Virginia advocate. [volume] (Charlottesville, Va.) 1827-1860, 1828-09-06

crop The potito stalks were feeble. drawn ~,
scarcely larger thanlgooso quilts, and expected
every Gay to see them WHITEHALL hopes of crop
we're abandoned. 1 thought that they were the
r" SUBJECTS OF desperate experiment On ono
OF the hottest and dryest days. I gave them n
n1souyh p!oughng, passing the plough four times
c:.h row first ploughing two firraws
rom the mis-, as the roots as possible with
out throwing out the seed potatoes, and then re-
turning the loan or earth instantly back by two
o'her burrows. No rain interviewed for ten DAYS.
In three days after, the pototoes chanred their
cblour-they stated fresh. us If they had r,oeiy.
"i the benefit OF ample showers, while not Il trop
OF rain had fallen
1he devs, whici were abundant, settled u,,on
the new turned earth, while, before tie plouGr
ing. II" moisture had been apparent
Inc last fact, though it cannot have escaped
me noilcc oil the most careless cuivator, has not
been, as Get: explained, VIC cp,i css;i, gro that
a soil, rendered porous, would more readjIy and
easily convey its moisture to the roots Ii becomes
ike sponge and readily permits the moisture to
pass between lis particles. But it is not We, uu-
derstooa why 1t attracts the moisture Perhaps
however, THIS may be owing To its presentir,o a
niuch greater surface to the moist air of the nioht
ne iac', however, winch is what most concerns
rs, is settled.
Perhaps OF the experiment Of our dis.in-
tirgui&hed cou;tryniaii Dir. Wells, physician oil
London, who rendered himself conspicuous By his
remarks on dew. may throw some light OH this
subject though 1t is not my purpose now to exam
Inc the theory
Every man who fees int crest in the qucs-
''oh can satisfy himself at once by stirring a small
piece OF the EARTH in time of severe DROUGHT
ana IT he does nut find it in the morning more
MED with moisture than the undisturbed ground
In ITS vicinity, let him continue a disbeliever.
f'ut there IS another mode, nd i, is one which
l have never seen suggested, by which 1 appre.
mend tie stirring OF the surface, and making il
lght and porous, IS beneficial in great drouphts
~ Is TINS light porous bodies are bad conductors
OF heat perhaps because they have more air be-
tween their nerstices. The facts are familiar to
us Metallic bodies acquire an intense heat under
the rays OF the sun do stones i'm proportion
to their density. The earth, when vcry compact
VIII become exceedingly hot but garden loan
wh'ch is very porous, rcmane cool at MONDAY
two inches below the surface. / believe, there.
lore, that moving the surface, and keeping it i'm a
light and porous state, enables it to resist the heat
q INC .s"t's rays that the air between Tie rars
tces OF earth communicates the heat more slow
ly, than tile PARTICLES themselves do when in close
contact.
Such is my theory; but am an enemy Of the
oTIes always disirust them; [ look only to facts:
and having observed that slight covering of hall
an inch of sea weed would preserve my strawber-
rles from drought, which can only arise from its
lying so loose on the surface, | have been led to
infer that the "naoubied tacf, that SOIL in loose
pulverlzed state, resists drought is o;gng to the
| same eo"Sc-to the slowness with which the heat
OF the solar rays is communicated to the roots
But be the theory sound, unsound, | am per-
suaded that every farmer will find that tic free use
oil his plough and hoe in time Of severe drought.
Will be OF more value to him than as much manure
| as that labor would purchase / have been always
convinced, from my experience an horticultur.
isti that the great secret of cultivation consists in
making the soil porous. In raising exotic plants.
we know it to be true, and our flower pots are al
ways SUPPLIED with soil the most porous which we
can obtain. The farmer may borrow light from
an occupation which helooks upon with disdaln
but which serves to elncdate and explain the Sc
crets of vegetation.