The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1916-05-04
PAYING RENT TO MOTHER
NATURE
Something Of Interest to Every Farmer
in this Community

The common, well understood rule
that we cannot draw more money out
of bank than we have deposited In
it should be applied to the farm. The
soil is the real bank of the farmer from
which he draws his money, and as rap
idly as he draws from this bank in it's
strength for crop food, he should pay
back in the accepted legal tender, 1. e.,
soil fertilizers.
It takes two factors to make q great
country-fertile soil and a class of
people who will Eaep it so. Nature
has placed a certain amount of fertil-
ity in the soil. She has founded the
banking institution, and upon the
patrons depends the question of how
long the bank will last.
In the early days when land was
cheap and plentiful, no one thought of
building up the soil. The deserted
and unfert1le farms of the eastern
states is a striking example of this
policy. Then it was cheaper to move
than to pay rent to Mother Nature.
But this condition has changed.
There is no cheap land, and there is no
new land to be settled, and the ques-
ton of building up the soil is more
important and demands more atten-
tion every day. Farming, nowadays, is
business in which present profits can
no longer be the main issue, but rather
q business which considers what will
be the source of all future profits.
In improving crop yields the soil
serves two important purposes. First,
it furnishes a home for the plant where
its roots can spread and go down into
the earth. Second, this soil must fur
niSh proper foods for the plant to use
for its growth and development. So
no matter how good the home for the
plant may be in texture of soil, unless
there Is fertility there will be no good
crops.
Important as this fact is, and vital
as it is to raising good crops, few of us
realize how very little fertility in pro-
portion to the whole bulk Of the soil
there really is. Three main elements
are essential - nitrogen, potash, and
phosphorus. In ton of ordinary
black clay foam there is only 81 pounds
of nitrogen, 81 pounds of phosphorus,
and go pounds of potash, ard when
these elements have been absorbed by
growing crops until completely ex-
hausted, they are gone forever. The
soil will not produce, and the farmers
bank will close it's doors until the
farmer begins to return, by fertilizing
his land, what his crops have taken.
The best and cheapest general pur-
pose fertilizer, and the one that con-
tains the three above mentioned ele-
ments, is barnyard manure. It is
found that in half ton of fresh barn
yard manure there exists pounds of
nitrogen 80 pounds Of phosphoric
acid, and much larger quantity of
potash. AT the average market price,
therefore, it the farmer were to buy
this fertilizer with nitfates costing Is
cents pound, and both phosphorus
and potash at scents a pound, he would
be paying about 1925 for the same
amount found in a ton of manure.
This means that every ton produced
on farm is worth $2.25 for It's value
as fertilizer.
Such manure is at its best when
fresh. The action of the air and
water destroys the very things OF
greatest value. Manure cannot stand
dryness because the nitrogen evapo-
rates, and it cannot stand rain because
the water breaks it down and dis
solves out the parts that will do the
soil most good. Therefore, the one
certain way of handling manure to a
profit Is to get it upon the fields while
fresh.
To that end it must be spread finely
and evenly so that every square foot
of ground may receive the same bene-
fits. AS stated by the University Of
Wisconsin Bulletin No. 221, To
make itself worth while, manure must
come in contact with the roots of the
growing plants. To do this it must
be thoroughly pulverized and evenly
spread"
There is one machine that does this
perfectly, and that is the manure
spreader. 1t is by the use of this ma
chine that the soil can be paid back