Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1882-03-16

~ ~ 70 POfuAaI oPlulOut anu no lt'
" a popular error, that capillary aclio
e is unlimited; that is, that water wi
!, continue 70 travel, 70 divide, diffu:
> and disseminate itself, until the whol
= mass Of earth to which small quaint
ofwater added, is completely permes
}, ted by moisture. II to dry earth in
r glass tube, water be added below b
!. means Of shallow vessel, the waite
J.. may be seen to move upward anon
y the particles, until the whole suppl
e shall have been obsorbed, when the flu
: id will cease to rise in the tube. CAMILLA
a ry action requires constant supply O
e fluid to replace that which has beel
carried up into mass of earth, so tha
5 there is stream constantly flowiu,
: upward, for in any direction; and whel
, this supply is cut off, the motion of tn,
) water ceases. When the caplllarie
: are full, and the point of saturation il
reached, the power seems to be satisfied
and become impotent. 1t seems to b,
the office of this kind of attraction. t.
take water from the unchanged part.
of the soil and transmit it to those part,
where there is less than an surfeit; bu
complete saturation of the finer ca
plllaries must always ensue. 1t mus
be distinctly understood, and remem
bered, that capillary attraction, trans.
mits water or other liquid, and not va.
por, which is more attenuated, more
divisible, and dlffusable.
Rain falling upon dry ground does
not enter it by gravitation; but by cap.
lllary power; but when water falls up-
on wet ground, the capillaries of
which are already full of water, the
case is different; the water is carried
downward by its specific gravity, if
there is point of egress; if not, it re-
mains where it falls, or flows off the
surface. Attraction Is stronger than
gravity; it disarms gravity and wrests
from its power its treasures. From
these considerations of the nature and
function of capillary attraction, its ben
efcial effect in bringing moisture up
from the lower moister strata, to feed
and freshen the growing crop, may be
manifestly perceived. However, in
ones opinion, there is a credit given to
capillary attraction for work it has not
performed; and honors bestowed upon
it it has not deserved. Much of the
work attributed to attraction is due to
vaporizatlon. But how can yaporiza-
ton take place under ground2 We
answer; by the same laws precisely;
and under the same condition exactly,
that vaporization takes place in the air,
or elsewhere. But we NAV further an.
swer that vaporization under ground
is, nevertheless, vaporization in the
air; because the earth, notably that
part of it pulverized by agriculture is
permented by air. Moisture and heat
in the earth, are as certain TO produce
vaporization as that the same agencies
will cause vaporization in the air above
the earth. The same unobstructed
causes will produce the same results;
then are these causes, or agencies un-
obstructed when acting under the
earth? Certainly! heat and water pro-
duce vapor, hot or cold; hot vapor IS
steam, and an exhalation of water is
sometimes called cold vapor. Warm
ing water in the ground must pro-
duce vaporization; and this vapor rises
up through the dry ground in dry
time, and sensibly molstens it. The
presence of vapor in the ground is not
dependent upon theory chronological
deduction from cause and effect-for
corroboration; but every observing
farmer has seen the vapor, even in that
sensible form, called steam-rise up
from the surface of the ground, or from
the newly turned furrow. Evapora.
tion with greatly diminished rapidity
takes place at low temperatures; piece
Of ice exposed to the air in the coldest
weather gradually diminishes, and, fin.
ally, disappears The ladies under
stand that clothes from the wash drv
in cold weather-this is called freezing
Try. When sudden cold supervenes ,
after a rain, the wet surfaces of rails, +
boards, &c, seem, to dirty as quickly t
rs when kissed by the summers sun. t
Evaporation constantly proceeds from t
he face of the frozen ground when Z
he temperature is far below the freez s
ng point; SO that, if the dry weather 2
'e long continued, the surface becomes h
Try and dusty This insensible exha- s
alton is called cold vapor. n
Evaporation is abundantly exemplfied
the drying up of swamps and swales J.
7hen the timber has been cleared away, u
nd the sun is afforded unobstructed ac- G
ess to the ground. A convincing illus. e
ration of the effects of evaporization is, c
the case of piece of the common =
BAD shaded by a piece of woods, which, "
1erefore, continues wet after a rain, n
ing after the balance of the road has be. P
ome dry. Capillary attraction operates Il
in winter as we'll as summer, o
kcept in the frozen ground, but the "
round does not become dry, as in sum- !, y
Ter; fact that proves that evaporation +,
summer dries away more water than a
conducted away by capillary .attrac- b
on. We assume it as fact that evap- p
'ation in the ground elevates vastly n
lore water from the moister regions be- tt
w for tho I1ca of MI, =, +, ,,Lox, o.o.ou .. n