Show conservation pays big cash dividends save the soil methods ht at purdue prove ideal A soil conservation system combining the teamwork woric of large amounts of fertilizer contour form arming manure and deep rooted legumes not only 1 saves sorely needed rainfall and reduces the loss of soil organic matter and e plant food through I 1 runoff but also promotes greatly an in creased yields of corn wheat and VM hay according to glenn bedell such a system proved its benefits a at the we purdue station the test was conducted in 12 small fields from 1942 through 1045 all the fields had three year rotations corn wheat and meadow six however were more wa wai farmed with common ter boosts practices the corn yield other six with a conservation system on the fields which had the benefit of extra fertilizer contour cropping manure lime and deep rooted legumes the water loss from runoff for four years wap eight inches compared with on fields farmed under the common system soil loss was only 18 tons under conservation against 08 8 tons with the common system organic matter losses were and pounds respectively while those of nitrogen were 16 and 77 pounds phosphorus 19 and 62 and potash 10 and 24 pounds corn yields averaged 92 bushels per acre against 02 bushels on the common fields in 1942 by 1945 the corn output reached bushels per aero acre compared with 71 bushels on the common fields wheat yields averaged 25 bushels and 15 bushels |