The sun., 1918-09-15

! large part to the humus which 1t sup
plies-humus which Is teeming with
bacteria. on this point Prof. ii. j.
Wheeler says in his book. "Manures
and Fertilizers:
Animal excrement can no longer
be looked upon as mere storehouse
of plant food but as a mass teeming
with the most abundant life.
Mixtures OF litter and OF solid and
liquid excrement are exceedingly rich
in living organisms"
Manure returns to the soil humus
which increases its ability to hold
water and living organisms which
make the soil active in rendering plant
food available. 1t also supplies con-
siderable amounts Of plant food
Science agrees with common sense
practice in urging the Importance or
making the very best use OF every
forkful of manure.
Stable manure" says A. r. Whit
son Of the, Wisconsin Agricultural Ex-
| tension Service. lis not well balanced
! as a plant food. 1t is relatively low
in phosphorus and on farmc on which
much stock has been kept for some
| time it will be found that the use OF
! commercial fertilizer in addition to
manure will produce marked benefit.
| 1t will cause the better filling of small
| grain and hasten the maturing Of corn
and grain"
Every livestock man knows that a
balanced feed is essential to the profit
able feeding Of animals. He knows, for
instance. that hogs will make much
| better gains on a combination OF prop
erly balanced feeds than on straight
corn. In Just the same way, his crops
will produce larger and better paying
yields II fed with a ration OF balanced
plant food. In short. a commercial
! fertilizer rich in phosphorus will sup
plement barnyard manure so as to
produce much heavier yields and big
ger profits.
! Poor worn out farms near Eastern
cities have been developed into Profit
able dairy farms through the use of
commercial fertilizers The land was
! broken up and planted the first year
| to potatoes, mIllet, soy beans. corn and
a combination of oats and peas. These
crops were all thoroughly fortified
with quickly available plant food. The
potatoes brought in some ready
money: the corn and fodder crops win
tered the livestock. The manure was
returned to the soil to furnish humus
for the next crop and was reinforced
with commercial fertilizer Year by
year the crops grew bigger and the
soil more fertile. The livestock carry
ing capacity OF the land was increased
many fold.
Before the great war our exports o!
meats were steadily declining. Nearly
all the meat that we could produce
was needed to feed the folks at home
But during the past two years we
have sent huge quantities Of meat tc
our Allies. Since the herds and fiocks
Of Europe have been all but ruined
our meat will he needed over there
for years to come. To supply this de-
mand and still feed our ever increas-
ing millions at home we must produce
more meat We must not only save
barnyard manure but We must also
reinforce 1t with commercial fertilizer
especially rich in phosphorus. and we
should not forget that manure is now
especially valuable because OF the
potash which It contains.
1t works out this way: Use more
commercial fertilizer to grow larger
and more profitable crops, which will
enable one TO keep or raise more stock
which will give more manure to us ir
growing more profitable and abundant
farm crops for market. II is a spira
that makes the farm worth more anC
leads to steadily increasing profits.