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Show Legumes, Fertilizer Re-Build Worn Field Most Soil Will Produce If Cared for Properly '' The teamwork of legumes, grass, es and plenty of fertilizer made the difference between these two fields in Huntington County, Indiana points out the middle west soil irnl provement committee. The barren field in the upper photo had 6 feet of soil removed at the deepest point for road fill. jt had no soil care, no fertilizer. Aft- er three years the field is still badly eroded, criss-crossed with gullies 2 to 3 feet deep. The lower field located on Norman Nor-man Thompson's farm near Huntington, Hunt-ington, had 8 feet of soil removes" r!S, . , , . a- , f- 1 ' ' ' " ' ' ' " I The above fields are exam- , pies of what can be done to build soil even on the most bar- ren, eroded fields. Given proper plant food and plenty of it, pins legume-grass mixture, most soil , can be made to produce. . from a hilltop, for road fill. As soon as the soil was carted off, Thompson added heavy applications of fertilizer carrying nitrogen, phosphate phos-phate and potash. Altogether, he used the equivalent of 600 pounds of plant food per acre approximately approxi-mately 250 pounds of 3-12-12 and 350 pounds of 0-20-0. No lime was needed, as the subsoil is almost neutral. Thompson seeded bluegrass an some ladino and red clover. Th roots anchored well and soon built up' a protective growth that yields good forage. Volunteer white clover clo-ver has come in to add to the pasture. pas-ture. Now Thompson uses the field for night pasture. |