OCR Text |
Show BEST CROPS GROWN ON FERTILE SOIL Dairy Farmer in Position to Enrich Fields. By JOHN A. ARET, Dairy Extension Specialist, Spe-cialist, North Carolina State College. WNU Service. Dairy farming improves soils instead in-stead of depleting them. On every well-handled dairy farm large quantities quanti-ties of legume hays, wheat bran, cottonseed cot-tonseed meal and other such feeds are converted into milk through cows, yet there Is a considerable residue left in the form of manure which will help to build up the soil. Careful calculation of the plant food value of these feeds on a basis of ten cents a pound for nitrogen and five cents a pound each for phosphoric acid and potash, shows that alfalfa hay has a plant food value of $0 a ton ; soybean hay, S7.SS ; clover hay, $0.69; wheat bran, $9.09 ; corn meal, $4.69 and cottonseed meal, $15.92. Only about 20 per cent of this plant food value is lost in the feeding process, proc-ess, which means that there is a gradual grad-ual accumulation of plant food on every well-managed dairy farm. Further Fur-ther evidence Is shown by the good crops usually produced on such a farm. Not only does dairy farming help to build up the soil, but the cropping system followed prevents much washing. wash-ing. On account of the organic matter and countless bacteria In cow manure, it has a greater farm value than a chemical analysis would show. The organic matter improved the physical condition of the land and increases its water-holding capacity. This improved im-proved condition also makes a favorable favor-able situation for the bacteria to liberate lib-erate plant food In the soil particles. I do not believe any system of farming farm-ing can be permanently profitable unless un-less soil fertility Is maintained. It makes no difference what the cash return re-turn may be from a crop, because If the wealth is secured at the expense of the soil, the farmer will lose in the end. |