Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-05-20
Relation of Water to Agriculture.

Without the constant presence of
water the production Oh vegetable sub
stances is an impossibility. The pres
ence or absence of this substance deter
mines almost entirely whether our labors
in the field of agriculture shall be
crowned with success or prove a failure.
Either the lack or excess of water proves
deleterious to the growing crops Of the
farmer. Water exists in three states or
conditions, in all of which it has 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. 1t
is a law that all material substances are
expanded by heat and contracted by
cold or by the absence of heat. This
| law holds GOOD in the case of water at
| all temperatures above about 80 dogs.
Fair, at which it becomes stationary
aud remains so until it falls to 80 degs.,
| at which it freezes. In the process of
| freezing the law of expansion is re-
versed and the ice that is formed occu-
| pies one-sixth to one-eleventh more 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 veg
etable 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 bene-
| fetal as a protection to the roots of
| plants that remain in the ground during
winter. The many small air spaces
! formed by the freezing make it a nom
| conductor of heat so that a few inches
of snow will protect the yoang plants
| from the injurious effects of the most Sc
| we're cold that ever occurs in the tenn
| perate zones. And in cases where the
| soil was not frozen when the snow fell
| the internal heat of the earth Will be
| sufficient to cause vigorous growth of
winter grain thus protected. The snow
also carries down with ii when it falls
certain fertilizlng substances found in
the air, particularly ammonia, which are
| believed to contribute directly to the
growth of the plants with which the snow
| is IN contact. \ coating of solid ice, on
| the other hand, by excluding the air en-
/ tirely, and by preventing the exhalation
/ from the plants, if continued for any
! great length of time, is almost sure TO re-
! suit in the death of the plants by sutioca-
water should be permitted to stand on
the surface of the ground that is occu-
pied by crop of winter grain. But per
haps the most beneficial effect of water
in the form of ice is found in its ten
dency to break down and pulverize stiff
or heavy soils during the winter season.
When saturated soil freezes the ice
is not formed in all the interstices of the
soil where il is held while in fluid state,
but it is drawn together so that the ice is
formed in thin plates or scales, thus sep
arating the soil into numberless small
divisions or PARTICLES, each OF which is
bound and held to its neighbor particle
by thin tilm or plate of ice. When a
thaw takes place, as these layers of ic<
gradually melt, the particles of soil, M
stead Of reuniting with those to which
they adhered before freezing, fall II and