Teachers' Leaflet. * 565 



mentioned in tlie October issue. Another one of nature's ways for 

 mixing the two that is of importance is by the hard work of the earth 

 worm. I want to call the attention to this creature's industry in boring 

 into the soil and the small piles of casts that may be found on mornings 

 during summer rains. The earth worm is very low in point of intelli- 

 gence. He cannot see or hear and has only a dull sense of feeling 

 through nerves, but he has done the world great service by his tremen- 

 dous industry. Many people both old and young who think their part 

 in life is not worth while because they were not born geniuses may well 

 go to the humble earth worm for a lesson. Some one has said that genius 

 lies in hard work. 



In agricultural literature, the organic part of the soil is called humus 

 and because of that we will in the future drop the term organic matter 

 and substitute that of humus. The black muck of the swamp is humus. 

 Because of its having been submerged by water much of the time, it is 

 often different in character from that of leaf mould of the woods. In 

 what I may say concerning humus I shall have in mind woods earth or 

 leaf mould and not swamp muck. Humus, once having had life is 

 perishable and in cultivated lands the depleted stock must be replenished. 

 I wonder if any of the humus that may be found in the soil to-day will 

 be there after seventy-five years of cultivation. One of the first steps 

 in restoring fertility in a " run out " soil is to determine if it has the 

 needed amount of humus. In my orchard of peaches, plums, cherries, 

 and vineyard of grapes, the soil is tilled the summer through and this 

 process of aeration hastens the destruction of the humus in the soil. 

 To make good that loss, I sow what are known as " cover crops " such 

 as rye, or buckwheat, or clover, or hairy vetch, not for the purpose of 

 harvesting, but to plow into the soil that it may rot there and become 

 humus. 



In the language of the chemist all the functions of humus " are not 

 fully understood." That it has a sponge-like power to absorb water is 

 demonstrated by the following suggested experiments. 



In appearance the soil is a dead or inert mass. Nevertheless, when 

 proper conditions prevail such as heat, moisture, and the proper degree 

 of aeration, it is a very busy place as revealed to us by the chemist and 

 bacteriologist. 



At such times plant food is elaborated and made available for the 

 use of the plant. The process of rotting or wasting away of humus is 

 an important factor in getting such results. A cup of dry wheat flour 

 has no energy of itself but when given moisture, heat and yeast, awakens 

 to great activity — in its way as great as that of the county fair on a 

 pleasant Thursday in the month of September. 



