Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1920-06-18

with corn and wheat. which has
largely been shipped away from the
land that produced 1t and which
carried with 1t approximately is
pounds Of the primary supply OF
phosphorus with each ton Of wheat,
and each full grown steer produced
on and shipped away from that land
carries with him 40 pounds OF phos-
phorus in his flesh and bones, very
little OF which is ever returned back
to the same soil area.
It is inevitable that this continual
draft on the bank or capital of such
lands primary basis OF success will
ultimately destroy it's value as a
source of revenue, The remedy for
this retrograding effect on soil fer
tility in ordinary food crops, for
which the central western states are
noted, is q renewal and maintenance
OF their primary phosphorus supply
in the soil in available form.
1t has been demonstrated on an
GAeAb0A &NC 0NuAC NnG 1A1AG vi At&A~
nois that the cheapest means avail
able to the farmer for renewing this
desirable element in his soils and re-
viving it's primary fertility Is intellf-
gent crop rotation with very finely
pulverized raw rock phosphate APP
piled with crop of clover or other
legume plowed under, in which the
raw phoshate mineral Is made avail
able for plant growth by the action
of the desirable live organic acids
and humus thus put into the soil,
which also provides it's necessary nj
trogen and at a cost I'm normal times
of 81 or SO per acre a year. the
necessary soil balance can thus be re-
newed and maintained that will give
crop yields, when intelligently handl-
ed and applied, equal to the best
period of the soils history and pro-
duee profit over the necessary
cost OF this simple additional treat
ment, amounting to several hundred
per cent year, for the same labor
in preparation and the same seed, to-
gether with the Joy creating extra
labor OF taking care OF the increased
crop production resulting.
The Illinois methods OF using this
key mineral to soil fertility is we'll
worthy Of serious study by all mid
die western farmers as they have
produced results in that state on
rundown soil conditions, embracing
both the gray silt loan of the south
ern part OF that state and the black
corn belt soil of the central and nor
thern part and will doubtless do the
same in other similar prairie areas
in the vast agricultural territory
west and north OF Illinois, q terri
tory that is almost as conveniently
situated geographically to this great
western phosphate resource as are the
Tennessee deposits to Illinois.
am convinced that the present
farm demand for this western phos-
plate mineral will prove a permanent
stepping stone to its more extensive
use and application in the middle
western field with the resulting Gre.
alton of desirable increased yields
and high class freight traffic fol
which reason the modification OF the
present excessive freight rates are
worthy of the most substantial con
sideration by the interested trans
portation companies, particularly b,
the Union Pacific Railway, Whose
trunk line taps the heart and centel
Of this western empire Of essentia
agricultural minerals whose billion
of tons OF high grade rock phos
phate. potassium silicate rock. an,
nitrogen bearing oil shales and thei
by-products, most ultimately de
mand four-track main line by tina
system TO handle this UNIVERSAL
necessary mineral traffic that its O.
eeptionally favored territory is car
liable of producing