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Show Double Corn Yield By Soil Management' Illinois Tests Prove Value ol New Methods Farmers can double the present 50 bushel per acre state average corn yields through good soil management, man-agement, declares Prof. A. L. Lang, University of Illinois. Corn yields above 100 bushels pet acre are repeatedly harvested by research re-search workers from high fertility plots at the experiment stations. At Illinois, Lang points out, the high fertility plots have averaged above 100 bushels since the use of hybrid seed. The No. 1 problem In getting these high yields is the rebuilding ol the organic matter supply of the toils. Years of "soil mining" have run down this supply, even on the rich black soil of the state. In addition, addi-tion, the soil supply of phosphorus and potash, vital to the growth of legumes, Is badly depleted in most Corn Belt soils. . Lang outlines four steps toward rebuilding the soil: 1. Test your soil to determine the needs for lime and plant food. 2. Use of lime and fertilizers according ac-cording to test to build the fertility level for the growth of legumes in the rotation. 3. Use of deep-rooted legumes, crop residues and manure to rebuild the organic matter supply. This organic or-ganic matter will help aerate the soil and furnish the bulk of the nitrogen nitro-gen needed for crop rotation. 4. Supplementing the increased fertility of the soils with fertilizers carrying nitrogen, phosphorus and potash to permit the raising of 100-bushel 100-bushel corn crops. |