1909. 
THE PROBLEMS OF THE CHEAP LANDS. 
Part I. 
The high price of farm lands in the better agricul¬ 
tural portion of our country has stimulated an inter¬ 
est in the cheap lands of the less distinctively agri¬ 
cultural sections. Many inquiries come to the writer 
in regard to the cheap lands of northeastern Ohio, 
and many home-seekers are looking toward the par¬ 
tially abandoned farms in certain sections of the East. 
I believe that many of these lands are capable of 
large development, and, if rightly handled, and due 
consideration is given to market facilities, they offer 
as good farm investments as any in the country. I 
believe also that the advice usually given as to the 
handling of such soils, confined as it usually is, to 
fertilizers to be used, and rotation of crops to be fol¬ 
lowed, does not go deep enough, and at best can re¬ 
sult in only partial success. 
These soils are usually spoken of as clays, yet 
probably few of them are true clays. They are dose, 
tenacious, impervious to air and water, wet, cold and 
sour; often with very dense hard subsoils. I hese 
conditions must be changed before fertilizing schemes 
and rotation of crops can produce satisfactory re¬ 
sults. That these soils are naturally strong is evi¬ 
denced by the often remarkably heavy growth of the 
native timber. When first brought un¬ 
der the plow, they produced satisfac¬ 
tory crops. When we consider the vast 
stores of latent plant food in these 
soils, and the small amount that has 
been removed by cropping, we must 
conclude that their unproductiveness 
cannot possibly be due to the exhaus¬ 
tion of plant food, but must be due to 
a changed physical condition of the soil. 
If we could return to the conditions of 
virgin fertility, there is no reason why 
we should not obtain the results of vir¬ 
gin fertility. 
It will be a help to us to consider 
the conditions which exist, in what we 
term virgin fertility. When first cleared 
of their forest growth, -our soils were 
completely filled with tree roots. Not 
only was the surface soil thus divided 
and held apart, but the subsoil was 
penetrated, often to considerable depths, 
by the tap or anchor roots, and as these 
decayed they left the soil open and 
porous, and constituted innumerable 
drainage channels. Then, too, the sur¬ 
face was covered by a large accumu¬ 
lation of forest leaves and twigs, which, 
in the first cultivation, became mingled 
with the soil, making it light and friable, 
permitting free access of air and water, 
and allowing the roots of growing crops 
to penetrate freely. Under these con¬ 
ditions the decay of vegetable matter 
was rapid, and all the agencies which 
make plant food available were intensely 
active, and crops were highly satisfac¬ 
tory. 
After a generation of cropping, these 
conditions became sadly changed. The 
natural drainage channels furnished by 
the decaying tree roots became stopped, 
and soils that when new had fair natural 
drainage, are now greatly in need of 
artificial drainage. The humus, once so abundant, 
has much of it disappeared. The tramping of graz¬ 
ing animals, which could safely be permitted in the 
humus-filled soils, now works great injury by pud¬ 
dling and compacting the same soils; devoid of 
humus, time has served to compact these soils. They 
are very dense; the air is excluded. The agencies 
which make plant food available are very feebly 
operative and crops are unprofitable. Such soils 
cannot perform the functions of a fertile soil. They 
are dead. 
FUNCTIONS OF THE SOIL.—What are the 
functions of soil ? What do we expect the soil to do 
for us? We look to the soil to provide a home for 
the plant; the food for the plant; the drink for the 
plant. By the home for the plant we mean those 
physical characteristics of the soil which render it 
congenial to the. crop to be grown. We recognize the 
necessity of a suitable home for our children, and for 
our farm animals, if they are to be healthy and vig¬ 
orous. But we sometimes forget that in our plants, 
we are dealing with organisms, that are quite as de¬ 
pendent upon suitable homes for their well-being as 
are our animals. The soils under consideration cannot 
furnish congenial homes for the crops we wish to 
grow. They nourish wild grasses, aquatic plants, etc., 
but not corn, wheat, potatoes and clover. As already 
stated, the agencies which liberate plant food are very 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
feebly active in the soils under consideration, so the 
plant is starved, in the presence of an abundance of 
potential plant food. It is a matter of common note 
that these tenacious soils which are so exceedingly 
wet in a wet time are the first to suffer in time of 
drought. It is evident, then, that these soils fail 
rightly to perform any of the functions of a fertile 
soil, and before they can perform them, must be 
dried, loosened, sweetened and filled with organic 
matter. That this can be done, has been amply dem¬ 
onstrated. To know zvhy we do a thing largely 
solves the questions of how and zvhen. I desire to 
go somewhat into detail, as to the reasons for the 
various operations. We will consider in order the 
subjects of drainage, the use of lime, importance of 
humus manures and fertilizers. 
Ohio. _ F. L. ALLEN. 
RAILROAD FIRES IN NEW JERSEY. 
I note with interest what your correspondent has 
to say, on page 551, regarding fires along railroads, 
caused by sparks from locomotives. As an owner of 
a farm along the line of a railroad, I know what it 
means to have fields burnt over and crops consumed 
by such fires. As the locomotives pass by at night 
one can witness a perfect shower of sparks that are 
seen to fall in a lighted condition upon the ground. 
At the same time other locomotives are seen to pass, 
puffing just as hard, which scarcely throw a spark 
that can be seen. I have picked from freshly plowed 
ground pieces of charred coal (a sample of which I 
send by separate mail, see Fig. 404, as large as hick- 
oryntits, and have shown them to the railway offi¬ 
cials, to be told that these large pieces were not 
alive when thrown out, but that they were pieces of 
coke that accumulate on the sides of the stack after 
the smoke has passed the screens. The New Jersey 
law provides that all locomotives shall be screened, 
and that proof to the effect that the locomotive is 
properly screened, is a perfect defense to a suit for 
damages. Some railroads do not pretend to settle 
damages for such fires unless compelled so to do. 
Other companies make a pretense of settlement on a 
basis of 50 per cent or less of the damage. The result 
is that those who do receive anything take it because 
they feel it is the best they can do, for the evident 
reason that on the trial the company will put upon 
the witness stand a lot of mechanics and inspectors 
who will solemnly swear that at the time the locomo¬ 
tive in question was properly screened. What chance 
has the farmer to combat such testimony? I have the 
testimony of a railroad fireman that the large pieces 
of coal above referred to are alive when thrown out 
and do pass through the place where the screen ought 
to be. 
703 
It seems to me that the law with reference to the 
screens is unfair to the property owner, because the 
company can generally produce the witnesses above 
referred to, who will swear to the perfect condition 
of the screens, which cannot be denied by persons 
not having access to the round house. The damage to 
farm lands and to forests by such fires is a very 
serious matter, and some regulation or inspection 
would appear to be necessary. Would it not better 
matters if the State should provide for inspection of 
locomotives, and a severe penalty for a failure to 
screen properly? I think I have conclusively shown 
here that in a suit the abutting owner has no show, 
which fact discourages him in many cases from even 
asking for settlement. In matters of legislation the 
people generaly get scant consideration, and chiefly 
for the reason that they appear disinterested and un¬ 
organized, while the railroads are always represented 
on the floors of legislative halls. jerseyman. 
A HOME-MADE MUCK CARRIER. 
As one of your great family, when in trouble we 
look to you for help. I have a pond about 50 rods 
long by five or six wide. The bottom is composed of 
muck about 18 inches deep. I have drawn the water 
off, and last Fall dug out what muck I could get from 
the edge. I cannot throw more than a rod to the 
bank, which is too steep to haul much 
of a load up with one horse. If I could 
afford a manure carrier I think I could 
easily clean it out with speed, but can¬ 
not spare the amount required. Do you 
suppose I could build a carrier, sides 
of plank, bottom of metal, hinged to 
run on a wire cable? The idea is to 
hitch the horse to rope long enough 
to go the width of pond, and let him 
draw the load to shore. What I don’t 
know is how much a horse can draw 
at the end of perhaps five or six rods. 
I shall be obliged to unload all on one 
side, as the highway is on the other. 
There are large trees on the roadside 
to hitch cable to; can set post the other 
side. I am using the muck I got out 
last Fall behind the cows and find it 
a great absorbent. This pond is fed 
by springs, and I wish to clear it out 
so as to get my ice there. The lily pads 
got so thick the ice would not keep so 
well. I would like to know how Targe a 
carrier to build, how much a 1200-pound 
horse could haul at the end of five 
rods of rope, and how large a cable it 
would take, and if it is practical I be¬ 
lieve the muck is worth a reasonable 
outlay. h. d. w. 
New Hampshire. 
R. N.-Y.—We feel sure some of our 
people have worked out a contrivance 
of this sort. We would rather have 
their practical plan than any guess at 
it. Will not you tell us how to get 
that muck out without heavy expense? 
There is considerable plant food at the 
bottom of that pond, an accumulation of 
decayed vegetable matter, and there 
should be some way of getting it out, 
so that it can be used. When removed 
and dried the muck makes a good sta¬ 
ble absorbent, as suggested by H. D. W., 
or it can be composted with lime, as described in 
previous issues of The R. N.-Y. 
BALED HAY FROM THE SWATH. 
On page 655 we printed the account of a Tennessee 
farmer, Mr. J. L. Morrow, who described his method 
of baling hay right from the field. We now show 
pictures of two of his bales—at Figs. 405 and 406. One 
of them, as we see, has a hay loader attached and is 
hauled by horses. The loader delivers the hay into 
the bales direct from the swath, and power for baling 
is supplied by a gasoline engine. The other baler is 
run by a traction engine which hauls the baler and 
furnishes power for baling. Mr. Morrow says he put 
up 8,000 bales in this way last year, and that this hay 
keeps well. _ 
Quite a number of readers ask what we think of the 
so-called “Lava” fertilizer, for which great claims are 
made. Analysis of these goods appears to show that 
they are not unlike ashes from a stove in which coal 
was burned with wood, some nails or other old iron. 
We do not know of any way of valuing fertilizers ex¬ 
cept by the plant food and lime it contains, the 
humus or vegetable matter or the useful bacteria. 
The “Lava” fertilizer seems to contain little of 
either of these things. 
BALING HAY DIRECT FROM THE FIELD. Fig. 406. 
A FLOCK OF DELAWARE WYANDOTTES. Fig. 407. See Page 7( 
