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Show - - .ii i i .i ,,.. myi Treatment for "Bogus" and Marsh Land. From Farmers' Ilovlcw: Tho astonishing as-tonishing domand for farm land during dur-ing tho past fow years has producod great activity towards Improving swamp' and marsh land. "What wo once considered worthless peat marshes, marsh-es, nro now by tho aid of tho Bpado and dredgo being converted into tllla-bio tllla-bio farms. All down tho eastern part of Illinois nnd northwestern part of Indiana nro hundreds of acres of this sort of territory that is undergoing transformation. This land, nttor bo-lug bo-lug drained, Is of n black fertile color, col-or, and Is In a looso frlablo condition with all tho appearanco of great crop producing ability. nut from some quarters wo hear complaints that land of similar composition holies its appearanco ap-pearanco by producing grain of inferior infe-rior quality. Corn grows to an amazing amaz-ing height, producing a great yield of stover, but an unsatisfactory amount of enrs, of which nn unprofitable percentage per-centage nro "nubbins." Onts on the saino soils mako a wonderful growth, and a few weoks prior to tho harvest, ono, judging from their appearance, would estimate tho yield nt from 00 to 100 bushels per ncro. But Just before harvest tho oats become "straw fallen," lodgo and otherwlso mako teutons work for tho binder. A closo Inspection reveals short heads with grain that Is Inclined to bo chaffy, nnd the yield below our estimate one-half. These tracts nro not confined to In-dlnnn In-dlnnn and Illinois. In every Btnto can bo found tracts of this unproductive black lands, varying from a fow Bquaro rods to hundreds of acres, it Is well known ns "bogus" land, sometimes some-times Incorrectly callod "alkali," for it has nono of tho real characteristics of alkali soil. While this soil Is materially ma-terially Improved by drainage, a chemical chem-ical analysis shows It to bo nbnor-tnnlly nbnor-tnnlly rich in nitrogen, duo to the largo amount of partially decomposed organic matter. In fa'ct, in somo areas organic matter makes up tho greater part of the material. An analysis analy-sis of tliis soil 'shows It to contain over 2 per cent nitrogen, per cent phosphoric phos-phoric acid, but only 1-10 per cent of potnsh. Tho uninitiated often think commercial com-mercial plant food Is to be used only on worn and exhausted lands, and to fertilize black soil is extravagant and foolish. Yet experiments mado at different dif-ferent agricultural experiment stations sta-tions show that tho great salvation for theso soils Is kalnlt. Kalnlt Is n crudo potash, containing 12 per rent actual potash, chlorldo magnesia and chlorldo sodium, nnd kcciiib to bo a natural mlxturo to correct tho Irregularities of this soil. This fchould bo applied in liberal amounts. Nine years ago tho Indiaua station In Its experimental work on such soil used n ton of knlnlt per aero, and the good effect can still be noted. It need not generally he appllod In such largo amounts, but In tho nbovo mentioned experiment, lnnd that produced pro-duced practically nothing, gave an average av-erage yield of D4 bushels of corn por acre for four years. Tho kalnlt cost $20 In Indiana, dellvored and distributed distrib-uted and tho returns for tho first four years was J7C80. In the case of small areas of unproductive soil in tho field. It is tho custom of farmers to plow and plant theso patches tho same ns tho productive parts of the Hold. The treatment of theso trncts with kalnlt will render the labor applied tc theso places effectlvo. While lime can sometimes bo used to nn advantage on raw muck land, It does not seem to mix readily with this bogus land. D. 1. Duncan. Hessian Fly In Indiana. 1'iof. Troop, of the Indiana Experiment Experi-ment Station, In a bulletin to the press, snjs: Responses havo been re cclvcd .from IS5 correspondents to dnte representing clghty-slx counties, Of theso soventy-threo counties report the fly as doing moro or less dnmagc. Thirteen counties report no fly, wl.leh may or may iiot bo true, as It hat frequently happened that ono man has reported no lly nnd another man J'v lng In nuothcr section of the count) has reported It as doing considerable damage. Thoso counties reporting uo lly aro I.ako, Allen, Whitley, Jasper, Newton, Ulackford, Warren, Vormil-Ion, Vormil-Ion, Owen, Sullivan, Knox, Starko and Scott. Thoso which havo not reported at nil aro Elkhart, Wells, Adams, Uartholoinow, Jefferson nnd I'lke. Forty-six counties report the damage ( wheat as rauglng from flfteon to soventy-nvo per cent of tho crop Twenty-four counties report only slight dnmagoj tho greatest amount of dnmngo Is reported from the central cen-tral and soutticrn counties. (In Decatur De-catur county fifty-two larvao wore round Id ono plant.) In Blxty-flve counties In which tho lly Is found, tho wheat vas sown before September 25, whllo In eight counties It is found, In wheat grown after September 25th, but In only one nfor Octobor 1st. Twenty-seven van ,g of wheat nra mentioned as being grown In tho Infested In-fested districts, and no ono varloty Is mentioned as being moro free from attacks than others. |