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Show Farm I Topics fl 'DIET DEFICIENCY' CUTS CROP YIELD Lack of Essential Foods Reduces Productivity. By HERBERT L. GARRARD Diagnosing the ailments oi "sick" crops and prescribing the restoratives restora-tives is a science that can turn losses into profits on American farms. " Many of the diseases that destroy the productivity of crops are due to diet deficiency to a lack of such essential plant foods as nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash in the soiL And just as tell-tale symptoms are present when human beings are ill, so growing plants reveal their infirmities by various signs. Even in the early stages of growth these signs of ill-health are readily discernible. Sickly seedlings with narrow leaves, thin stalks, poor root' formations and tips of leaves tinted a reddish-brown hue tell a story of starvation for necessary plant nourishment. nour-ishment. With oats, for example, a deficiency defi-ciency of potash in the soil will be evident in a reddish coloration of the leaves as early as eight days after sprouting. The foliage of potatoes po-tatoes shows a dark green in the early stages of potash starvation; in the case of tomatoes there is a purplish leaf coloration when the plants are starved for phosphorus. Corn that is suffering from diet deficiency is easily recognizable. When nitrogen is lacking it develops a streaked, yellow leaf. When potash pot-ash is missing the edges of the leaves are "fired" or scorched and a spotty yellow streaking spreads over them. Fortunately, it is possible, even in the growing season, to apply correctives cor-rectives once the ailment has been diagnosed. Tests in corn-belt states have proved that with corn still in the early stages of growth, it is possible pos-sible to side-dress the plants with fertilizer to correct dietary deficiency. defi-ciency. The use of 200 pounds per acre of mixed fertilizer containing potash, in early July on 15 cornfields corn-fields on a soil high in lime content, con-tent, in a midwestern state, resulted result-ed in an increase of 15.8 bushels per acre compared with fields not treated for potash starvation. But while plant food deficiencies can sometimes be corrected during the growing season, the sure preventive pre-ventive is to have the soil tested before planting time. County agents or agronomists at the state agricultural agricul-tural college are prepared to analyze ana-lyze soil samples and provide farmers farm-ers with information concerning the fertilizer needs of their soil. The tests will reveal whether there is a lack of nitrogen, phosphoric acid or potash. By following the recommendations recom-mendations thus obtained, farmers can replenish depleted soil resources and be reasonably sure of growing healthy, productive crops. Farmers Work Together To 'Keep Soil at Home' After many single-handed attempts at-tempts to stop the blowing of good top soil from their fields, farmers of Greeley county, Kansas, back in 1937, saw that they would have to get together in the fight to keep their soU at home. If a single farmer farm-er tried to hold his soil down by listing a field, the top soil from an unlisted field adjoining would blow over it and cover up his work With the help of farm leaders in the county, the farmers organized a countrywide campaign to use AAA conservation practices to get all thP land in the county listed at the same time and protected by cover crops and strip-cropping. The job was hard, but the farmers were for any plan that would break the force of the wind and keep their soil covered. When the job start- 3 000 , Tf h3d 3n averae f 3,000 acres of land to list, and they kept at it-literally day and night-until night-until it was finished. tJ0,n,e the Plan thro"ghgoing T' organi"on adopted rule that no farmer could get an AAA payment unless he had all his cropland either in cover crops such as Sudan grass or sorghums, or in rip-cropp,ng-a strip of cover to slow down the wind, then a strip of rtlatorc'aIIW' th anoterf strip of cover crops land in cover crops and strin " puig as ; in 1936. five times as many acres in summer fallow, half as nature will complete the job! Insect Defense When insects iniurp . r-. "ui at me center Tf tii me of rir has an auxiliary of the insects berore the ' in ecu laytheircRRs -tei |