46 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



Southern Illinois is not alone in the need of soil improve- 

 ment. The corn belt soil must also be improved or it too will go 

 down and produce less. 



In 1 9 14, wheat on the south farm at the University of 

 Illinois brought 18.4 bushels per acre with crop residues turned 

 under; with manure, 18.7 bushels; with residues and phosphor- 

 us (raw rock phosphate) instead of 18.4 bushels, we got 32.-2, 

 and iwth limestone, residues and phosphorus, 38.1 bushels. 

 I told you the manure made 18.7 bushels; manure and phos- 

 phate made 39.5, and manure, phosphate and limestone made 

 47.6 bushels. 



In 1915, on a different field, residues produced 26.6 bushels 

 of wheat per acre; residues and phosphorus, 45.7 bushels, ma- 

 nure, 31.8 bushels; manure and phosphorus, 49.8 bushels. This 

 is the thirteenth year of this experiment. 



O. How much manure do you apply? 



A. We apply all we can make out of the crops. The actual 

 amount that we return is just as many tons of manure per acre 

 as the tons of produce hauled off from four acres. We weigh 

 the corn and corn stalks and add to that the weight of the oats 

 and the oats straw and the weight of the clover or cowpeas, and 

 of wheat and wheat straw, and whatever number of tons that 

 is for 191 5 for four acres, that weight of manure will go on 

 an acre for corn in 191 6. 



W^e find in feeding experiments that any farmer who is 

 reasonably careful in his feeding and in handling of manure, 

 can produce as many tons of fresh farm manure as he hauls 

 off tons of air-dry produce. I don't mean he can feed live 

 stock and get everything back on the land. When air-dry pro- 

 duce is hauled off the field, about 25 per cent of it is water, and 

 75 per cent dry matter. The fresh manure as you haul it back 

 on to the field contains only 25 per cent dry matter and 75 per 

 cent water — animals take out a very considerable amount of it, 

 they destroy about two-thirds of the organic matter of what 

 they eat. If you weigh out a ton of dry feed and collect and 

 dry all the excrements from that feed, how much do you sup- 

 pose you would get? About 700 pounds, or one-third of the 

 total weight of food consumed; but you get back about three- 



