"You have about a thousand acres in your farm I was told."
"Yes, we still have some over nine hundred acres in the place, but we are farming only about two hundred acres, including the meadow and pasture land. The other seven hundred acres are not fenced, and, as you will see, the land is mostly grown up to scrub trees."
"Your corn appears to be a very good crop. About how many acres of corn do you have this year?"
"I have only fourteen acres. That is all I could cover with manure, and it is hardly worth trying to raise corn without manure."
"Do you use any commercial fertilizer?"
"Well, I've been using some bone meal. I've no use for the ordinary complete commercial fertilizer. It sometimes helps a little for one year; but it seems to leave the land poorer than ever. Bone meal lasts longer and doesn't seem to hurt the land. I see from the agricultural papers that some of the experiment stations report good results from the use of fine-ground raw rock phosphate; but they advise using it in connection with organic matter, such as manure or clover plowed under. I am planning to get some and mix it with the manure here under this shed. Do you use commercial fertilizers in Illinois?"
"Not to speak of, but some of our farmers are beginning to use the raw phosphate. Our experiment station has found that our most extensive soil types are not rich in phosphorus, and has republished for our benefit the reports from the Maryland and Ohio experiment stations showing that the fine-ground natural rock phosphate appears to be the most economical form to be used and that it is likely to prove much more profitable in the long run, although it may not give very marked results the first year or two. May I ask what products you sell from your farm, Mr. Thornton?"
"I sell cream. I have a special trade in Richmond, and I ship my cream direct to the city. I also sell a few hogs and some wheat. I usually put wheat after corn, and have fourteen acres of wheat seeded between the corn shocks over there. Sometimes I don't get the wheat seeded, and then I put the land in cowpeas. I usually raise about twenty-five acres of cowpeas, and the rest of the cleared land I use for meadow and pasture. I usually sow timothy after cowpeas, and I like to break up as much old pasture land for corn as I can put manure on."
"I was told that you had been offered fifty dollars an acre for your farm, Mr. Thornton, but that you would not consider the offer."
Mr. Thornton laughed heartily at this remark.