Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-03-30
mo ABANDONED
10 Wa FAR MS
PROF. STEVENSON ON IOWA CORN
SPECIAL TALKS AT
CORNING.

Corning, March 2S.-Before an audi
'ence that taxed the capacity of thu
Adams county court house here las
evening agricultural experts from thu
state agricultural college expoundet
the laws of good farming, featuring the
imperative necessity of testing SEED
corn this spring. This meeting round
ed out the second day of the Burling
tons Seed Corn and Soil Special ftin
erary Of two weeks. During the day
meetings were held in seven towns
and fully three thousand people were
addressed on the subject now so vita
to Iowa's prosperity this fall.
The first meeting of the day was al
Cumberland at 8 o'clock. Despite the
early hour there was large crowd OF
farmers who had driven over muddy
roads to hear the lesson to be offered
them. At Massena and Fontenelle
both audinece coaches on the special
were filled to the platform. While the
roads are muddy farmers, unable to
work in the fields are willing to brave
the inconvenience of the roads to reap
the benefits offered by this train with
it's experts.
At Greenfield the meeting was held
in the court house which was packed.
Judge Hauser who is holding court
here, adjourned the session pending
the lecture hour. Orient furnished two
carloads Of interested farmers, Pres
colt gave a big attendance and then
Corning was reached for this evening
meeting,
Professor w. H. Stevenson of the
state agricultural college Of Ames
joined the special train today and de-
livered his first lecture here tonight.
After covering the seed corn testing
subject he gave an interesting discus
sion on the soil problem that is one of
permanent interest to every farmer
Briefly summed up Professor Steven
son said in part:
+ I'VE do not have abandoned farms
in this state, neither do We have crop
failures" said Prof. w. H. Stevenson,
professor of Agronomy at the state
agricultural college at Ames. "Our
farmers should, however, in this year
1912 begin to put into practice better
methods Of soil management If this
is not done there is no power in the
world which can keep the soils Of Iowa
from becoming less fertile with each
passing year, until finally they will
not be prof1tably productive.
There are four essential things to
consider in our work Of making Iowa
soils absolutely rich and productive
for all of the years to come. These
are: -,
drainage.
2-Organic matter.
3-Nitrogen.
4-Mineral plant food.
Already vast areas Of our richest
soils have been reclaimed by drainage,
Ind the work is being pushed vigorous |
prairie soils of southern Iowa. These |
'ofls are greatly improved by thing |
md the owners Of these lands should
study this problem.
"The great, dominant need OF the |
soils Of the state is for |
matter and nitrogen: but our
armers are not doing the things they |
'ught to do to supply these constituent |
o the soil.
"The most common Iowa rotation is |
'orn and oats. The inevitable result |
Il growing these crops in rotation is
he exhaustion of the supply of organ
c matter and nitrogen to such an ex-
ent that the soil no longer produces |
arge crops. The richest corn belt soil |
# Illinois has been brought by this
citation within thirty years, to an
verage yield of less than forty bushels
40) of corn to the acre, in spite Of the
act that the best seed has been used
nd the hest methods If cultivation
ave been practiced.
Iowa needs and must have a sys-
EN- of crop rotations which will keep
p the organic matter and nitrogen
ontents of all her soils. There is no
Their way to save the soil. Instead Of I
orn and oats let us grow:
Corn, oats and clover. Or, corn,
7heat and clover, or corn, corn, oats
nd clover or any good rotation in
'hich a legume crop like clover has
I'LL possession of the land for at least
ne year in the rotation period"