1909. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1003 
HUMUS AND SOIL FERTILITY. 
In treating of the question of which makes the soil 
of Mr. Hitchings’s mulched orchard more fertile than 
formerly, and more fertile than the soil of other ad¬ 
joining fields, it seems to me H. W. C. touches on 
one of the most important matters in the whole realm 
of soil management. Few of us realize as fully as we 
should the value of humus in the soil, or how a soil 
robbed of its humus by injudicious cropping soon 
loses its power to produce profitable crops. The care¬ 
less cultivation of the soil not 1 only carries off much 
plant food in the crop grown, but often causes the 
loss of much more plant food than the crop itself 
takes away. 
Several years ago the [Minnesota Station carried on 
a series of experiments to study the loss of soil fer¬ 
tility, under continuous wheat culture, as compared 
with a carefully executed crop rotation. „ Through a 
period of years it was found that the loss of plant 
food from the soil, under continuous wheat culture, 
was not at all commensurate with the amount carried 
off by the crop. Careful analysis of the soil before 
and after the period^of cropping showed that the loss 
of plant food was more than three times as great as 
that represented in the crops taken off. This loss 
was found to be due mainly to the waste of humus 
under the single-crop system. The soil being left 
devoid of a crop, quite a portion of the year, the de¬ 
composition of humus went on quite rapidly. On a 
similar area of land, alongside, where a well-planned 
system of rotation was practiced, the loss of plant 
food was reduced nearly to a point represented by 
the amount carried off in the crop. 
An interesting case of loss of crop-producing power 
through loss of humus has come to my attention the 
present year. The so-called Clark system of hay 
production consists in cultivating the soil thoroughly 
PAPER COMBINED WITH WIRE. Fig. 578. 
for four or five weeks in mid-summer, and then seed¬ 
ing, and keeping up the fertility thereafter by the use 
of chemical fertilizers only. This system has worked 
Well on heavy soils, or natural grass lands, but on 
light soils it tends to destroy the humus so rapidly 
that the productive power of such soils is soon re¬ 
duced below the point of profitable cropping. The 
writer has just come into possession of a farm where 
on a 24-acre field of rather light loam soil the Clark 
method of culture has so robbed the soil of humus 
that much of the field will not produce over 800 
pounds of hay per acre. It will take several years to 
restore this humus so as to make the soil retentive of 
plant food and water. The chief drawback in the 
substitution of chemical fertilizers for barn manures 
is the fact that the former supply had practically no 
humus. It is only where farming with chemicals is 
combined with green manuring that the use of animal 
manures can he safely omitted. 
Nature’s method of increasing soil fertility is chiefly 
by the death and decay of the natural vegetation. 
The stock of humus in the soil is not only a source of 
plant food in itself, but is one of the chief means by 
which the mineral matter of the soil becomes avail¬ 
able. The nitrogen supply of the soil is in direct 
proportion to the humus, while the organic acids 
Sormed by the humus, are the greatest factor in 
changing the mineral elements into a soluble form. 
The humus too seems to have the power of increasing 
the nitrogen supply by taking it from outside sources. 
Certain forms of bacteria,'that thrive only in humus, 
seem to have the power of transferring the nitrogen 
of the air to the soil. Besides these functions of the 
humus its power to control soil moisture is perhaps 
equally important. The relation of the soil to the 
water supply of crops is of fully as great importance 
as the plant food question. The humus of the soil is 
of the greatest value in regulating the water supply. 
While the supply of plant food may be quite easily 
regulated by man, it is of little avail without a proper 
water supply to control its movements in the soil. 
The artificial use of water is expensive at the best, 
and so humus supply becomes the chief factor for 
controlling soil moisture. 
Continuous cropping with cultivated crops is sure 
to reduce the supply of humus in the soil, while the 
A POWER CONCRETE MIXER. Fig. 579. 
growth of clovers and the grasses tends to its increase. 
The growth and decay of the after-growth of grass 
and clover is one of the surest means for restoring 
lost fertility. In cases where cultivated crops are to 
be grown for several years the plowing under of 
catch crops, between the regular crops, is one of the 
surest means of restoring humus and soil fertility. 
The increase in the humus supply of his soil, together 
with a naturally moist soil, probably accounts for Mr. 
Hitchings’s success, in his much condemned system of 
orchard management. His method of management 
doubtless supplies plenty of moisture for the growth 
of grass and the vigorous development of trees and 
fruit. On a naturally dry soil the mulch system might 
fail entirely unless the supply of mulch was increased 
beyond that supplied by the natural growth and the 
cutting of grass. I believe that we need to study the 
soil conditions more fully than many writers have 
done, before we condemn or oppose either cultiva¬ 
tion or mulch as a system of orchard management. 
CHAS. S. PHELPS. 
AN INGENIOUS MOTOR. 
I send photograph of a homemade motor. The frame 
is of V/ 2 by one inch hard wood. The hind posts 
are four feet high, the front posts two feet. It is 16 
inches wide by four feet long at bottom, and 26 inches 
at top. The bottom cog is 16 inches. That has at¬ 
tached to it a 40-foot spring two inches wide, wound 
by the crank as shown at back right hand corners. 
This 40-foot spring when wound winds up another 
spring, on a 24-inch wheel, one inch wide and 15 long, 
that runs the motor. The 16-inch wheel is connected 
to a three-inch pinion and the 24-inch wheel is con¬ 
nected to a lJ/>-inch pinion on a shaft that has a two- 
inch crook, that gives a four-inch stroke, which is 
sufficient to rock the rocker where the churn sits. The 
top wheel is 15 inches and is the balance wheel. 
The churn, a box of any size needed depending on 
AN INGENIOUS MOTOR. Fig. 580. 
the amount of cream to be churned, is set on this 
rocker. The lower spring is wound up, and that auto¬ 
matically winds the smaller spring. The motor is set 
in motion by putting your hand on the balance wheel 
and turning it to get the arm off the center. This 
starts the rocker and the cream is dashed from one 
end of the churn to the other. To assist in breaking 
the cream there is a row of slats in the center of the 
churn. The lower spring being two inches wide and 
40 feet long is much stronger than the top one, so 
when the top spring becomes weak from running, the 
bottom one starts and winds it up automatically. 
You can put the cream in the churn, wind it up, and 
it will run for 20 to 30 minutes without any more 
bother; a child can wind it when it runs down. 
Maybe you have been looking for the governor. 
You will find that in the churn, the cream as it goes 
from one end to the other controls the stroke. The 
motor runs slow enough so that the cream has time 
to go from one end to the other. By giving the balance 
wheel a hard push it will run so fast that the cream 
will just stand still, but by placing a hand on the wheel 
you can slow it down again to whatever motion you 
want it. The man who invented this motor worked 
on it for 25 years before he got it to going satisfactor¬ 
ily. He first started with weights and from that to 
small clock springs; with every experiment he used 
larger springs; more power can be had by increasing 
the size of springs. The motor is protected hy patents. 
_ S. D. HAINI.EY. 
A POWER CONCRETE MIXER. 
The Colorado Experiment Station has issued Bulle¬ 
tin No. 148, on “Cement and Concrete Posts.” Among 
other things it tells of mixing concrete by machinery. 
The device shown at Fig. 578, is described as follows: 
Two pieces of 4x0 form the sills. Upon these, two up¬ 
rights about three feet high are fastened. A l^-inch 
pipe passes through holes bored in the top of the up¬ 
rights. Upon this pipe the mixing box is turned, and 
through the pipe the water is added to the mixture at the 
desired time. The water is poured in at the top of the 
upright pipe and flows down and out through holes which 
are drilled in the lower side of it. The othetf end of the 
pipe is closed by a wooden plug. The ends of the box 
are made of pieces of 2x8 bolted together. A hole bored 
in the center of each end forms the bearings. The sides 
of th« box are made of one-inch lumber and are simply 
PAPER PROTECTION FOR TREE. Fig 581. 
nailed to the ends with 12-penuy nails. One-half of 
the box iis made so that it can be detached and! lifted 
off when the mixer is to be tilled, or emptied. The detach¬ 
able half is secured to the other half by means of strong 
hooks so placed that by slipping this half about an inch 
to one side all of the hooks are loosened at once. After 
it is in position, the removable portion is Held in place by 
means of a barn door latch. 
The driving gear is simple but very effective, it con¬ 
sists of the rim taken from the wheel of an old “rubber 
lire buggy.” With the tire removed the grooved 1 rim 
makes a very satisfactory wheel upon which to run a %- 
inch rope belt. The belt is driven by a small shieve pulley 
which is fastened to the counter shaft. A belt tightener 
is used upon the rope, and by using a very loose belt, the 
tightener is made to act as a friction clutch. This par¬ 
ticular mixer is driven by a two-horse gasoline engine, 
which is belted to the counter shaft. The engine runs 
continuously and the mixer is started and stopped by 
means of the belt tightener. The operator first fills the 
mixer about half full of sand, gravel and cement in the 
correct proporlions. lie next lowers the lid, which until 
this time has remained supported upon the hook. The 
lid is now pushed into place and the latch fastened. The 
supporting hook is next removed from the staple in the 
lid and hooked into a staple in the lid support. The 
machine is now ready to start, the clutch is thrown in, 
and the box revolves upon the pipe. When three or four 
turns have been made, water is poured into the upright 
pipe until the desired amount has been added. By this 
time the concrete is thoroughly mixed. The clutch is 
loosened, the box stops revolving, the hoisting hook is 
hooked in the staple of the lid, the latch is loosened and 
the lid raised to the top of the lid support by means of 
the counter weight and rope. Now. by slightly setting the 
clutch, the contents of the mixer are dumped into the lx>x 
beneath. The operator of the machine may now refill the 
mJxer, while the other workmen take care of the mixed 
material. In this way a large amount of material may be 
run through the machine and perfect mixing is guaranteed. 
Many other systems of driving might have been used in 
place of the rope belt. The main gear of an old self-binder 
makes an excellent gear for a mixer. An old mower gear 
may also be put to good use in this connection. It is 
not necessary to have the mixer driven by an engine or 
horse power. A crank may bo attached and the machine 
turned by hand. Many prefer turni'ng such a machine 
rather than mix the concrete with a shovel. 
