Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1915-04-22

busy one for Sam. And II was
4 not less so for Florence ana
Mrs, Powell. Florence often helped
her brother when the work crowded,
and Mrs. Powell put In all her spare
time In the garden. melon patch and
orchard.
On the contest acre Sam was forced
to do all the work himself. The rules
were strict on this point, and after
Sans patch hsd been laid of and
measured by committee he himself
planted the corn and no one else struck
q lick In its cultivation.
Sans first planting was the Irish
potatoes. He bedded up an acre.
dragged down the beds almost fat and
planted them early in March. Next
came the contest acre. and when that
was finished he planted four more
acres In corn, making Eve in all, then
turned to the cotton.
Next came the cane. and Sam sowed
this broadcast and very thick, for be
wanted to make hay Of it. II the
stalks grow large and stir 1t doesn't
make good hay.
The young farmer wound up the first
round of planting by sowing the or
chard in rye. His idea was to let no
bit of ground lie idle, but to keep some
thing growing on 1t instead Of weeds.
The weed problem was pretty hard
one for Sam. SO many had gone to seed
on the place. But he determined that
not one should make seed this year.
So he was the busiest farmer In the
whole community. He plowed and
hoed constantly. but it was mostly
blowing, for Sam soon learned that
hoeing is q mighty slow way to Kill
weeds and grass compared with plow-
ing.
People passing along by the Powell
place marveled at the clean, well cul-
tivated little farm. But Sam consid-
cred other needs Of the crops besides
cultivation.
The soil of the place was not nearly
so poor as the neighbors had said 1t
was-not even so poor as Sam had
thought. The trouble was that the
surface of the ground had merely been
scratched, and he had remedied this by
thorough cultivation Still the crops
lacked something, and he found that
each acre had certain qualities. AS ne
studied the farm he began to see that
each bit Of land was strong In certain
ways and weak In others.
There was no time to have soil analy-
hsNA ha hnHRn
study closely the wild vegetation and
trees growing about and to read the
bulletins and the book he had bought
on "How Crops Grow" 1t wasn't an
easy subject by any means. Sam read
and reread the book and finally went
over 1t slowly and studied It page BY
page. Pretty soon he knew nearly az
much about the soil he was cultivating
as any expert could have told him.
Here ia what he learned about soil fer
tility:
Acid In soil that causes crops to nre
ana die is indicated by sorrel growing
on the land. Acid can easily be detect
ed also by getting slip Of blue litmua
paper for a nickel at the drug store
and pressing It in a bah of the soil
II IL turns red there 10 acid, An appA
cation Of lime cures this. I'M tI
Crops and plants Of all kinds are FED
by several elements of the soil. bu'
there are three more important thar
the rest--nitrogen, potash and phos'
phoric acid.
Nitrogen forms the leaves Of plants
that part of the plant body which
breathes.
Potash makes the trunk, stalk and
tuber of plant or tree.
Phosphoric acid reproduces- the
blooms and makes abundant seed and
fruit.
Sam learned these things from read
ing. But, when be knew them, all b
had to do was to look about the farm
and learn more things by observation.
Where trees grew or had grown vel
ne knew that potash was plentiful. II
leaves were rank. nitrogen was abun
dant. If flowers formed and fell Oh
the plants before they should he knew
the soil needed phosphoric acid.
Finally the young farmer formed
what be had learned into nine rules
and wrote them down in the back Of
one Of his books, as follows:
II. Nitrogen Tor ammonial eneour
ages strong leaf, vine and bush growth