Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1875 — Relation of Water to Agriculture. [ARTICLE]

Relation of Water to Agriculture.

Without the instant presence of ■water the pr Auction of vegetable substances is an impossibility. The presence or absence of this substance determines almos entirely whether ourlabors in the field f agriculture shall he crowned with successor prove a failure. Either the lack or excess of water proves deleterious to the growing crops of the fanner. Water exists in three states or conditions, in all of which’ it has a very important influence on the production of farm crops. These are the solid or frozen state, the liquid state and the gaseous or state of vapor or steam. It is a law that all material substances are expanded by heat and contracted by cold or by the absence of heat. This "inriiotdsifoodiirrtre^csge - oT“water at all temperatures above about 38 degs. Fahr., at which it becomes stationary and remains so until it falls to 32 degs., at which it freezes. In the process of freezing the law of expansion is reversed anu the ice that is formed occupies onc-sixthyoouereieventhmore space than did the water from which it was formed. This accounts tor the bursting of vessels by the freezing of water in them; it also explains why many vegetable substances are injured by the freezing of their sap—the swelling of the sap in freezing ruptures or at least so strains the vegetable cells that vitality is destroyed. Snow, which is frozen vapor, is very beneficial as a protection to the roots of pl airs that remain in the ground during win; r. The many small air spaces formed by the freezing niake it a noncornTdcToTof he at; so tTiat~a~few inches of snow will protect the young plants from the injurious effects of the most severe cohi that fever occurs in the temperate zones. And in eases where the soil was not fr<»zen when the snow fell the internal heat of the earth will be sufficient to cause a vigorous growth of winter grain thus protected. The snow also curries down with it when it falls certain fertilizing substances found in the air. particularly ammonia, which are believed to contribute directly to the growt h of the plants with which the snow is in contact. A coating of solid ice, on the other hand, by excluding the air enAirely. and by pre’ve ntingthe exhalation

from the plants, jf continued for any I great length of time, is almost sure to result in the death of rhe plants by suffoca-1 tion. It is evident, therefore, that no waler should be permitted to stand on the surface of the ground that is occupied by a crop of winter grain. But perhaps toe m->st beneficial “effect of water in the form of ice is found in its tendency to br tk down and pulverize stiff or heavy soils during the winter season. When asa irated soil freezes the ice is not formeo in all the interstices of the soil where is is held while in a fluid state, but it is drawn together so that the ice is forded in thin plates or scales, thus separating the soil into numberless small divisions or particles, each of which is bound and held to its neighbor particle by a thin film or plate of ice. When a thaw takes place, as these layers of ice gradually melt, the particles of soil, instead of reuniting with those to which they adhered before freezing, fall off and crumble down into a loose, friable soil. And if the surplus water is carried ofl by under draining, the soil, which before was hard and cloddy, becomes a loose, light soil, easy of culture, and with increased fertility. 1 think there can be no doubt but that during the process of freezing and thawing the water that is in the soil imparts to it more or less of its fertilizing properties. Thus ammonia, carbonic acid and other important articles of plant food may be, and probably are, deposited in the soil, ready to'supply the demands of th? ensuing crop. These considerations seem to explain the beneficial effects resulting from the fall plow-: ing of heavy or stiff clay soils. Do they not also suggest that it would be to the

interest of agriculturists in regions where heavy soils prevail if the custom of falf blowing was more generally adopted?— L. J. Templin, in Ohio Farmer.