White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1857-12-10
for tbt farmer,
d SNOW U,efnl 70 Parmsr,i


Numerous farmers are strongly im7
pressed with the idea that lands are in
jured by lying bare through the winter,
and that good covering Of snow is a
fore runner of q fruitful season. 1t is
probable that this impression or notion
has its foundation in long experience;
though it is not obvious to all that snow
is of much service before it melts, unless it
is wanted in the highways to save the Use
ofwheels.
We may be permitted therefore to
speculate and theorize little on this
subject without fear of being opposed by
any known facts or conclusive expert
mcnts. Shows in the months of 4 pril
and May are called the poor mans ma
nure. They fall gently on the earth COM
pared with showers OF rain, and they are
not in such haste to run away into hol-
lows and cutters as rain from sudden
thunder cloud.
Here we may conclude without great
stretch of imagination that SHOWS are bet
ter than rains. For showers of rain beat
the ploughed ground down and leave it
heavy, and then hasten into cutters and
leave the high knobs without enough to
Stake their thirst; we have now two ar
guments for snow in preference to rain.
y third argument is that as we shall
probably have much rain in winter when
there is but little snow, and rain too on
ground that Is not much frozen on the
surface at the time Of its coming, the soil
is washing down from the highlands into
valleys and into streams, where it is often
useless to the owner, and the loss of which
is serious detriment to his farm.
When the ground is covered with deep
SHOWS, in winter, all the rich particles of
the farm remain as they were before win
ter; and on the melting Of the snow in
spring, the earth becomes saturated with
sufficient water, though none may fall
from the clouds.
1t is often suggested by farmers that
the soil is injured by hard freezing, and
that this is the reason for wishing 1t to
be covered with snow, as snow is known
to protect it AMI to prevent its being
frozen very hard. 81 eE-sFs
But we cannot assent to this theory; we
have never seen any evidence to prove
that soil which escapes freezing is better
than soil that has been frozen deep through
the winter.
On the contrary. we incline to think
that hard freezing is quite useful to grass
fields, if to no others. All know that
grass fields need to he stirred up once in
few years or they become tight bound
and yield but halfa crop. In the opera
tions of freezing AMI thawing every par
ticle may be supposed to be loosened and
to change position. Thus we see the
grass more ready to start in the spring of
the year than in the fall, when the tenn
perature is the same, a subteranean hor-
rowing has taken place and new life is
impaired by change of the particles.
Those of our readers who are better
pleased with facts than with theories are
invited to inquire whether lands that are
annually frozen are not better foi grass
than lands that never feel the winter frost
whether the New England States do
not produce more hay, acre for acre, than
the Carolinas and other countries as
warm as they. z ,4srrry
Hay has been Shipped the last year
from Maine to Mexico-from Bangor to
Vera Cruz. And it is annually carried
from our most northern States to those
farther south: The great Mississippi
cannot bear enough on her waters to sup
ply New Orleans, aud States that have
the longest winters and need the most
hay, have to furnish that article annually
to southern cities. lr -t
Thus we may see how Providence
takes care of all. Cold weather and
frost are made use of to render more pro-
ductive those climes that have most need
of great supplies of fodder through our
long winters. These in addition to the
hardness which labor imparts, enables US
to spare of our abundance to those who
would seem to need nothing Of this kind
from our store.-Mass. PlOugkman.