Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 127, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 June 1917 — PLANTS ARE FACTORIES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PLANTS ARE FACTORIES

Railroad trains run through the land, collecting and hauling raw material to the factories In different cities and towns. Likewise the plant roots gather up raw available plantfood of the soli and carry It’to the stalk where It passes up to the leaves and Is digested in the green matter or chlorophyll with the help of the power that comes from the sun. The leaves of all plants are the factories that manufacture the raw plantfood of the soil into digested food thftt Is used to build up every part of the plant, including stalks, leaves, roots, fruit, grain, etc. The wider the leaf and the more leaves on the plant the greater the stomach or digestive surface consequently the more plantfood that can be digested. One reason so many farmers get small crops Is that they do not have enough leaf surface to digest plantfood. Peter J. Lux, the champion corngrower of Indiana, was well aware of this important fact when he selected his corn not alone for the ear but for a wide leaf to digest more plantfood. As a result of this fact he won many premiums and medals on his corn, including a SSOO prize at Whiteville, Mo. In selecting any seed, care should be exercised to see that Its different characteristics suit It to the particular region where you want to grow It. Then see that the soils Is well supplied with humus and plantfood by adding both manure and fertilizers. The larger the leaf or stomach of the plant the larger the quantitp of plantfood that can b« digested If It Is at hand consequently the larger and better the crop that car be grown. This la efficiency and efficiency Is what we as farmers should ever keep before us this year.

PLANTFOOD IS FOUND IN THE SOIL