Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-03-05
The Climatic Influences Of our Snow
Mantle.

Tne heavy snOwiaI OF the present winter,
if we trust our scIent fic teachers, will have
an important bearing upon the whole Of the
wear : cltmato!Ogy. Before the cold season
mad larry begun, and earth mad partei " ith
its summer and Iudian summer sun-heat, de
rived stUr,s ut Uhe storms OF December spread
their IN tnIle over the vast country stretching
from Montana to Maine Where the sun or
the ram has since worn threadbare the crys-
tai covering, additional snOWialls, especially
to the west and n,rthT Test-wheTe radiation
is greatest-haye passed over such dist. cts,
anu the larger part OF the territory named
perhaps much as 50 per CENTS still
SNOW cad.
/ It Is sad tina. the hi shland shepherds of
Scotland, when exposed to great cold, dip
/ their pIalds IN the brook and allow them t.
/ become lce-cJated, knowing that snow mail
affords the best protection Nature, in furn-
Ishlng the example for this practice, evident
/ ly has an important end 20 accomplish in
spreading her heecy protection over the earth
when Its breast is most exposed. Year be-
tore last distinguished member of the In
perlal Russian Geographical Society nstitut-
ed an Investigation to determine the climatic
I influence OF snow, and the result has proved
that, when the snow mantle appears regular
! ly, the crops are always sure. la the steppes
OF Southern and Eastern Russia, when in win
ter, there Is scarcely any snow fall, and even
the Llttie is blown away by high winds,
winter crops are seldom attempted Farther
! to the north 10 the snowy regions of PedOlla
1t is quite otherwise. The same process of
| reasoning explains the remarkable existence
of the great - whcat-grOwing belt IN our
| far Northwest, extending from Lake Superior
to the Athabasca River. There can be no
| doubt that the snow covering, by entangling
within its crystalline interstices particles of
! air, becomes bad conductor Of heat arrests
the carth's radiation, and also sets limit
| to the depth at which the soil is frozen, thus
! preserving the roots OF vegetation from de-
sUruction. Mr.. Glaisher, the English meteor
! oIOgist, has found. by numerous nocturnal
expert ments, that a thermometer placed on
/ long grass during cold weat her Will read as
much as thirty-iour degrees lower than one
placed on the snow, showing that the effect
| Of the snow was to keep the grass warmer
! by thirty-four degrees, and therefore the veg
citation generally warmer by this amount
than it would have been had there been no
snow. The same great experimenter also
demonstrated that the latter substance is
scarcely less perfect non-conductor of heat
! than the hare skin and rabbit skin thus ex-
planning the fact, frequently noticed by
sportsmen, that the snow upon which hares
have been is never in the slig htest degree
melted There is no reason for supposing
that we shall have falling off in the snow
precipitation for the rest of the winter. On
the contrary, the reasonIDgs OF our most sa-
gacious scientific observers point to the pres
ent year as entitled to a cyclonic maximum
of cyclonic and rainfall phenomena cores
ponding to the maximum of sun spots. Ii
we get only our usual SHOWS for February
and March, we shall have-considering the
early and fortunate heavy ialls at a time
when halt foot of precipitation was worth
more than twice as much subsequently,
supply of moisture which Will give an unu-
sually fine preparation of the soil for future
agricu tural operations 1t may be through
a winter of dlscontent,' that we shall
reach the next '' glorious summer but
already the days grow longer, the sun moves
northward, and we can now cheerfully an
ticit late the day when.
All this uniform, uncolered scene
| Shall be csm ,ntled of its feecy load,
| And flush into variety again.
-Neo1 York LTAid.