Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-12-06
THE ROCK ISLAND ARGUS, TUESDAY, DECEMBER s 1910

ready prepared in the soil became par
TALLY exhausted, and in hunger he
said to himself it is not good for man
to be alone He then sought a prin-
cess named clover, and thereafter al
be his queen. Where she prepared the
soil, King Corn was again as well fed
as ever.
The Queen n HOusekeeper.
Queen Glover found that the sup
ply of food in the soil had not been
completely exhausted curing King
CoTn's life as a bachelor, bat only that
the supply of some ready prepared
foodstuffs was much depleted and from
the remaining total supply of raw ma
terials she was able to prepare much
food fit for the kings use, and she
was also able to prepare the kings
bed in the soil as it had never before
been prepared for him"
Happy and prosperous years passed,
but finally King Corn began to COM
plain again that his bed was getting
hard and that the food furnished him
was not sufficient. Queen Glover re-
piled that she, too, was suffering from
hunger and that-her home in the soil
which had always been sweet and
clean was becoming sour
Queen Glover had done the best she
could with what she found in the soil,
and she had also secured for herself
one choice kind of food from the air
(nitrogen), and even prepared it for
the king so far as she could
Finally DIR. Science Was Called.
But the health of the more sensitive
queen began to fail, and some years
she was entirely helpless, and conse-
quently King Corn suffered greatly.
They consulted many doctors. Some
said the soil needed more drainage :;
others said the seed bed should be bet
ter prepared; aud still others advised
the use of better seed and of more
thorough cultivation. All OF these
remedies proved helpful. nut they af-
forded only temporary relief. At last
Queen Glover said to the king that
when she was a child doctor, whose
name was Science, had once visited
her family, ard that whatever he did
was exactly right because his knOwl-
edge was true and absolute
DR.. Science was applied to and af-
ter a thorough investigation reported
that ne understood the case and that
the remedy was simple and still with
in easy reach, but that they should
proceed at once to apply The treatment
tefore It became too late.
THE fundamental trouble" said he
to King Corn. lis with the soil in which
you live In order TO establish per
manent and helpful home for yourself
and Queen Glover. about One-half
ton per acre of pure steamed bone
meal, or foreground natural rock
phosphate and two tons per acre
of ground limestone should be ap-
oiled once every four or five years.
Then don't occupy the land too much
of the time yourself, but bring in
other crops and have a three or
fOur-year rotation. including small
grain, clover and catch-crops Of clio
YER in the small grain to be plowed
under the next spring and the regu-
lar crop Of clover to be moved once
or twice and left lying on the land,
the seed crop afterward being har-
vested with a buncher attached to
the mower.
the Principles of the Case.
In grain farming. only grain or
seed should be sold from the farm.
all clover straw and stalks being re-
turned to the ground in order to
maintain the supply of organic mat
ter and nitrogen, which are just as
important as limestone and phos-
all produce should be used for feed
and bedding and all manure careful
ly saved and returned to the land,
preferably within a day or two after
it is produced. in order to prevent
the waste of plant food"
Queen Glover said Il cant make
food out of nothing. and the king
can't live on just air and water: and
the soil is becoming so worn out and
hard that | cannot even make a
good bed for him, especially when
/ am half starved myself most of
the time"
And the king and queen agreed
to test the doctors prescription, even
if they didn't understand it. and
they secured the following results on
fields A, and c. which had yield
ed GO. GO and 66 bushels per acre
respectively as the average Of three
years. Applying the rotation of
oats, clover and cowpeas for three
years and then starting the corn
oats and clover rotation and grow
ing all three crops every year on
different parts of each field, the
three-year average of corn was 81
bushels per acre on field A, Go bush
els on B with Iimestone) and "a
bushels on c with limestone and
phosphorus) Continuing the same
treatment, the average corn yields
for the next six years were So BUSH