The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1913-11-21
BREAD FROM STONES
BY CYRIL q. HOPKINS,
Chief IN Asronomy and Chemistry, ~"
Of illinois.

In November, 1903, 1 purchased a
farm In southern Illinois at a cost OF
less than $40 per acre. 1t comprised
about 300 acres Of poor gray prairie
land ,(the commonest type Of soil in
about twenty counties in that part
of the state) and a few acres of timber
land.
It was christened "Poorland Farm"
by others who knew of its %impoverish.
ed condition, and I finally adopted this
as the farm name.
In 1913 a 4O-acre field of this farm
produced 1920 bushels of wheat; and
because of numerous requests for in
formation regarding this treatment
that has been given the land, this cir.
cular is issued.
This particular forty acres was
bought at SIS an acre. 1t had been ag.
riculturally abandoned for five years
prior to 1904, and was covered with
a scant growth of red sorrel, poverty
grass, and weeds.
During the ten years this field has
been cropped with a six-year rotation
including n year each of corn, oats
Tor cOwpeas), and wheat, and three
years of meadow and pasture with
clover and timothy.
A fairly good stand of volunteer clio.
yer appeared with the oats in 1911,
and this was allowed to produce a crop
of clover hay in 1912, wheat being
seeded in the fall of that year for the
1913 crop mentioned above.
During the ten years about four tons
per acre OF ground limestone and two
tons per acre OF foreground raw rock
phosphate have been applied to 81
acres of this field. Two applications
have been made of each material; the
phosphate was plowed down for the
corn crops of 1904 and 1910, and the
limestone was applied in the fall and
winter of 1904-5 and after the ground
was plowed for wheat in the fall Of
1912.
The entire 40-acre field was covered
with n uniform application Of six
loads per acre of farm manure with a
OU-DuSnel SpreaQer.
A six-rod strip entirely across the
field $50 rods) received the same ap-
plication Of manure and the same ro-
tation of crops as the remaining 81
acres, but no phosphate was applied
to this strip, and no limestone was
applied to it until the fall of 1912,
when the regular application (about
two tons per acre) was applied to one
half (three rods) of the six-rod strip.
Only 80 acres of this field were
seeded to wheat in the fall of 1912,
a lane having been fenced off on one
side; and the 1920 bushels were pro-
duced on the 80 acres
The actual yields were as follows:
One and ons-half acres with farm
manure alone produced liz bushels
per acre.
One and one-half acres with farm
manure and one application of ground
limestone produced Is bushels per
acres.
Thirty-six acres with farm manure
and two applications of ground lime
stone and two of foreground phosphate
produced 351a bushels per acre.
The cost of two tons of limestone
delivered at any railroad station is
1925, and raw rock phosphate has av-
eraged about $6.75 per ton, making 50
per acre the cost for each six years.
To this must be added the expense
of hauling these materials two miles
from the station and spreading them
on the land, which I estimate at 50
cents per ton. This makes the average
annual cost $1.75 per acre for the lime
stone and phosphate spread on the
field, and this average annual invest
ment resulted in the increase of "a
bushels of wheat per acre in 1913.
Thus we may say that the previous
applications Of these two natural
stones brought about the production in
1913 Of S64 bushels of wheat, sufficient
to furnish a years supply of bread
for more than a hundred people. No
high-priced or artificial commercial
fertilizers are used on this farm.
AS a rule the check strips across
each of the six 4O-acre fields in the ro-
t0llOA dIC AOt udI VcSJCu separately
from the rest of the fields. The lime
stone and phosphate have puroduced
even more marked difference in clo-
yer than in wheat; and where the first
application of limestone was made
to the three-rod check strip, as we'll
as to the 81 acres receiving rock
phosphate, the superiority of the
phosphate and limestone together over
the limestone alone has been exceed
ingly marked and both clover and
wheat; and of course, the wheat and
other grain crops are benefited not
only by the limestone and phosphate
but also by the previous increased
growth Of clover on the ~well-treated
land, especially where this is pas
tured or plowed under.
portland Farm is in no sense an ex-
pertinent station, and neither is it a
"show' farm. It is operated solely
from the economic standpoint, and
with the full understanding from the
beginning that general farming is not
a highly profitable business, and that
~ 10 hioh1v nunrnfto h1o IN rnnr land