Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 10, Number 47, DeMotte, Jasper County, 10 October 1940 — VIGOR OF GROWING CROPS DEPENDS ON FERTILITY OF SOIL [ARTICLE]

VIGOR OF GROWING CROPS DEPENDS ON FERTILITY OF SOIL

CHICAGO.—The health and vigor of growing farm crops depends directly on the health and vigor of tha soil that produces them, according to a bulletin made public here by the Middle West Soil Improvement Committee. “Farmers everywhere in the Middle West," says the bulletin, “are finding that they cannot continually draw against the fertility account of their land without making some substantial deposits in the form of necessary plant foods. “Only by a steady program of fertility replacement and soil building practices can the continuous productivity of a farm be assured. “The alert Middle Western farmer spends an average of several hundred dollars each year on the repair of his buildings, machinery, fences and in the purchase of new equipment. However, he spends, on an average, less than thirty dollars for the purchase of fertilizer to replace vital plant food elements removed every year by growing crops. Yet even this small investment means a greater return on his crops and improvements in the forrp of soil repair.