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SELLING SOIL FERTILITY.
Save the Straw.
lst Premium.—The subject of soil fertility and how it may be maintained, is a
vital problem today. The fact that many
New England farms have been abandoned, while in England, after 2000 years of
continuous cropping, the soil produces a
greater average yield of wheat than we
raise, indicates that the problem has not
yet been solved in some parts of this country.
It is self evident that properties cannot
be withdrawn from the soil which it does
cot possess; and that no matter how fertile a soil may be to begin with, if it is
continually drained and nothing added to
it, it will in time become depleted. A lake
with an outlet but no inlet will in time
run dry. In the past the chief aim was to
get as much out of the soil as possible
without making any return. Many people
predicted that our rich soil would never
wear out, or, if it did, they could simply
move to a more virgin soil and begin
anew. But in more recent years it has
been realized that new methods must be
instituted or many of our farms would
become worthiest.), and today as we drive
along the country roads we can. pick out
the farms where this problem has been
grappled with and is being solved.
At first our soil was rich, and yielded
crops where conditions were at all favorable, but after the producing properties
are once withdrawn it can only return to
us what is first supplied to it. To maintain its productiveness, the soil must contain a certain amount of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash. It has been estimated that the value of these properties
in a ton of wheat amounts to $7.91, or
that it would cost this amount to return
them in the form of commercial fertilizers.
Since 200 bushels of wheat weighs six
tons, the value of these properties in this
amount would be $47.46. In a ton of
straw these properties are found to the
value of $2.18, and, estimating the
amount of straw on ten acres at eight
tons, the nitrogen, phosphoric acid and
potash in this amount would be worth
$17.44. Altogether these properties withdrawn from the soil in raising 200 bushels
of wheat on ten acres would be valued at
$64.90. Tbis estimate would not hold
good, however, in all cases, as there is
a difference in the commercial and the producing value of these constituents. Still
it tends to show the drain that one crop
makes on the soil, and emphasizes the
need of taking measures to restore these
properties to the soil to prevent its depletion.
By most farmers the straw would be
considered more valuable tban the estimate given, as when properly handled it
would be worth more after being used for
liedding than before, since it would absorb
a large quantity of liquid manure which
would make it rich in nitrogen. And the
straw not only adds to the soil the constituents which it contains, but loosens it
up, lets in the air and moisture and adds
to its texture. The farmer who sells his
straw off the place is starting on the road
the goal of which is failure. R. J-
An Important Topic.
2d Premium.—This   question of   selling
our soil fertility by selling our, wheat and
not making proper use of the  straw  by
Retting it back to the soil a^ plant foqd(
is certainly  a  very  appropriate  question
for discussion on the Experience page of
the Indiana Farmer, and it should receive
due consideration from its many readers.
Many of us do not stop to think how we
are robbing our soil by selling the wheat
and allowing the straw to go to waste.
I'he soil gets nothing in return.
Now there is a vast difference in the
natural fertility of soils! Some do-noT
produce well from the start, unless special attentiou is given to making them produce. Others produce well for a few
crops and then rapidly diminish in fertility.        Others,      known    as    "strong"
DISEASE AND DEATH  IN JULY.
The State Board of Health Bulletin for
July says: Diarrhoea was reported as
the most prevalent disease followed by
cholera morbus, dysentery, and cholera infantum. It was predicted in the bulletin
of the preceding month that diarrhoeal
diseases would lead the list in July. As
soon as the people learn to take proper
sanitary care of all foods including water,
they will be much freer from diarrhoeal
diseases. The order of disease prevalence
in July was as follows: Diarrhoea,
cholera morbus, dysentery, cholera infnn-
A Grant County Farm Residence; Chas. Gibson, Owner.
soils, remain productive for many years
without much attention to their fertility,
but even the strongest soil will wear in
time unless it is intelligently managed.
Thenin order to grow 20 bus. p?r acre on
good 83il, or 1200 pounds of wheat, it
requires 25 pounds of nitrogen, 12^
pounds phosphoric acid, 7 pounds potash,
1 pound lime; and to grow the straw for
20 bushels of wheat, or 2,000 pounds, will
require 10 pounds nitrogen 7% pounds
phosphoric acid, 28 pounds potash and 7
pounds lime. By these figures it is plain
to see there is quite a drain upon the plant
food in the soil to grow a crop of wheat of
20 bushels per acre. However, wheat is
easier on land than either corn, oats or
barley. Nitrogen in many respects is
the most important elemeat of plant food.
This soil nitrogen is usually the first to
become exhausted, and unless soon made
use of by growing plants is washed out
of the soil and is lost. The cost of replacing the soil fertility depends upon
whether we buy it or produce it. There
is no fertilizer made that is better or as
good as that which is produced upon the
farm. Then for the land we have depleted
by selling our wheat we should make good
use of the straw and keep plenty of stock
to produce plant food. Reader.
of
No. 652, Sept.—Explain the process
budding  and   grafting   fruit  trees.
No. 65.3, Sept. 12.—Tell how to make
cider vinegar and fruit butters.
Twenty million feathers are sent from
4"Je_rifs*ny to England every year for millinery purposes.
turn, tonsilitis, rheumatism, typhoid fever
(enteric) bronchitis, intermittent and remittent fever, inflammation of bowels,
whooping cough, scarlet fever, diphtheria
and membranous croup, measles smallpox, typho-malaria fever, pleuratis.
pneumonia cerebro-spinal meningitis, influenza, erysipelas, puerperal fever and
ehickenpox.
Smallpox: 65 cases in thirteen counties
with no deaths. In the corresponding
month last year, 74 cases in 21 counties
with no deaths. The disease existed unusually in Clark County, 10 cases; Marion
28: and St. Joseph, 11.
Tuberculosis: This disease wrought its
usual havoc casiog 339 deaths, 134 males
and 205 females. Of the males, 26 were
married in the age period of 18 to 40 and
left 52 orphans under 12 years of age. Of
the females, 79 were married in the same
age period and left 140 orphans under 12
years of age. This awful disease, therefore, put 96 young fathers and njothers in
the grave and made 192 orphans. The
monster, consumption, can be controlled
when the health authorities are permitted
tc fight it.
Pneumonia: Caused 60 death, 35
males and 25 females. 12 infants under
one year of age died from pneumonia and
one person over 90 years of age. In the
corresponding month last year pneumonia
caused 84 deaths.
Typhoid Fever: 207 cases reported in
53 counties with 58 deaths. In the corresponding month last year, 312 cases in G4
counties with 53 deaths. The amount of
typhoid fever a community has is a mea
sure of its intelligence aad cleanliness.
Violence: Violence caused 207 deaths,
159 males and 48 females. Of the number, 10 were murders, 7 males and 3 females. 26 were suicides, 23 males and 3
females. 171 were accidents, 129 males
and 42 females. Of the murders, 7 were
by gunshots, 2 by cutting and one by
drowning. Of the suicides, 12 were by
gunshots, 2 by hanging, 3 by drowning, 6
by carbolic acid, 2 by strychnia, and 2 by
railroad trains. Of these accideatal deaths
deaths by violence, 45 were by steam
railroads, 2 by trolley lines, 5 by gunshots,
11 by burns and scalds, 28 by drowning 7
by lightning, 12 by horses and vehicles, 9
by sun stroke, 17 by falls, 6 by asphyxiation and suffocation, 2 by carbolic acid and
the remainder by various means.
Effect of Moisture  on Wheat.
The wheat breeders of the Department
of Agriculture are making an interesting
study of nutritive content of wheat under
varying cultural conditons. Results already attained indicate the tremendous
changes which can be made in grain by
employing different methods of cultivation. The most striking experiment was
in growing durum or macaroni wheat under conditions of plentiful irrigation in
comparison with "dry land" farmiug meth
ods. Durum wheat is essentially a dryland wheat, succeeding best on a very
limited rainfall. If grown in the heavier
rainfall belt it gradually loses its flinty,
macaroni-making qualities. In this test
tne wheat berries produced under "dry"
cultivation were typical of such wheat-
hard, flinty, transucent, very heary and
contained overj.8 per cent of protein. The
same weed grown oaan adjacent field, bnt
heavily irrigated, proiraced a soft, dull-
looking grain containing only 12 per cent
oi protein.
Heretofore increased yield has been the
main desideratum of the farmer or wheat
growers, quality is now comin? to be reeog
nized as au almost equally important factor. The countries which are our greatest wheat buyers generally purchase
wheat on the basis of protein content; that
is, on the basis of the weight per bushel
and the weight per thousand grains, while
in some markets the purchase is on the
basis of actual chemical analysis. It is
stated by the Department officials to be
therefore a matter of coasiderable importance, in order to retain our foreign markets and maintain our commercial supremacy and national reputation as producers
of high-grade wheat that the closest attention should be paid not only to the production of high-yielding wheats but also to
the cultivation of varieties having a high-
protein content, with a view to growing
wheats which combine these two characteristics^—high gluten content and large
yields.
Punctuation by means of stops and
points, so as to indicate the meaning of
sentences and assist the reader to a proper enunciation, is ascribed originally to
Aristophanes, a grammarian of Alexandria, Egypt, who lived in the third century B. C. Whatever his system may
have been, it was subsequently neglected
and forgotten, but was reintroduced by
Charlemagne, the various stops and symbols being designed by Warnefried and
Alcuin.
It takes about 2,000,000 cords of wood a
year to make the newspapers that go
through the presses of New Tork City.