The log cabin Democrat., 1916-03-04
By CARL VROOMAN, Assistant Secre-
 tary of Agriculture)

By CARL VROOMAN, Assistant Secre-
 tary of Agriculture
 The best and shortest cut to profit able yields on rundown farm in the corn belt generally is to be found through legumes and live stock, says Farmers Bulletin 704 of the United States department of agriculture. This bulletin is the work of Carl Vrooman, the assistant secretary of the depart ment. Its purpose is to suggest to the corn-belt farmer of the middle West some ways of applying scientific agri- culture to the practical business of farming. It is intended especially for the farmer whose soil has been run down by continuous grain farming. The early portion of the bulletin, there fore, contains number of fundamen- tai rules for handling the soil These are in part as follows:
 CD Put humus into the soil.-That Is the first move toward building up a rundown farm. Humus is the stuff with which nature fertilizes unculti- vated soils-the routed remains of dead leaves and grass, of weed stalks, fallen logs. plant roots and the like. Without humus the soil would be merely mineral matter. just rock more or less finely ground and decomposed Organic matter increases the water holding capacity of the soil, and as it rots down to form humus it furnishes organic plant food for bacteria and NY phoy ;,, creases the available supply of min- eral plant food that comes from the fine rock particles in the soil
 To get humus, blow under all the waste vegetable matter you can obtain all stable manure, straw cornstalks, stubble, leaves, weeds and green ma nure crops. such as clover. Anything vegetable that will rot in the ground makes humus when it has decayed. Legumes should be used for green ma nure crops when possible, because they add more nitrogenous plant food to the soil, whereas other green ma nure crops merely make the plant food on hand more available. Never burn straw or cornstalks unless absolutely necessary-it's like burning money. Spread your straw upon the field next to be plowed, or, better still, use it first for feed or bedding or as a mulch for some crop like potatoes, and blow the refuse of the crop.
 CD Establish a sound and regular rotation of crops.-It is difficult to make a general rule as to crop rota- tions, because rotations vary with local conditions, but there are some rules in this regard that hold any where. A two-year rotation. such as corn and oats, is entirely inadequate. Every rotation should include at least one legume crop. The rotation should be planned with the aid of your county agent or your state agricultural col lege to fit the individual farm and local conditions.
 (3) Select your crops to suit your soil.-Some farms have grown crops that have depleted the humus and di- unfinished the productivity of the soil until it is no longer possible to grow profitable crops of corn, oats and tim othy Yet such soil will often produce good crops of some annual legume, such as soy beans or cowpeas. Where nature grows sweet clover you can grow sweet clover, too, and after you have plowed under a crop of that rank growth you have a good start on the road to fertility. Remember, there's legume crop for almost every soil. and that no rotation is complete without legume. Try to find the le- ditions, and then make it the basis of your rotation.
 (4 Use drain tile freely-Artifcia drainage is factor of greatest impor- tance in soil improvement; often the factor of greatest importance. In en. ables us to grow potatoes or onions where nature can grow only cattails, because it insures the even distribu- tion of both the water and the air that our cultivated crops demand Where the land lacks natural drainage, every thing else depends on how thoroughly the soil is ditched or tiled.
 (5) Suit your blowing to your soil- As a rule, the harder the soil is to break the deeper and the more thor. oughly it must be broken up to let air in to do its work.
 (6) Manure as regularly as you har. rest.-Stable manure is the best form