Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1879-01-02
arm aIO ouseboIo.
s,.::..E lie SCI. III go;.,-ra.

uiae. "iii contribute them a. bearing
upon TINS question: My attention was
tF>t called to The philosophy OF the APP
parent relief OF plants in DIV time by
the frequent aud thorough puIverization
o. The soii, ln noting tie effects of a
mulch OF ~awdust upon newly-sct apple
tees. The Wri was absent when the
trees were planted, aud did hot return
tli' fifteen days after they were set. aud
finding the ground very dry. and NOT q
bud opened. tie was alarmed 81 tile
prospect OF losing them an from "a long
drought.
y au effort ta save them. the trees
were mu.chcd with lcm',ek sawGu~t.
three inches thick IN circle three and
oHe-half io four Tee; from 'he Tree.
When this >Awdu>t wa, placed about The
trees the ground was very dry at the
top; bu; twelve day- after Tie mulch
was applied. the lice, has alf started
into leaf, and co. .Nuniuing tie mulcA
the lower iDch, "a, well as the surface of
tie earth. was found almost saturated
VAN water; although. when applied
the sawdu-t wa. very drv. a, well as
tie surface OF tie ground. and there
had not been auv rain in the mean time.
Here, ccr5iulv. was an anpareu, sc.
cumulati1u ofmai-turc from the agency
OF ,awdusi and how was II 10 Doe ae-
counted for.
The thought occurred 10 me TINT The
Temperature might assist i'm solving the
question And. ou testing !, with =
thermometer. placing the bulb ON the
earth under the ,4wdu,t. the mcrcur,
went down ten dcgrcc,. that isl mark
cd ten degree, lower than the almo,-
pherc. Thinking this a very great
difference, t4t temperature was tested
under the mulch "l ten different trees
and found 70 range from seven to ten
degrees below the atmosphere. Tie
average was nearly cigh' and "a ha.f de
grce-- Dlu NOT the lower temperature
furnish a reasonable explanation of This
accumulation d: moisture:
/. j. We'll known fact HAT moi-;
atmosphere passing over cooler sun;
face c"ndcn-es lis moisture on that cool
surface y pitcher "i ice-wa'cr set il
.ae snn. in warm dr. viii soon De-
covered with mol-tUrc-eyeu drops ou
Tie surface and tie atmosphere J. never
50 airy hui what TINS WI. occur Now
tHe AR constantly circulating through
th.s saWdu't Wa "a constantly condeus-
Ing as moisture IN the saWdusl and Oh
tue surface OF The earth. The moisture
accumulated had also furnished album
daht wafer 10 ihe r"oi- o. 'he trees, and
lie leaves had expanded RAPIDLY.
Bnf, saws one. Ibis was only the
moisture OF the earth drawn up by the
capillary attraction. Lei u see if this
theory be tcuble The experiments
reported ia tie Rural Nctr Iork,r APP
pear 10 show tLat a loose pu,ycrzed
surface increase the evaporation. which
might be interpreted that the placing of
sawdu-t on the surface would cause the
evaporation from the earth below TO bee
more rapid-that i, that tie moisture.
if any, drawn NJ Uy capillary attraction,
would be passed on more rapidly on ac-
count of the mulch. 80 that if the sur
face of the earth were dry when saw
dust was placed upon il. the mulch
~ would not assist in retaining its moist.
, fre coming TO the surface But a. there
is a large amount OF moisture under and
in the lower strata OF the mulch. We
must conclude that this came mostly
from the atmosphere aud but little from
the earth below. And this deposit o.
moisture from the air must be very
considerable. since il would have tC
supply the extra evaporation besides
producing this accumulation.
Having established this point OF lowel
temperature under the mulch, it becam,
a point Of interest to know whether
loose soil had a lower temperature a
the same depth than a compact one. anc
which differed the most from the tenn
perature of the atmosphere. Durins
the same season GS64) the writer com
pared the temperature. By the Their
mometer. of loose. well-worked gar
den soil, aud earth that had not beer
moved on the border in the same gar
den. lie found the loose earth. wv,
inches below the surface, 10 mark sever
degrees below the compact earth of til,
border, and the eartn of the border wa
three degrees higher temperature than