourths of the nitrogen in these feeds 

 to the soil, providing the stock is well bedded and the manure 

 all saved without loss. On the average dairy farm this is not 

 done, but considerable loss is experienced in leaching and from 

 other sources. Such feeds are high priced, and in the main, the 

 dairyman will depend on keeping up his nitrogen by growing 

 clover, cow peas, soy beans and alfalfa. 



These crops serve a two-fold purpose, first, supplying the 

 much-needed protein; and, second, adding the nitrogen to the 

 soil. Very few dairymen will need to buy any high priced 

 protein feeds if they will study the soil and provide its needs. 

 Where clover is failing, we must add limestone where an acid 

 soil is the cause, and rock phosphate where phosphorus is limit- 

 ing the crop yields. Cow peas furnish probably the best legume 

 for Southern Illinois and extreme sandy soils. 



Throughout our dairy districts soy beans have a place not 

 yet dreamed of, if we may judge from the past few years. 

 They furnish a good hay, while if cut for seed they furnish 

 a feed equivalent in protein to oil meal and cotton seed meal. 

 Alfalfa is the best feed for the dairyman and wherever this 

 crop can be grown surely enough alfalfa hay should be pro- 

 duced for the needs of the farm. The great value of these 

 crops, however, is to add nitrogen to the soil. 



Probably no class of farmers can better afford to grow 

 legume crops than the dairyman. You have in your cows a ma- 

 chine to turn this raw material into a highly finished product. 

 The manure resulting from such feeds will enable you to grow 

 large crops of corn and other grains, if reinforced with such 

 minerals as may be lacking in the soil. 



Phosphorus is the one mineral element that deserves gen- 



