Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-02-03
WHAT RAINDR0pS
MEAN To FARMER
Crop Reports Indicate Difference
Few Showers Make in Human
ity's Scheme OF Things.
BIG PART PLAYED BY NATURE
Takes About 2.eeo Tons OF Water 10 the
Acre 10 Grow \ Food crop--Process
OF Evaporation Yields Chemicals
Valuable as Fertilizer.

Washington, ID. Grain might be
looked upon as the oil which iuhricates
the worlds economic machinery" says
bulletin issued from the Washing
ton. ID. G, headquarters or the Ma
tional Geographic society IN connee-
ton with recent reports OF worldwide
drought damage 10 crops.
with the smallest estimated cotton
crop since 1898" continues the bulle.
tin. with spring wheat In poor con-
dition mt home as well as IN many OF
the other wheat countries OF the world.
with other important crops below their
average, and With drought cast as the
villain. or ut least rs an accomplish,
In each case, the difference that few
showers make In humanlty's scheme
OF things Is strongly emphasized.
Depends on Rainfall.
"While everybody realizes In gen
eral way that the world depends on
rainfall and fertility for food, there
are very few, perhaps, who even ap.
proximately appreciate how compara-
lively little the farmer actually does
In the great process of crop-growing.
To pillow millions Of acres furrow by
furrow, to spend millions of dollars
ON fertilizers. and TO reap and gather
and thresh, Is no mean task. And yet
compared with the part that nature
plays In the process. mans work
seems a very slight labor. For In.
stance. II takes about 20 Inches OF
rainfall 10 grow food crop under our
general farming methods, which means
about 2,260 tons of water TO the acre.
That seems preposterous figure, bu,
the doubter can easily demonstrate
Its correctness. SUPPOSE the Amerl-
can farmer had to haul the water his
ground must have TO give him a good
crop. and that the distance and freight
rate were the same as the average
railroad haul and rate In the United
States. On that basis II would cost
him more than $4,000 an acre to wa
ter his place.
But not only would his water bill
be nearly half million dollars on n
100-acre farm, but his fertilizer bin.
also would amount TO a neat little
sum. II is estimated that In the proc.
ess of normal evaporation. soil wa
ter presents the rootlets OF its neigh
borhood with about fourteen pounds
Of ammonia year TO the acre. Al
so, II gives them some 81 pounds OF
potash. With sulphate OF ammonia
costing only 2 cents pound ut cost
51a during the war; and hundred
pounds of the sulphate required to
contribute II pounds of ammonia, II
will be seen that the process of eyap.
Grafton gives the rootlets S165 worth
Of ammonia to the acre.
Automatic Fertilization.
"When the World war cut OF Ger.
man supplies of potash and II scared
to $500 ton, biologists secured the
United States for the priceless fertil-
izer with little success. Yet the proc
ess OF evaporation generously hands
out more than half hundredweight
TO the acre, In war and peace. This
automatic fertilization is worth an
additional $3.50 an acre to the farmer
at present prices. and would have cost
him $40 an acre at war prices.
From this II will be seen that the
$12 to S25 an acre that II costs the
average farmer to grow wheat is a
small figure indeed, compared to what
he saves by having nature as his wa
ter wagon and fertilizer source"