30 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



eral and serious consideration. This element is already seriously 

 limiting crop yields. Phosphorus is one of the elements that 

 goes to make protoplasm. Protoplasm is the substance con- 

 tained in every living growing cell, whether animal or plant. 

 When you sell milk you sell phosphorus. Phosphorus is con- 

 tained in the flesh and bones of your stock and when this stock 

 leaves the farm, the phosphorus in their bodies also leaves the 

 farm. In other words, whenever we sell phosphorus we are 

 selling just that much of the farm. Three-fourths of the phos- 

 phorus in the feed is recovered in the manure. One-fourth, as 

 an average, is retained by the stock. By thoroughly caring for 

 the manure, it is possible to return to the land the phosphorus 

 it contains, but there is not enough phosphorus in the soil to grow 

 large crops. To increase the phosphate content of the soil econo- 

 mically, add at least 1,000 pounds of rock phosphate per acre once 

 every four or five years. This should be added in connection 

 with vegetable material. In dairy farming, you will add the 

 rock phosphate to the land at the time manure is applied, or 

 with a machine to the same field to which manure is applied. 



A good way to apply rock phosphate is to fill a manure 

 spreader half full of manure, if applying ten loads of manure 

 per acre, and it is desired to apply 1,000 pounds of rock phos- 

 phate per acre, scatter ioo pounds of phosphate evenly over the 

 manure. Fill up the load and spread. When ten loads have been 

 added, 1,000 pounds of rock phosphate will have been applied. 

 These amounts can be varied as desired. 



Potassium is the limiting element on most peat soils. Here 

 potassium chloride should be added. This can be done by means 

 of an endgate seeder, such as is used in seed oats. Two hundred 

 pounds of potassium chloride contains as much pottasium as a 

 ioo bushel crop of corn removes. This should be applied in 

 the Spring after plowing, and worked into the soil by subse- 

 quent cultivation in preparing the seed bed. Here farm man- 

 agement can come into good play. Cut the corn from the peat 

 soil for the silo or fodder. The manure made from this feed 

 should be returned to the high land of the farm. The peat 



